Ian Joshua Miller

August 5, 1997 - January 16, 2010

Born in Phoenixville, Ian grew up in North Coventry Township, and was a 7th grade student at West-Mont Christian Academy in Pottstown, PA, At school, he was active in Student Council, Band, Baseball and Soccer. He played with the Coventry Little League baseball since 2003. Ian was a Boy Scout with Troop 95 and attended Church of the Saviour in Wayne, PA.

Of all the sports he played, there is no doubt that soccer was the game he loved.

Ian was the goalie for the Coventry Red Storm Soccer Club since 2007. He had been playing soccer since the age of 4, and has played with the Phoenixville YMCA and Coventry Intramural soccer before being accepted into the Red Storm travel team. Last October he was accepted as a goalkeeper in the indoor training program for the Olympic Develop Program.

Ian's other interests included cooking, scuba diving, drama, traveling, movies, video games, playing with his cat, Abby, and roller coaster riding. (He also liked to design them on his PC with "Rollercoaster Tycoon!")

On January 16th of this year, Ian was killed in a sledding accident while on a Boy Scout trip. He died from a head injury incurred when the plastic sled he was riding struck a ski lift tower. When the hospital staff removed Ian's snow boot, they found a typed passage from The Bible, James 1:2-4, which reads: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Ian's parents believe this is a message to all of us - they are persevering through the trial of missing Ian. But they also believe that this is a great message for soccer players too.

It may not be easy to become the best soccer player you can possibly be. But persevere, because ultimately, even in soccer, you will become "mature and complete, not lacking anything."