Aristote Mbaya, forward on the WolfPack soccer team and the team’s leading scorer, has developed leadership skills in his tenure at the college.

The game of soccer has been a dominant part of Mbaya’s life since growing up in his native country of Congo. Soccer is one of the biggest sports in Congo. Mbaya, like many other Congolese children, played the sport growing up. He has been playing the sport since he was three years old.

“You could see he had that look in his face. He saw the game. I’d ask him questions and he would answer with not just a standard question, but something more,” said Jeff Richardson, WolfPack soccer coach. “He knew more than what your standard player would.”

Mbaya, who has been a resident of Madison since February 2010, is in his second year at the college and first on the soccer team. Since coming to Madison Area Technical College, Mbaya has been involved in the college. This past summer, Mbaya became an employee of the Student Life office as a member of the New Student Orientation and Registration team. Jason Wiedenhoeft, lead orientation coordinator and Student Life coordinator, met Mbaya last spring during the hiring process for the orientation staff. Soon after hiring Mbaya, Wiedenhoeft saw that Mbaya was motivated to be successful and held a great deal of confidence, he said.

“He was willing and interested to learn about teaching new students how to adjust to the college environment which impressed me because it showed me that he really wanted to become a part of our community,” Wiedenhoeft said.

After Mbaya spent more time on the orientation staff, Wiedenhoeft said he noticed Mbaya not only adjust to his new role, but he saw him succeed as well. In his role as an orientation coordinator, Mbaya was able to work together with others to attain goals and solve conflicts along the way.

“It seemed like when he offered any sort of input to any decision the orientation staff made it always came with other people’s input first,” Wiedenhoeft said. “So it was more inclusive of everybody.”

Wiedenhoeft added that Mbaya would always be there for work on time and he would always stay to the end of his shift. If he couldn’t be there, Wiedenhoeft said he was always sure that he would get a phone call from Mbaya. Mbaya was there to provide a leadership role on the staff. In fact, he says that you could not find anyone more responsible than Mbaya.

“He was very dedicated to fulfilling the roles of his job. Even if it was a role he didn’t particularly enjoy, he would do it,” Wiedenhoeft said.

“Then I saw other members of the orientation members warm up to him and go to him and talk with him. It wasn’t even just for advice, he was always very comfortable to talk to.”

Since becoming a part of the soccer team, he has taken those skills to the field of play, Richardson said. Richardson has not only seen those traits, but he has seen other traits as well.

During a recent game against Harper College, Mbaya, who was the team’s leading scorer as of Sept. 23, was double-teamed frequently and even triple-teamed at times. However, he remained “calm as can be,” Richardson said.

“He grew up playing at a higher level so he is used to that kind of pressure,” Richardson said. “He doesn’t fight it. He understands it and deals with it.”

Richardson, now in his second stint as WolfPack head coach, has seen a lot of talent and has evaluated a lot of talent through the years. He said that this is the start of things to come for Mbaya. He said he doesn’t think that the team has seen him play his best yet.

“You could win the national championship and play a month after that and I still don’t think he would have hit his peak,” Richardson said. “He is the type of player that I don’t know if there is a peak or plateau.”