More than husband, wife
By Michael Muldoon
Eagle-Tribune Writer
Tracy Ducar's dedication to soccer is so complete, her college coach jokes the reason she married her husband is that he's one of the best goalie coaches in the country.
When Tracy Noonan married Chris Ducar last April, she didn't anticipate some of the landmines of a husband-wife, coach-player relationship.
''Absolutely, there are problems,'' said Chris, who met Tracy when they were both working at a camp after her third year in college. ''It has gotten probably 90 percent better. At the beginning it was tough. I treated her like any other player. I should have known better.''
By nature, a coach is sometimes critical and sarcastic. Imagine if Bill Parcells was a women's coach and married one of his athletes!
''With a regular player, there is a cooling-off period,'' noted Chris. ''If you do it with somebody you love, they'll take it more personally. And if you are then are riding home with them . . . sometimes you wish you were in two separate cars.
''I always felt an obligation to train her, sometimes you start out on the wrong foot and it gets worse. We have a good system now. I temper my comments a bit.''
Tracy said, ''I had a hard time separating the relationship from the soccer. I just saw it as my fiance yelling at me. I was hypercritical (of his coaching) which wasn't fair.
''We'd yell at each other. At times he'd say, 'It's not worth it to coach you to sacrifice our relationship.' I had to let him be my coach. It wasn't a pretty sight early on. We worked out the kinks. I realized how important it was for him to coach me.''
Chris now coaches the goalies at North Carolina and North Carolina-Greensboro as well as running camps and clinics. He began coaching North Carolina after Tracy left.
''When I was at school, he was never my coach,'' said Tracy. ''There is no scandal here.''
Even with the added burdens, Chris is glad to be Tracy's coach.
''I would never say that (I wouldn't want to be her coach),'' said Chris. ''For fleeting moments, maybe. I take pride in knowing when she goes to every camp (for the National Team) because of the time I put in she's ready. When I watch her play, I'm her No. 1 fan.''
Although Tracy admitted their relationship can be ''soccer, soccer, soccer'' they find time to do other things.
Both love the outdoors including hiking, snorkeling and snowboarding.
Their original honeymon was cancelled when the National Team had an unexpected game scheduled with Brazil.
With their demanding schedules, the two have yet to be able to fit in a honeymoon.
''It might not be until after 2000,'' said Tracy. ''Things are pretty crazy. It definitely won't be forgotten.''