File photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Dominick Kamrath (right) works for control of the ball during a Big South Conference soccer game against Marshall on Oct. 6, 2023.

NEW ULM — Dominick Kamrath has seen his game change and adapt a lot over the past several years.

The New Ulm senior got his first big opportunity to grow in 2022, when he played with the semi-pro soccer team Minneapolis FC as it won the Minnesota Cup that year.

Kamrath wasn’t a leader for the team, though he still saw significant time on the pitch. Kamrath learned to adjust to the different styles and challenges that the Minnesota Cup provided for him.

“When I got onto the team, I was definitely not anywhere as good as I am now,” Kamrath said. “Trying to adapt to their game as well, a lot of them were from Africa and they were there on visas to play in this cup, so their play style was a lot different from what I grew up with. It was adapting to that semi-pro and their style of play was really difficult for me.

“That all ultimately led to me having maybe 20 minutes a game. But I learned a lot, and when I came back to U-squad and high school ball, that showed that I adapted a lot because I was 10 times the player I was before then.”

Kamrath said he even improved a lot during the season with Minneapolis FC as the squad worked to improve.

“As games went on, we started out the season really rough, we lost a lot of games,” Kamrath said. “But then as we got going, I ended up getting more and more minutes at wing, and we ended up scoring more goals, and we got more players on the roster as well. Then we ended up winning the cup in the playoffs, and it ended really good, which was the ultimate goal throughout the season.”

Kamrath’s improvement was evident the next time he stepped on the New Ulm soccer field in 2023 as a senior, leading the team in goals (20) and assists (19) as the Eagles went 8-5-4.

Now, Kamrath finds himself with another semi-pro team, Skills FC, and has had to change his game once more.

“One of my buddies reached out to me, and I asked him if I could possibly join them and the team for a practice,” Kamrath said. “He asked the coach and he gave the coach my resume, and he said I could join. I did a couple trials with them and the coach said I could come onto the roster.”

Once on the roster, Kamrath worked his way up from the third team to the first team, switching to defense in the process. Kamrath has never played defense before, as he usually plays at wing or striker for the teams he is on.

“I ended up doing really well on defense, and that’s what got me selected for the first team. That’s what I’m doing now,” he said.

Kamrath said the change to defense has had its challenges, but he has been pleasantly surprised at how effectively he has made the switch.

“This is my first-ever season playing defense ever as my main position,” he said. “I am surprised. It was a really weird transition the first game, that first one, there’s definitely a few things I need to fix, but the transition went a lot more smoothly than I thought.

“Because it is a lot like striker. The position and timing the runs a stuff, it’s kind of the same thing, you’re just not scoring the goals.”

Kamrath and Skills FC just came off of their first game of the season, a 2-0 win over Rochester FC on Sunday. Kamrath said he and the team had to get some butterflies out in the first half before scoring twice in the second.

“I was a little nervous,” he said. “Got some butterflies out. The competition was a lot higher compared to high school and youth clubs. But once I got into the game, a lot of the guys are a lot more supportive that what people think. They understand that you make mistakes, and make sure you’re OK if you do. Throughout the game, I got a lot more confident and comfortable and some things started clicking.

“We scored two goals in the second half, and that’s when everyone got their jitters out from the first half. As a team, we’re looking a lot better than what they had last year, but we also have a lot of different players including myself there this year.”

Skills FC, as perhaps evident by their name, is not just focused on putting together the best squad to win during the season. They also work to develop the skills and expand the horizons for their players.

For Kamrath, that continues to be true.

“My footwork is so much better,” Kamrath said. “And so is my speed of play and my decision-making. And just with my confidence in general, just playing with them has skyrocketed playing with them as well.

“Obviously they want you to play good, but if you try something that takes a little balls to do, they understand if you mess up, you mess up and they say to move on and don’t worry about it, it’s in the past. All aspects of my game have gotten way better the past four weeks I’ve been playing with them.”

Kamrath will continue to work on his skills, especially his footwork and timing, as he looks forward to joining Buena Vista University for his collegiate career, where he plans on studying finance. Kamrath will be playing wing for the Beavers, yet another change he will be working with.

Kamrath said he felt more connected and comfortable on the BVU campus than he did at other colleges he had visited.

“A lot of it had to do with how it felt with a lot of the teammates and stuff there,” he said. “I did an overnight visit there, and that visit went a lot better than my visits with other colleges. I visited a lot of colleges, and Buena Vista just felt like the right fit for me. And the teammates are great, and I felt like I could be the best player there and be the best student in the classroom with the professors and everything.”

With all the changes coming throughout the years, perhaps the key to adapting for Kamrath has been staying on course and finding a constant.

“It’s definitely just being consistent and disciplined having a positive attitude no matter what,” Kamrath said. “Because going into that season with Minneapolis FC, I came off the bench at the end of games. And I’m not afraid to admit, I was not one of the better players there. But knowing that and wanting to work hard and become one of those better players was the main thing that led to me being the player I am today.”