Soccer Camp

It is not even August 20th, and we have had 21 practices and 2 games in 15 days. I guess I forgot to count. I am sure everyone is excited to have tomorrow off. The next time we get on the field, it will be for our game vs. Missouri - 2009 Big XII Champions. What is the Big XII called today?

It has rained 2 nights in a row and most of the afternoon and evening today, which reminds me that I want to mention the flood back in May. My birthday was on April 24th. We were supposed to go to Lee College for our last spring game. There were storms, so we cancelled the game, and I was able to stay home for my birthday. It was not a fun day, because the rain was so hard that it leaked into the basement and caused me to have to do much more work than I wanted to do on my unexpected day off.

That was not the weekend it flooded, and my leak was nothing compared to the damage caused by the flooding one week later. The Friday before the flood, I remember telling friends to have a good rainy weekend. On Saturday, I actually did not know that Nashville was flooding. I was busy working in the basement. When the tornado sirens went off about an hour before I was supposed to drive across town to a friend's house for dinner, I decided to turn on the television. The first thing I saw was cars floating down I-24. It just got worse from there.

From Saturday afternoon until Monday or Tuesday, the local channels were local news only without commericials. It was at least 48 hours of uninterrupted flood coverage. The newscasters were sleeping at the stations. It reminded me of when Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida.

Sunday morning, Maddie's father called me. The house that she, Jess, and Charlotte rented had flooded. They needed help moving their belongings, a place to put them, and a place to stay.

The street below me is in a flood plane. They had to wade through water to their backyard, walk up the hill into my backyard, up my driveway, and get picked up in the street in front of my house. People carried cats, dogs, babies, etc. up that hill.

I learned of friends who lost their homes and practically everything in them.

The neighbors started ripping out their flood damaged walls, floors, HVAC units, etc. and put them in their front yards by the street. They put all of their flood damaged possessions out there too. A truck with a claw would come by and pick up all the trash and put it in a dump truck. The smell of flood is horrible! As the water receded, it left moldy marks on all the bushes, fences, houses, and trees. You could see a distinct water line on most houses and shrubs.

Belmont students, faculty, and staff did a great job volunteering to help flood victims all over the city. Jamie Loftis' high school flooded.

I just had to mention the flood. I will be back soon to discuss pre-season and the team's preparation to defend our conference championship. Make sure you check out Belmont's new athletics website. There are video interviews with women's soccer and volleyball. On the Atlantic Sun Conference website, a women's soccer player from each school is being interviewed. Erica Carter will be on tomorrow.

Alumni Weekend

April 16-18 was alumni weekend with the alumni playing the current team on April17th. I provided dinner for the alumni on Friday and lunch and dinner on Saturday. I gave out some pictures and t-shirts. Hopefully, everyone got enough to make them want to return the next time.

It was a small turn out and a young group, but it was great to have the participation. The alumni team had 3 or 4 subs, and I had coached all but one of them. It was fun to see them play together again.

The current team played against Martin Methodist on Saturday at 11:00. We won 1-0. Then we played the alumni at 3:00. The current team won 4-0. The alumni got the first shot of the game.

I appreciate the alumni who e-mailed me and updated me on their lives. It was nice to hear from so many former players. There were different updates and conflicts. There was a wedding, a wedding shower, national board exams, finals, a soccer tournament, work, pregnancy, etc. Typical alumni stuff.

It was a blast looking through old pictures, listening to old stories, and sharing new news. Jenn Rix talked about her wedding plans. Bublis talked about getting engaged. Micaela is going to Norway to play. Everyone talked about how much the team ran in the spring before I got there. My favorite story is the FAU game.

It was not supposed to be the last weekend of the spring season, but our game got rained out the next week. At least we ended on a good note with 2 wins in one day and our first full sided wins of the spring.

The most valuable thing I learned this spring is that not all of our players are good enough yet to win games. All of our players are good practice players. Our role players are good enough to make our starters better in practice, but we are not deep enough to play everyone and still win games. In the spring, it was more important to give everyone playing time than it was to win. In the fall, it will be opposite. It will be more important to win!

Spring Season

The 7 A-Side Tournament at WKU proved that it is difficult for a Division I soccer player to purely have fun playing soccer. We definitely had a good time, but the players also got fired up in the heat of competition. I thought it was a good event for us, and I was proud of both of our teams. We finished in 2nd and 3rd. Obviously, if we had allowed players to flip flop between the 2 teams, we would have finished 1st and 2nd. However, it was another great opportunity for all the players to play, develop, and prove themselves.

The weekend after Easter, we went to the University of Tennessee. Our opponents were Tusculum and Carson Newman. Both are good Division II teams. The Lady Vols have an incredible stadium and great practice and multi-purpose facilities. We watched them play Memphis before our game. After their game, I was a little surprised by what I saw.

Every young female soccer player in the stadium from the ages of 6 to 16 came down to the field for autographs, a closer look at the players, a chance to talk to players or coaches. This can be great, because I believe in our players being role models, but the excitement of the young fans was serious to me. The Tennessee team hid in the locker room. They sent someone out to tell the girls that they were not signing autographs that morning, and they did not leave the locker room until most of the young fans had left. I have seen the Tennessee women’s basketball team and witnessed their following. They are like rock stars, and the women’s soccer team is not far behind that.

That is a lot of responsibility on a student-athlete. Are they mature enough to handle that? When a high school student is choosing a college, should that be part of the decision making process? Major? Location? Size of school? What is my potential for fame? I know football players and men’s basketball players choose a school based on how many times that team plays on national TV. Are women’s sports at big schools not far behind?

Just as the Lady Vols had enough fans to make it feel more like the regular season than the spring, our game against Tusculum certainly had the drama of a fall game. We lost 3-2 after being up 2-0 in the first 15 minutes of the game. Tusculum scored the winning goal in the last 3 seconds of the game. I was devastated. Our team that is supposed to be so experienced and talented and successful fell apart. We did not make much improvement in our 2nd game of the day against Carson Newman. We tied 0-0.

I think we lost a lot of momentum that weekend. Some players picked up injuries. Some got their feelings hurt when I held them accountable for the low quality of play. The team lost some confidence in themselves and each other. Even though I thought we learned from the games and designed some practices to help us get better, I think some players checked out, mentally, the rest of the spring season.

Hopefully, I have identified some of the causes for the burn out and will be able to prevent them in the future.

Spring Begins with new Assistant Coach

We had a couple of good practices before spring break. When we returned from spring break, we were able to practice Monday – Friday and play a game on Saturday. Six days in a row of soccer is probably the most consecutive days of soccer these ladies have played since they were in high school.

During spring break, our basketball teams lost in the conference tournament. In the men’s tournament, the Belmont coaches and staff and I were happy that Lipscomb lost in the first round. Our excitement did not last long because, unfortunately, Belmont lost too. The men’s basketball team finished the regular season in a four way tie for first place. Our women’s basketball team won their first round game in overtime. It was good to see them win a close one. We were unlucky to get ETSU, the defending tournament champions, in the semi-finals.

I love March Madness. It’s nice being able to watch basketball on the computer in the office and not having to worry about the “boss button.” Actually, I am watching a women’s game right now – Florida State vs. St. John’s.

My new assistant coach is Andy Stoots. I did not have to look far. Andy came to us from ETSU where he has been an assistant coach/associate head coach the last 6 years. Andy is knowledgeable about the conference. ETSU qualified for the A-Sun Tournament in 5 of his 6 years. Andy is an excellent recruiter. He can coach any position. Andy’s character and integrity make him not only a great fit for Belmont but also a wonderful young man for parents to feel good about teaching their daughters. He is working at Belmont about 4 or 5 days a week while he and his family relocate from Johnson City.

I think the Belmont women’s soccer program is in a great place when I can attract an assistant coach with so much experience. I have hired very few assistants who were actually full-time coaches prior. I credit the team’s success, Belmont University, and being in Nashville as big reasons why I have been able to bring such good assistant coaches to Belmont.

We played MTSU on Saturday. The score ended tied 0-0. They had more chances to score than we did. I was a little disappointed in the quality of our play. I was even more disappointed in the lack of energy and excitement. I know it is not going to be like the fall, but it needs to be more intense than study hall. The wind did not help the quality of the game, and every time the ball went out of bounds, it blew away, and it took 2 minutes to chase the ball and get it back in play. It was difficult for both teams to sustain any kind of rhythm. It looked as if we had not played in a while, which we haven’t played in a while. We had 6 players, who did not dress for the conference tournament, play in the game on Saturday. The spring is a great opportunity for our depth players to develop and prove themselves.

I am excited about this weekend. We are going to a 7 A-Side Tournament at Western Kentucky. Kyle and I split the team into 2 teams. He will coach one, and I will coach the other. Players should be excited about 7 A-Side. This will be a good weekend to fix the lack of energy and excitement.

What a Winter!

I am blogging and crying. I am watching the Olympics and just watched the Canadian ice skater whose mother passed away of a heart attack 2 days ago. Wow! I have been watching the Winter Olympics the majority of the games. I must admit I lost some of my dedication during the ice dancing. I think the team has been watching them a lot too. When I see the girls, I hear them talk about the half pipe, curling, and snowboard cross.

When the Olympics started, it was colder in Nashville than it was in Vancouver. They were bringing in snow to Canada while the Belmont field was covered in it. This is my 5th winter in Nashville, and I think we have had more snow in 2010 then the other 4 years combined.

We had planned 6 small group sessions for each player in January and February, but because of the weather, each player had 2 sessions. Today, we had our first team training session. It was my biggest spring training session ever with 23 players. This is the first spring when the team will be able to play full sided at practice. Last spring, I think we were lucky to be able to play 6v6. I am very excited about our potential this spring. I think it can be productive for the team and fun for the girls.

One thing that is not fun is hiring a new assistant coach. Derek left at the end of January to become the new assistant coach at Vanderbilt. If that sounds like it may have been awkward, it was. Everything is fine now. The Vanderbilt coach and I are long time friends. It was a test for me to not allow professional relationships affect personal relationships and vice versa.

Hiring a new assistant will test some of the very same principles. It is not easy to find a qualified, loyal, experienced person for this position. The salary does not allow a person with a family to stay long. A younger person who is good will work for this salary long enough to gain experience and move on. It makes it hard for me to keep good help, and I feel like I am taking a big risk every time I have to hire a new assistant. I don’t work well with a new person right away. It takes time to learn each other’s strengths, weaknesses, expectations, and philosophies. I also feel bad for the players. It is a stress on them too – learning a new person, trying to make an impression, and adjusting to the way a new staff works together. It takes some of my players a while to trust a new person. Who could blame them with our recent track record with assistant coaches?

I hope you have read the article about the 2010 signees. I am happy with the class and think we got exactly what we need. Several people have been very complimentary about our recruiting class. They have said to me that the article makes it sound like an awesome class. In my sarcastic way, I like to tell them that Kenisha is not going to write stuff like, “She is an average player and a part time starter for her high school team. She started playing soccer when she was 6 years old and quit when she was 12.” I say that all in fun. The players are as good as the story.

I did something for the first time yesterday that I am going to continue doing. We practice at 4:00. From 3:00-3:30, I watched game video from last season. I watched 10 minutes of our game against USC-Upstate and 20 minutes of our regular season game against Kennesaw State. It was a very good transition time for me. I went to practice energized and motivated. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?

In the weeks ahead, I look forward to telling you more about our practices, our games after spring break, and introducing my new assistant coach. Here are the best things I have heard people say they have given up for lent – facebook, using sarcasm, and pressing the snooze button.

2010 Signing Class

With 23 players returning from last year's conference co-champions, this was definitely a year where we set out to get quality over quantity. My main goal was to get more creative and more dynamic in our attack. I think we accomplished this goal as well as added depth and some new talents to our reputable defense.

All 5 of our recruits come from excellent club systems where they compete against high level competition, are trained by great coaches, and some are nationally ranked. This class brings multiple state championships, ODP experience even at the international level, several USYS regional appearances, and numerous athletic as well as academic and leadership awards. As a result, I think our team at Belmont will be more skillful, more deliberate, and more competitive.

Amy Jo Anderson plays various attacking positions for BUSA. She is a tireless worker and does not back out of any challenges. We plan for Amy to give us the ability to attack out of the midfield on the dribble. She can commit defenders to step to her and open up space for forwards.

Nicole Berner is a goalkeeper for CRUSA FC Bucks Fusion. She is a hard worker who will challenge Sari and Ashley to become better players. Nicole gives us stability in goal in the future. She is strong and aggressive and has a great physical presence in the box. Nicole is an excellent shot stopper and has great range. I think training with Kyle, Sari, and Ashley will take Nicole to a new level very quickly.

Jennifer Collins plays center back for Carmel United. She will provide depth for us in a position where we have experience, but she is versatile enough to get playing time at other positions while she develops into our system. Jennifer is a smart defender. She reads the game and anticipates well. She can shut down an opponent before they receive the ball, and she understands angles and distances when they have possession. Jennifer is strong in the air, and I am confident she is capable of sliding into a defensive role for us when we need her.

Emily Jones hails from Cleveland, TN and plays for the 3 time State Champions - FC Alliance 92 Black. I knew I wanted Emily the first time I saw her play, when she was a sophomore. Emily is the kind of forward who will have as many assists as she has goals. She beats defenders with speed. She can cut to the goal, or she can get to the end line. Emily provides great crosses that are easy for her teammates to finish. I think she will be difficult to defend, and she will provide space and opportunities for Erica and Jayme and other teammates.

Bailey Kimbell is Amy Anderson's teammate on BUSA 92 Elite. They have won 3 Alabama State Championships. Bailey currently leads her team in goals in the Region Premier League Central Division. She is a student of the game. Bailey makes smart dynamic runs with and without the ball. She will be a player who is easy for her teammates to work with on the field. I think Bailey will add to our scoring production right away.

I could not be more pleased with the 2010 recruiting class. They not only fit our needs as a team, they fit the profile of a successful scholar-athlete at Belmont University and in the Atlantic Sun Conference. All five of our signees will immediately help us maintain our steady improvement, and they are the quality of players that assure our program continued success in the future.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Just to let you know about what I did personally during the break. I took my first REAL Christmas vacation with travel, family, and no recruiting. I was in Colorado for 2 weeks and had a great time. It was time to come back to work on January 4th, and I was very much looking forward to it. I got a stomach bug on the 3rd that put me out of commission for two days. I found out that my 96 year old grandmother passed away on the 5th. Immediately, I went to Dallas and returned to Nashville on January 10th.

When I opened my e-mail on January 11th, I had not responded to e-mails since December 18th. It has been a whirlwind ever since. There were unofficial visits to coordinate, the spring practice schedule to set, and many other scheduling, recruiting, and academic issues to handle.

Speaking of academics, the team finished the fall with a 3.257 GPA. Seventy percent of the team had a 3.0 or higher. We had 7 players on the Dean's List and one on the President's List!

We picked up a few other post-season awards. Jayme Trocino was named to the NSCAA All-Region Third Team. She is one of only three players in the conference to make it. Jayme also made the NSCAA Scholar All-Region Second Team. She was the only A-Sun player to make the Second Team. Elizabeth Bublis and Annie Musacchio made NSCAA Scholar All-Region Honorable Mention. It is an honor to have players recognized at this level. They all 3 deserve it.

Our spring schedule is set, the fall 2010 schedule is set, and the fall 2011 schedule is set. The 2010 roster is set. Signing Day is next month.

Our basketball teams lost the first round of the Battle of the Blvd at Lipscomb on January 11th. Several of the girls went to the game even though school had yet to start. We host the 2nd round of the Battle of the Blvd. next Tuesday night. I am ready to witness us get our revenge! The women's soccer team will be introduced on the court at halftime to acknowledge our 2009 conference championship and First Team All-Conference players.

I am looking forward to getting back out on the field in small groups next week. I hope the weather cooperates. The team is conditioning and lifting weights with Josh, Nate, Kyle, and Renee. Everyone should be fit for our first practice Feb. 22nd and our first game March 20th.