Nick Cukar

Classroom

Cukar is majoring in kinesiology, with an emphasis on sport management. If professional soccer doesn’t work out, he is interested in becoming a firefighter, working with a professional sports organization in the areas of management or marketing, or using his major to start an organization committed to keeping kids busy and focused on outdoor activities rather than computers, television and video games. He has maintained a 3.348 cumulative GPA and expects to graduate either in summer or fall of 2010. He was selected to the 2008 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Scholar All-West Region team and is also a 2008 Academic All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honoree and 2007-08 San Jose State University Scholar-Athlete.

Character

Cukar has been named a team captain as a senior for the 2009 season and was appointed last spring to serve as one of two men’s soccer team representatives on the Spartan Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for the 2009-10 academic year. He came into the Spartan men’s soccer program as a recruited walk-on. After battling illness his freshman year, he moved to midfield at the college level and used his time away from the game to study his new position. He earned a scholarship following a solid spring season at the end of that first year.

Community

Cukar has been involved in several community service projects as a member of the Spartan men’s soccer program. He volunteered in both 2007 and 2008 at San Jose’s Pat’s Run, benefiting the Pat Tillman Foundation, which carries forward Pat Tillman’s legacy of leadership and civic action by supporting future generations of leaders. In the spring of 2008, Cukar took part in a soccer clinic put on by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) for disadvantaged youth in East Palo Alto, California. This summer he did an internship with Phantom Fireworks, where he was the Bay Area zone manager working with non-profit sports organizations, high schools and other organizations throughout the Bay Area. He managed delivery, returns and re-orders, as well as a group of four workers, in helping pull off a very successful fireworks season for Phantom Fireworks.

Competition

In his fourth season with the Spartans primarily a left-sided outside midfielder, Cukar has shown an incredible ability to contribute on the offensive attack. He is the team’s leading returning goal-scorer for the second straight year, as well as the leading returning goal-scorer in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. He is the team’s top active goal-scorer, with 15 career strikes, 10 of them game-winners. He is a two-time All-MPSF selection and a 2008 all-region player. He has started 37 straight matches entering his final season, having not missed a single game the past two years. The team is an undefeated 12-0-1 when he scores. He was selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas NCAA Division I Far West All-Region second team and was a first-team All-MPSF pick. In addition, he was voted by his teammates as offensive MVP.