Playing high school sports can be difficult for any athlete. It is much different from middle school for a number of reasons. Athletes are stronger, coaches are better and add to the fact homework, travel and even after school jobs.
Many players on the Charleston junior varsity soccer team have added another obstacle. Not playing the sport before joining the team in high school.
Charleston coach Dave Dunlap said early in the season that the team had a number of girl’s who had never played the sport before earlier that week.
Since that time, he said he has seen alot of improvement.
“You can see it in a number of ways that they do things,” Dunlap said. “They are better backing each other up, they have more awareness and instead of standing around they are going to the ball.”
Dunlap said there are a number of reasons for the improvement not only of players who hadn’t played before high school, but players who had played before.
“We practice hard everyday and scrimmage against the varsity alot,” Dunlap said. “Getting that kind of expierence against a talented group like the varsity always helps.”
He said a number of girls that had no soccer expierence before have been impressive this season, but Kayley Bell, Karley Gardner and Ashton Marucco have stood out.
He pointed to a play in a match against Monticello where Marucco challenged a player aggressively for a ball as an example with how she has progressed as a soccer player.
“If you would have told me in the beginning of the year that she would have done that I would not have believed you, Dunlap said. “She is definetly one of the most improved players on the team.”
Marucco said she had not had any soccer expierence before high school, but decided to play because a lot of her friends were playing.
“I was a dancer my entire life,” Marucco said. “Soccer is much different. You definetly get to push people more and soccer is alot more work.”
Sophomore Alyssa Finley had not played soccer since kindergarten before she decided to join the team last season. She said the head varsity coach Paul Stranz was her teacher in study hall and persauded her to play.
In middle school she had played softball and volleyball, but said she fell in love with soccer.
“The hardest part about soccer in the beginning was getting the ball to the goal,” Finley said. “But the coaches have been great. If they see something you are struggling with they will work with you in practice and make you a better player.”
Dunlap said while this group is talented, it still has alot of work to go.
“All of them, whether they have played before this season or not have to work on progressing,” Dunlap said. “I am hoping they all get better and make big iimprovements by the time they make it to varsity.”
Tags: freshman, new players
