Brock gets his kicks from soccer and playing in a band

After high school, Adam Brock may go to college. He also might go sailing.

“I’m probably going to college,” Brock said. “Or Alan (Crow) and I are going to become musical pirates and sail the seven seas.”

The Cheney High School senior leads a double life of sorts.

Brock is an inside midfielder on the undefeated Cheney boys soccer team, and a guitarist/vocalist in a punk/jazz band called Vax Lavala – the name of a space alien that Brock said directs him and his fellow bandmates in their musical endeavors.

Brock and the Blackhawks (12-0, 9-0 Great Northern League) are enjoying much success on the field this season. Brock was part of a State 3A quarterfinal team last season, when Cheney was still part of the Greater Spokane League.

This season, Tuesday’s 8-1 victory over Medical Lake marked the first goal a GNL opponent had scored on them all year. The other two goals scored by an opponent came from Gonzaga Prep, a 4A GSL school.

Brock, a four-year varsity soccer player, attributes the team’s success to unselfishness.

“Of all the teams I’ve played on, this is the tightest team and the most unselfish team in terms of playing,” Brock said. “Usually there are different groups that clash on the field, but we are pretty close overall. We’re just out there to have fun.”

Coincidentally, Cheney head coach Steve Davis mentions the same thing when talking about Brock.

“He’s totally unselfish,” Davis said. “(Adam) loves to make the team play better, and he’s just happy to assist. He is the epitome of a team player – one that is unselfish, comes and works hard every day and tries to make the players around him stronger.”

Brock’s unselfishness hasn’t made him the leading scorer on the team – he’s scored four goals and assisted on two this season.”(Adam’s) stats are in his continuous effort to make everyone around him stronger,” Davis said. “It’s not always the guy who makes the goals or assists – he keeps the team strong and he has the will to win.”

Clearly more important to Brock than soccer, his only sport, is his music. Alongside fellow seniors Crow (bass), Max Shellabarger (guitar/percussion), John Wiesegerber (trombone), junior Vince Nickeloff (drums), and Brock’s eighth-grade sister Sydney (saxophone), Brock and his band were winners in the 2006 RAWK Final Four, a local battle of the bands competition.

Nevertheless, when the time comes to choose a traditional higher education, or set sail for unknown adventures on the sea, Brock seems to know the difference between fantasy and reality.

“When we go sailing all over, (Alan and I) will stop at ports to play our music for people around the world,” Brock said. “But college is more likely.”