There is nothing better than ‘the stick’ if you play defense in soccer.

Forwards and midfielders nimbly dribble the ball up field. Using their legs, feet and head to make juke moves; the ball bounces up and down like a yo-yo with their every touch.

Patiently waiting, maintaining a safe distance and keeping ‘choppy feet’ is NIU defender Drew Jeskey. Like a predator silently stalking prey, the sophomore locks his ice-cold eyes on his target. Jeskey waits for that fatal moment when the ball is vulnerable and seamlessly moves in to poke the ball away.

We meet on Brigham Field at Huskie Football Stadium, pelted by a squall line of freezing raindrops and a frigid northerly wind.

Jeskey’s task: teach a soccer novice like me the exquisite art of tacking the ball.

The skills the sophomore uses are very transferable to other sports. His motions are similar to man-to-man in basketball, or one-on-one coverage in football.

My soccer experience consists of one year way back in eighth grade, a sports skills class here at NIU that I got an ‘A’ in, and two years of being a reporter.

My competitive juices flow and my naïve mind believes that I could dribble around the lengthy defender from St. Charles.

Then in his low, steady voice, Jeskey kindly gives me a warning.

“You want me to go at you,” says the player NIU coach Steve Simmons calls the best tackler in the MAC. “I do have cleats on and your legs aren’t protected.”

“Don’t worry,” I reply. The lifelike experience is what I’m shooting for. My plan is to feel a bit of what opponents feel like after a ‘stick.’

On the first attempt, Jeskey plays the ball to me from five yards away. It touches my foot and I take a huge step to the right. A hip check instantly knocks me away from my planned path, and Jeskey takes possession of the ball.

“First, get the ball,” Jeskey advises. “If you hit the ball before you hit the guy it’s legal. If you come in cleats up it’ll be a foul.”

Jeskey said most players go to their dominant foot. He will stay on his toes, keep his feet in machine gun pitter-patter and patiently wait for his chance.

All the while his body is turned sideways between defender and sideline. This helps to create a quick transition to change direction.

On attempt number two, I take his words to heart. Jeskey plays me the ball. Two quick touches, a slight head fake, and I’m two big steps down the left side. And I actually think to murmur the words “Oh, I got you.”

Two steps later, and with simplistic ease, Jeskey once again has the ball.

Subsequent attempts to dribble past Jeskey also go awry. My grade school-level soccer skills are no match for his muscle memory and swift skills honed by years of club soccer and countless training hours against Division I competition.