Dogs get dad back in game

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published July 24, 2007

Mark Lukas, owner of Soccer Collies, and his dogs put on a show Sunday at the Community Business Expo and Fun 4 Kids Day at the Sports + Field in Wesley Chapel.
	[Lance Aram Rothstein | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Lance Aram Rothstein | Times] Andrew Kilfoyl, 4, was one of the children to test his soccer skills Sunday against the Soccer Collies in Wesley Chapel. The shows are just one part of Lukas' plans for the dogs.

Zipping south on Interstate 275, I initially mistook the billboard for just another ad selling happiness and a housing development.

Eventually I slowed down long enough to see the picture: a dog playing with a soccer ball.

I'm passionate about soccer, partial to cute dogs. I had to check out soccercollies.com.

Spring Hill resident Mark Lukas is the 49-year-old founder of Soccer Collies Inc. It has been his salvation.

Four-and-a-half years ago, Lukas was a typical guy with a wife, a teenage daughter, Katee, and an athletic son, Zachary, who played soccer, basketball, baseball and ran cross country at Hernando High in Brooksville. After work at his exterior cleaning business, Lukas spent many afternoons driving Zak to Pasco and Pinellas counties to play soccer.

Then in December 2002, Zak and his Hernando High soccer teammate Jason Lewis died of hypothermia when their water scooter stalled and they were stranded overnight in the cold waters of the Gulf of Mexico. They were both 16.

The tragedy left Lukas joyless. In short order, his marriage of 20 years fell apart and he lost contact with his daughter for more than a year.

"I felt like I lost my whole family," he recalled.

Then he found Ms. Z, a border collie pup he bought from a breeder in Inverness. Years earlier, he and Zak had been dazzled by a border collie performing soccer tricks at a Tampa Bay Mutiny game.

Ms. Z had similar skill. She took to soccer like a Brazilian. She grabbed the ball with her two front paws, dribbled with her nose and made sharp cuts at full speed.

When I visited Lukas last week, Ms. Z kept me busy passing the ball back and forth with her nose. Once she got going, she didn't want to quit.

"I don't feel like a trainer. I feel like a coach," said Lukas, who has long scrapped his cleaning business.

Dogs are now his life, his business.

He sold an apartment building so he could buy a house with a yard, more room for Ms. Z and her teammates - border collies Keeper, Sweeper and Beck for David Beckham, the world's best-known soccer player.

Lukas and the dogs perform at parties and charity events. They were at the community event in Wesley Chapel on Sunday. Kids love the dogs.

Lukas dreams of taking Soccer Collies big time. He talks about a dog soccer league, game shows, appearances on the Animal Planet network. He wants to engage kids, make them laugh.

He knows his son would have liked that.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at (813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 24, 2007, 07:01:04]