It doesn't seem like it was 2 years ago, but I used to spend about 6 months getting ready for tomorrow. The first day of practice for High school soccer in Iowa. I coached the girls high school team in Newton for 5 years. For some reason they always started the season the same day as spring break. So we were always missing some of our key players and I got a chance to spend a week with about 30 new faces that I had to learn about and coach for about a week and a half before the first game. That was always the toughest thing. I had a decent idea of who my top 10-15 players were, but I never ruled anybody out. So in that week and a half I had to meet new players, build there trust, at the same time try to get them into shape and not hate me. Then also had to figure out how good they were and what kind of potential they had in all the different areas. Then once I had a good idea of our better players, I had to prepare them for 1 of the top teams that we would play for the season. I'm not sure why our schedule was set up that way, but we never made excuses.
I miss soccer quite a bit, I wish I could've hung around for a few more years. The junior and senior classes are the last 2 classes that I coached. My last season they moved to the Little Hawkeye conference which is smaller schools than we used to play, then last year they moved down to being a 1A team instead of 2A like they had been since the Girls Soccer Program was started in 1997. This year they are back with the big schools. I think they are 1 of the 2 smallest schools, so they probably have a tough outlook to make it to state, but I'm sure they can do it. The Little Hawkeye conference has smaller schools in it, but the competition is just as good as the larger one (CIML-Iowa) they used to play in. 2 of the top 1A teams in the state are both in the conference. We were able to split with them in 2007 and get a share of the conference title. This year will mark the 2nd new coach since I left. I have a lot of faith in him and I'm sure he can lead them to state. They may not be as sure, since they had a tough transition last year and are probably a little untrusting right now. They are going to have to build that trust fast to get things going in the right direction. I'm excited to see how they do it.
This is an intro to a series of posts I'm going to start making about my soccer coaching days. I'm also planning on keeping up with the team and give you a few updates. I've put together a list of things I'd like to cover, but if any one has any requests I'd be happy to hear them and see what I can do to help you out, especially my ex-players, I'd do whatever I can to help you out. I'd also like to use this to get in touch with everyone that made my soccer coaching days so memorable, so please say hi.