No Contest

We got our new uniforms today. They are a little small, but they look awesome!

Just when I thought I had seen it all, tonight's game at Missouri was a first for me. As we rode in the bus at 5:15, we watched a storm blow in from the west, and it arrived at the stadium about the same time we did. The sky went from blue to black during our 15 minute ride. The game manager met us on the bus and escorted us straight to the locker room where we sat for the next 1 1/2 hours while the storm hit. After an abbreviated warm up, we started the game at 7:45 on a saturated field with puddles.

After 14 minutes, we were winning 1-0 on a breakaway goal by Erica Carter off of a pass from Jamie Loftis. I thought our team played with courage and heart. Missouri was a physical opponent, and if that were not enough, a strong wind started blowing right in our faces. With the wet field, wind, and physical pressure, it was extremely difficult for us to get the ball out of our half. It took some great headers, some blocked shots, and some excellent saves by Nicole to be winning 1-0 when the game was suspended.

We waited in the locker room for 45 minutes. At 9:00, the game was cancelled. The team wanted to play. They were already asking if we could play the rest of the game in the morning. When I told them that Missouri has a flight at 8:00 tomorrow morning, they said they would play at 6am.

We were all very excited and disappointed that the game ended the way it did.

Tomorrow, we drive to Cape Girardeau, straight to the SEMO soccer stadium to practice at 3:00.

Pre-Season

August 3rd was the earliest report date women's soccer has ever had. We decided to take our pre-season training off campus. We went to Indian Springs School where we had convenient and unlimited access to the dorms, cafeteria, and soccer fields. It was one of the hottest pre-seasons we've had in a while, so we were practicing at 6am and 7pm. Besides soccer, there was very little activity other than eating and sleeping. It was very productive for the team and very conducive for me to coach for 2 weeks without worrying about money, meals, travel, and other distractions.

Before coming back to Nashville, we played Samford. It was a difficult game for us, especially the first half, but it was very good for us to play against that kind of pressure. It will help us be better prepared for Missouri. We lost 1-0, but we improved throughout the game.

Once we were back in Nashville, we had 73 people at our Welcome Back Dinner, hosted by the Trocino's. I think it is important for the women's soccer family to extend beyond the players.

The next evening, we played Vanderbilt. The first half started kind of slow, but there were 3 goals in the last 15 minutes of the game, and we finished by getting 2 corner kicks in the last minute. The score ended 2-2. As much as I wanted to win, I think a tie is fine.

As men's soccer and volleyball are arriving on campus and beginning their grueling practice schedules, we have tapered down to 1 practice a day to get ready for our season opener on Friday at Missouri. Missouri has finished in 1st place in the Big XII the last 2 years. Athletically, they are out of our league. I told our players we are not playing them in individual sports like track, 1v1, or weightlifting. We are playing them with 11 players at a time. If we work hard with each other and for each other, if we work smart together, then we will be competitive in this game.

Last week, I was nervous about this game. Today, I am excited!

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.