Mike Woitalla

Mike Woitalla is the Executive Editor of Soccer America Magazine and is the co-author of former U.S. national team captain Claudio Reyna's book, "More Than Goals: The journey from backyard games to World Cup competition." Woitalla has written free-lance articles about soccer for more than 20 publications in eight nations and is a regular contributor to British soccer monthly When Saturday Comes. He has written about parenting for DadMag.com. The winner of six NSCAA Writing Contest awards and two Professional Soccer Reporters of America awards, Woitalla has covered soccer in 16 different nations and has covered four World Cups for Soccer America. He joined Soccer America in 1985 as an intern while attending the University of California in Berkeley. Prior to joining Soccer America, Woitalla covered several sports -- including soccer, gymnastics, rugby and lacrosse -- at the Daily Californian. Woitalla, who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1982, double-majored in Rhetoric and German at the University of California. He was a member of the Golden Bears varsity soccer team and played for many years in the Bay Area's amateur leagues. He won a Hawaii state championship with Iolani High School, and worked as a referee and linesman throughout his teens. He currently coaches youth soccer in Oakland, Calif. Woitalla was born in Nuremberg, Germany, where he lived until age 3, at which time his family moved to Dallas. After enjoying the Texas youth soccer boom of the 1970s and regularly attending Dallas Tornado games, the Woitalla family moved to Hawaii when Mike was 10. He is married to Holly Kernan, a public radio producer, host and reporter. They live in Oakland with their daughter, Julia Jasmine (born in 1999).