In face of tragedy, Rider soccer team rallies around one of its own
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
By Rich Fisher | Correspondent
It should not have been surprising that the entire Rider University men’s soccer team and coaching staff showed up Oct. 30 in St. Anthony Church, Hamilton, to attend the funeral Mass for 18-year-old Nick Pratico.
When Nick went missing Sep. 20, the Broncs immediately rallied around his 26-year-old brother, Mark, who is in his first year as a Rider assistant coach. They offered prayers and moments of silence before each game and practice, hoping for a positive outcome.
And while the players provided Mark strength, he was returning it to them. He came to practices and games despite permission from head coach Charlie Inverso to take all the time he needed to cope. For Mark Pratico, soccer was coping. On the day of the funeral, he was sending texts to players as to what cleats they needed.
“I could definitely tell that soccer has been his escape from this whole thing,” said Rider senior defender Todd Oakley, who attended the same Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville as the Praticos. “It was a couple hours a day just to get his mind off this whole situation. It means a lot to him.”
When Nick’s body was found Oct. 23, Inverso once again told Mark to take time away rather than make the bus ride from Rider’s Lawrenceville campus to New Rochelle, N.Y., for an Oct. 25 game at Iona. Not only did Mark make the trip, he gave the pre-game speech. And a mentally and physically exhausted team went out and took a 2-1 victory to snap a two-game winless streak and improve its record to 11-3-1.
“I had chills up and down my body,” junior defender Mike Wherley said of the talk. “We were in a little bit of a rut at the time. That was exactly what we needed. That was our rallying cry. Pray for Nick, do it for Nick because for Mark just to even come on the trip, just shows the character he has. Our whole team has respect and admiration for him. It was incredible.”
The strength Mark showed during the pre-game speech, “gave us what we needed to get that win on the road,” Wherley added.
Oakley said the talk made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.
“It was super emotional, super motivating, and at that time I knew we were winning the game,” he said. “Nothing was going to make us lose that game. There was no way we weren’t winning that one for him. You just felt the atmosphere of the whole team definitely change. It got us focused. We were on our hands and knees [from fatigue], but we came out with the win.”
Wherley termed the speech “short and sweet,” as Mark told the players just how much they meant to Nick.
“He said, ‘Let me tell you something about my brother. He’s a fighter, he’s a competitor and he’s a winner, and he’s watching over you guys today and he wants you guys to win this game. Nick was at most of your games, he was always watching; he loved you guys, he was always keeping up with you and he’s looking over you guys to go out and win today,’” Wherley said. “That’s exactly what we did.”
Faith & Healing
Oakley and Wherley share a hometown with the Praticos, where Oakley is a member in Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton, and Wherley is a parishioner in St. Gregory the Great. Hamilton Square.
They said their faith played a huge part in dealing with the tragedy – and was bolstered by Mark.
Four days after Nick was discovered, Mark posted the following on his Facebook page: “I’ve seen the face of God in so many people this past month; and especially this week. Nicky’s personality was larger than life, and he belonged to everyone, not just us. He belonged to every single person who knew, cared for and loved him. SO tonight, I pray for everyone hurt by my brother’s passing. While I’m hurting, so are many more … We will heal and we will fight on, as my kid brother would've wanted. You'll never walk alone my brother. To love another person is to see the face of God.”
It was that kind of strength that the Rider players fed off.
“Mark was the leader by example,” Wherley said. “When he came to practice, he was nothing but business, he was professional, he handled it. The character he showed throughout the whole process was just incredible for me. If he was able to be that strong during his tough time like that, no obstacle on the field would be too tough for us.”
The Rider players also discussed how faith played into their healing. On a diverse team at a secular university, not everyone is Catholic, but numerous belief systems have joined together for one cause.
“Our team is made up of people of all kinds of countries, religions, ideas,” Oakley said. “You could tell at the service, everyone is always looking for some type of answer that’s impossible to get in a situation like this. We would say pre-game prayers. Since the beginning of the whole disappearance, we would have a moment of silence before practice. Any time we were together on the team, we would just kind of have a reflection and look for some type of sense in the situation.”
Wherley agreed, saying, “There are people from all over the world on our team, all different backgrounds and religions. But we all took the time before practices, before games, to send him a prayer and lean on that throughout the whole way, just to get anything possible, just to get any little flash or news to try to help the family because we knew what a tough time it was. We would look for any answer we could.”
Leaning on Each Other
Much of that attitude comes from Inverso, who considers Mark Pratico to be like a son to him. Mark played for Inverso at Mercer County Community College and Rider, and came on board as an assistant this year. Inverso also went to Notre Dame and is a parishioner of St. Gregory the Great Parish.
“I lean on my faith all the time to stop me from looking at the dark side of things,” Inverso said. “My faith is pretty private, but as a team we’ve talked quite a bit about it. I’ve never praised [God] in a group before, because everybody on our team has different religions. But we always said a little silent prayer because, as a team, obviously everyone believed that was the right thing to do. It’s been pretty inspiring; it’s had a big effect on guys on the team.”
The players not only leaned on their faith to help themselves, but to help the Pratico family, as well.
“Anytime something like this happens, you always wonder, is there anything that anyone could have stepped up and done,” Oakley said. “Ever since this, you’re kind of looking for the kid who’s a little bit down or lonely in everyday life. You just shoot him a smile, hold the door or something.
“I’ve been in Catholic school since pre-school, so I think that’s just something that’s kind of deep-rooted in me anyway. This is just kind of a wake-up call, you never know what other people are going through, so you have to keep that in mind.”
That type of attitude was shared by all the Broncs, regardless of faith. One of Inverso’s main concerns in recruiting players is not only do they have talent, but also strong moral character.
“The guys on the team really do care about Mark,” the coach said. “Mark is probably one of the most caring kids you’ll ever meet, and our guys know that. To me, it’s pretty inspiring how much concern they have shown for him.”[[In-content Ad]]Related Stories
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By Rich Fisher | Correspondent
It should not have been surprising that the entire Rider University men’s soccer team and coaching staff showed up Oct. 30 in St. Anthony Church, Hamilton, to attend the funeral Mass for 18-year-old Nick Pratico.
When Nick went missing Sep. 20, the Broncs immediately rallied around his 26-year-old brother, Mark, who is in his first year as a Rider assistant coach. They offered prayers and moments of silence before each game and practice, hoping for a positive outcome.
And while the players provided Mark strength, he was returning it to them. He came to practices and games despite permission from head coach Charlie Inverso to take all the time he needed to cope. For Mark Pratico, soccer was coping. On the day of the funeral, he was sending texts to players as to what cleats they needed.
“I could definitely tell that soccer has been his escape from this whole thing,” said Rider senior defender Todd Oakley, who attended the same Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville as the Praticos. “It was a couple hours a day just to get his mind off this whole situation. It means a lot to him.”
When Nick’s body was found Oct. 23, Inverso once again told Mark to take time away rather than make the bus ride from Rider’s Lawrenceville campus to New Rochelle, N.Y., for an Oct. 25 game at Iona. Not only did Mark make the trip, he gave the pre-game speech. And a mentally and physically exhausted team went out and took a 2-1 victory to snap a two-game winless streak and improve its record to 11-3-1.
“I had chills up and down my body,” junior defender Mike Wherley said of the talk. “We were in a little bit of a rut at the time. That was exactly what we needed. That was our rallying cry. Pray for Nick, do it for Nick because for Mark just to even come on the trip, just shows the character he has. Our whole team has respect and admiration for him. It was incredible.”
The strength Mark showed during the pre-game speech, “gave us what we needed to get that win on the road,” Wherley added.
Oakley said the talk made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.
“It was super emotional, super motivating, and at that time I knew we were winning the game,” he said. “Nothing was going to make us lose that game. There was no way we weren’t winning that one for him. You just felt the atmosphere of the whole team definitely change. It got us focused. We were on our hands and knees [from fatigue], but we came out with the win.”
Wherley termed the speech “short and sweet,” as Mark told the players just how much they meant to Nick.
“He said, ‘Let me tell you something about my brother. He’s a fighter, he’s a competitor and he’s a winner, and he’s watching over you guys today and he wants you guys to win this game. Nick was at most of your games, he was always watching; he loved you guys, he was always keeping up with you and he’s looking over you guys to go out and win today,’” Wherley said. “That’s exactly what we did.”
Faith & Healing
Oakley and Wherley share a hometown with the Praticos, where Oakley is a member in Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton, and Wherley is a parishioner in St. Gregory the Great. Hamilton Square.
They said their faith played a huge part in dealing with the tragedy – and was bolstered by Mark.
Four days after Nick was discovered, Mark posted the following on his Facebook page: “I’ve seen the face of God in so many people this past month; and especially this week. Nicky’s personality was larger than life, and he belonged to everyone, not just us. He belonged to every single person who knew, cared for and loved him. SO tonight, I pray for everyone hurt by my brother’s passing. While I’m hurting, so are many more … We will heal and we will fight on, as my kid brother would've wanted. You'll never walk alone my brother. To love another person is to see the face of God.”
It was that kind of strength that the Rider players fed off.
“Mark was the leader by example,” Wherley said. “When he came to practice, he was nothing but business, he was professional, he handled it. The character he showed throughout the whole process was just incredible for me. If he was able to be that strong during his tough time like that, no obstacle on the field would be too tough for us.”
The Rider players also discussed how faith played into their healing. On a diverse team at a secular university, not everyone is Catholic, but numerous belief systems have joined together for one cause.
“Our team is made up of people of all kinds of countries, religions, ideas,” Oakley said. “You could tell at the service, everyone is always looking for some type of answer that’s impossible to get in a situation like this. We would say pre-game prayers. Since the beginning of the whole disappearance, we would have a moment of silence before practice. Any time we were together on the team, we would just kind of have a reflection and look for some type of sense in the situation.”
Wherley agreed, saying, “There are people from all over the world on our team, all different backgrounds and religions. But we all took the time before practices, before games, to send him a prayer and lean on that throughout the whole way, just to get anything possible, just to get any little flash or news to try to help the family because we knew what a tough time it was. We would look for any answer we could.”
Leaning on Each Other
Much of that attitude comes from Inverso, who considers Mark Pratico to be like a son to him. Mark played for Inverso at Mercer County Community College and Rider, and came on board as an assistant this year. Inverso also went to Notre Dame and is a parishioner of St. Gregory the Great Parish.
“I lean on my faith all the time to stop me from looking at the dark side of things,” Inverso said. “My faith is pretty private, but as a team we’ve talked quite a bit about it. I’ve never praised [God] in a group before, because everybody on our team has different religions. But we always said a little silent prayer because, as a team, obviously everyone believed that was the right thing to do. It’s been pretty inspiring; it’s had a big effect on guys on the team.”
The players not only leaned on their faith to help themselves, but to help the Pratico family, as well.
“Anytime something like this happens, you always wonder, is there anything that anyone could have stepped up and done,” Oakley said. “Ever since this, you’re kind of looking for the kid who’s a little bit down or lonely in everyday life. You just shoot him a smile, hold the door or something.
“I’ve been in Catholic school since pre-school, so I think that’s just something that’s kind of deep-rooted in me anyway. This is just kind of a wake-up call, you never know what other people are going through, so you have to keep that in mind.”
That type of attitude was shared by all the Broncs, regardless of faith. One of Inverso’s main concerns in recruiting players is not only do they have talent, but also strong moral character.
“The guys on the team really do care about Mark,” the coach said. “Mark is probably one of the most caring kids you’ll ever meet, and our guys know that. To me, it’s pretty inspiring how much concern they have shown for him.”[[In-content Ad]]