You can't teach tough!

Pink on the Pitch

Calling all Wildcat soccer fans! We are now in the second half of the season and after a much needed team chat, we have decided our losing streak must end! Still hopeful to make playoffs, we must reach within our competitive and passionate selves to pull out a few more wins against some of our toughest components. A few recent games have diminished our sense of luck but it has allowed us to reflect.

Real teams and real athletes do not rely on luck to win games or to rise above as underdogs. Instead, they put their nose to the grindstone and work for achievements and success. It’s tough to imagine a team as skilled as this young Wildcat squad has faced defeat, but it is now within our control to decide what we want the rest of the season to look like.

While commitment is key, heart and passion is vital. I believe guts and grit will give us the tools we need to mark “W’s” on the score sheets.

Now, with all of that said, there are a few matters of business the Wildcats need to take care of. During Fall Family Weekend, the Wildcat Girls Soccer team will be wearing pink to raise breast cancer awareness. In bright, bubble gum pink, the name Autry will be worn on the back of each shirt.

Two Williston students, one now graduated, the other finishing her senior year in Oklahoma, Alex and Ashleigh Autry, lost their mom, Vicki, this past summer to breast cancer. Ashleigh was an advisee of mine and through frequent correspondence I had the pleasure of getting to know Vicki very well. She loved Williston and everything it was able to give to her children. Vicki fought for over four years and left us a strong and daring woman.

In honor of Vicki, the Wildcats will be raising money to give to a charity of the Autry family’s choosing.  We will be hosting a raffle and a bake sale on Friday night at the boys soccer game and will be selling breast cancer awareness bracelets at meals and around campus.

Please support the Wildcats in the fight against breast cancer and wear PINK over the weekend. We appreciate any support and know that it is going to a wonderful cause.

Pink on the Pitch 2012!

Where’s Waldo? The USA Soccer Team Revealed

Williston girls soccer

In their striped red and white jerseys, the USA Women’s Soccer team faces the 2012 London Olympics with prowess. The team made up of many veterans, is experienced, fierce, 100 percent tough, and absolutely incredible to watch. In the final minutes of their match against Columbia, the team was up 3-0 and finishing with confidence. Glued to the TV, I’ve pieced together each goal and wondered, “How am I going to implement these techniques and what will it take to make it work?”

Returning for my third year, I have set the bar high for Wildcat Soccer. Touch, touch, pass, move, change direction, and so on. Every movement of the USA team involves skill, but what sets them a part is their ability to improvise and move off the ball. I’m incredibly humbled as I watch them move with ball with such poise, but then I think, “This is doable!” Preseason is right around the corner. My girls should be ready to play tactically AND technically, simply because this kind of movement is surrounded with possibility.

Continue reading

Feelin’ The Heat

On May 28th, Coach Conroy and I gathered a large group of ambitious soccer girls together for a preseason meeting. In the 98 degree weather, there was no doubt that summer was right around the corner. Assisting in the seasonal shift was our summer workout. As we discussed the summer plan and preseason expectations, the girls were not only feeling the heat from the sun, but also from the pressure to prepare!

Each year a theme is chosen for the summer and for preseason. This year we have chosen accountability as our theme. To be accountable is to be responsible.

As one shifts into off-season training, accountability is a vital tool when working to get better, faster, and stronger. As a player, you are responsible for getting your workouts done, eating well, making the right decisions, taking care of your body, and choosing to be better than you were the day before. You are the only one who can decide how prepared you want to be for the 2012 season. This is when the room really started to heat up!  With 40 girls attending preseason, we will all be feelin’ the heat! This is the largest group Williston Girls Soccer has ever seen at preseason and the excitement rises with every passing conversation.

Heading into my third year as the Head Coach, I intend to set the bar even higher. Just missing a semifinal opportunity in our 1-0 loss to Groton School, we must plan on setting even bigger goals. We can’t plan to plateau; we must only plan to be better every practice and every game. As I check days off of my calendar, already waiting September 5th, I am feelin’ the heat for the upcoming season and am so thrilled for what’s in store for the Wildcats!

– Coach Davey