It Begins....

My soccer team just completed 14 games for league play and went undefeated earning the league title, with a record of 11-0-3.  And to think that nine years ago I knew nothing about soccer, and it wasn't until four years ago that I actually start coaching.  Haha - and I still get the names of positions confused!  This blog is about my experiences and what I've learned over the past four years.

First, a little context.  I'm a Christian, husband and father of six kids.  We didn't intend to homeschool our kids - our back ground was public school, so just assumed that's what we were going to do.  But things have a way of changing and we've been homeschooling ever since the first was ready for school.  My athletic background is endurance sports.  Cross Country, track & field, road races and cross country skiing were my thing.  Never did the team sport thing.  When my kids showed an interest in soccer, we got them on the Syracuse Eagles homeschool team.  Even then, I only watched a few games and really didn't understand the sport.  As time went on it became clear that the whole program needed more organization - could no longer fall to one or two people to do everything.  I helped get the board together to oversee and organize the program.  Coaching became an issue - we had lost a coach and without a coach the boys program would have died.  Couldn't have that happen while my boys were playing, so we hired someone to do some part time coaching.  The time the hired coaches weren't there, I would fill in, repeating that they told me to do.  Eventually I took over from the hired help and ran the program.

Our team plays in the ESCAL league that includes eight team from Oswego to Corning.  This is a varsity level league that includes ages from 11 to 18.  Maybe not up to the level of high schools, but still very competitive.

I think I'm in a unique position to share some experiences from the past nine years since I've been involved with the organizational aspect of the program, joining a new league, and learning how to coach.  Nope, I'm not the perfect coach or even close, so don't look to this for the definitive word on coaching to success - there are plenty of other web sites that will be happy to share the secrets of coaching, for a fee!  Nope, you get my advice for free - hope you can use it!