Prep Column on Soccer Team

Hey gang...any and all comments are appreciated.

Inhale. Exhale. Jump back to the past and bid farewell
to the pain.

Saint Stephen's boys soccer team capped practice in
ritualistic fashion Tuesday
by running laps. Split into two groups, the players
followed the chalk lining of
Turner Fields, tracing the meticulously-drawn path
down each sideline, behind each
goal and around the field's four corners. Judging by
the panting and wheezing, it
was as fun as showering with steel wool. Luckily there
was some solace on the
home stretch.

It came in the form of a giant billboard overlooking
the field, the one with the plain
lettering and Pepsi logos. The one letting the Falcons
know all about the tradition
they have been entrusted to further.

Eight district championships. Five regional
championships. One state championship.
All since 1995. All listed in Saint Stephen's colors
of green and white.

Give it a quick glance. Suddenly those legs don't feel
as rubbery.

"I wouldn't really say it's like a burden," junior
co-captain Dale Peterson said. "It's
more of something that inspires."

There hasn't been much evidence to prove otherwise.
Despite graduating eight
players and starting three freshmen, Saint Stephen's
enters this afternoon's
home game against Maitland Orangewood Christian with a
mark of 10-1-1.

What was supposed to be a rebuilding year has sparked
the familiar talk around
Saint Stephen's, talk that the Falcons are special,
that they have a chance of
winning it all, just like the 2001 team did.

Guys like Peterson, a center-midfielder who has 14
goals and eight assists, believe
they can put a trio of '06s on that board. They
believe it's their job.

"I think it's something we've come to demand out of
ourselves," Peterson said.

It's up to Marc Jones to handle the rest. The Falcons'
head coach, who doubles
as a middle school math teacher, is in charge of
adding tradition to the mix while
subtracting all the pressure. You want the pride of
the team's past to carry your
players, not crush them.

"It's never a negative for the teams coming through,"
Jones said. "What we're
finding is success breeds success."

Maybe it was tradition that fueled the Falcons last
year, when they won a regional
semifinal game a day after former Falcons star Steve
Raker died in a car
accident. Maybe that's how Saint Stephen's rallied
from a 2-0 deficit to beat
Lakeland Christian on Dec. 16. Maybe that's why the
Falcons' freshmen are playing
like seniors, and seniors such as Nick Cooper, Josh
Jackman and co-captain Harris
Smriko, along with juniors Matt O'Carroll and Jared
Bellingar, have morphed into
excellent leaders.

Of course it's talent. But every team is blessed with
an assortment of that. Not
every team can draw on what Saint Stephen's can --- a
past so well-crafted that it
mirrors the line of chalk the Falcons trotted on
Tuesday afternoon. But that line
was perfect, not in need of any altering.

The other line, the one on display on that simple
billboard welcoming fans to
Turner Fields? The Falcons can extend that one as far
as they want.
--END--

 

Mr Man,

Some of the phrasing I question.

Saint Stephen's boys soccer team capped practice in ritualistic fashion Tuesday
by running laps.

Clunky. Needs to be more active. The coach blew his whistle, ordered them to run laps, the leg-burning ritual ending to practice ... something like that.

Then to the teams that ran the laps before them ...

Maybe this is just me but it does seem a story that you back into.

Judging by the panting and wheezing, it was as fun as showering with steel wool. Luckily there was some solace on the home stretch.

Showering with, etc ... wouldn't that be screaming and bleeding instead of panting and wheezing. It seems like you back in and then go sideways.

The coach had them running laps. Though they didn't like, though nobody would, they did it -- inspired by the championship teams, obliged, whatever.

Anyway, those are my loose thoughts.

YHS, etc