Cory Nichols couldn't have been more than 13. He was the youngest soccer coach in Boone County history. And in the space of 10 minutes, he changed a 5-year-old's life.

That child's name was Christopher Tarvin, and he had just arrived at his first soccer game. Suddenly gripped by shyness, he refused to get out of the car. He didn't want to play, he told his dad.

For 20 minutes, Kerry Tarvin tried to change Christopher's mind. But the little boy wouldn't budge.

"I was ready to just throw in the towel and say, `Well, I guess soccer's not for you. Let's try baseball,' " Tarvin recalls.

Then Cory appeared.

"Let me give it a try," said the extremely young coach of the extremely young team.

Tarvin stepped aside. He's not sure exactly what was said that day - something about how much Christopher's play would mean - but he distinctly recalls the result.

"About 10 minutes later, the two of them walked across the field to the game," says Tarvin, who still gets a little choked up thinking about it.

That was a turning point for Christopher. He had not been allowed to shrink back. And now, six years later, he's a confident 11-year-old playing three sports.

Cory Nichols, naturally, is still a coach.

He's cool

At 18, Cory looks too young to be anybody's dad, plus it's clear that he has actually played soccer before, instead of just yelling enthusiastically about it. This sets him apart.

"Us older guys don't know a whole lot about soccer," says Doug Keeling, 55, who has coached with Cory before.

Kids can sense these things. Cory is one of them, only cooler.

"It means a lot for them to impress him, because they look up to him," says Amy Reeves, whose sons, Jordan and Ryan Palmateer, have played for Cory for years.

Every season, Cory coaches as many as three teams - often with his dad, Glenn Nichols- while juggling school, girlfriend and job.

Soccer runs in the family. Glenn is president of the Boone County Soccer League, mom Adele helps out, and brother Scott is a goalie for Boone County High.

Cory is no saint. On three occasions he has been tossed from games for arguing with referees.

But parents say he never yells at their kids. He remembers all too well what that was like.

At 6, Cory played soccer himself. Then a bad coach turned him off.

"He was yelling at us and telling us what we were doing wrong instead of what we were doing right," he says.

Now, with his own players, Cory always tries to start with praise. And off the field, he has become a big brother to some of the boys.

When Jordan Palmateer was having trouble with algebra, Cory called to remind him school was more important than soccer. On snow days, he has taken players to the movies.

"He's like a coach and a friend," Jordan says.

This year, Cory graduates from high school and heads to Northern Kentucky University.

Will he quit coaching?

Hardly. It's what he is.

E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com or (859) 578-5584.