Lady Cougar Soccer Building Their Own Future
By David Gravely
Over 70 young soccer players gathered at Pulaski County High School recently to work on their game as the Lady Cougar Soccer team hosted the first annual Lady Cougar Soccer Indoor Camp.
"We have kids with talent in the area, but we need to get to them young and start teaching the basics and fundamental skills that they will need when they reach the high school" said Lady Cougar Soccer Head Coach Eric Martin. "Most kids come up through the system thinking that the most important thing is scoring goals. That's the wrong mentality, and we're working to change it. The young kids need to know the importance of passing and working as a team to move the ball. We want them to be confident that they can take on anyone, one on one, and keep the ball away from them. If they can do that and then add effective passing and ball movement, then the goals will come."
The players who attended the camp ranged from the youngest recreation league players to current eighth graders who will be trying out for the junior varsity team this coming spring. During the first day of the camp, the focus was on ball handling and effective passing techniques. The campers were split into groups by age, and current Lady Cougar varsity soccer players worked as their coaches with Coach Martin and assistant coach Tim McPeak over watching the progress.
"We want to try to get the players from all age groups together as often as possible to work with them" said Coach Martin. "We're trying to build our program up, and it has got to start from the younger levels. We want the kids involved, and we need them to be out playing as much as possible. We want our program to be able to compete with anybody, and to do that we've got alot of work to do. The good news is that the kids really seem to be willing to do that work."
The final session of the camp will be held this Sunday at Pulaski County High School, with a start time of 2 pm. Anyone interested in finding out more about the camp can contact Coach Martin at javascript:window.top.openSendEmail('etmartin@pcva.us.','','','');
By David Gravely
Over 70 young soccer players gathered at Pulaski County High School recently to work on their game as the Lady Cougar Soccer team hosted the first annual Lady Cougar Soccer Indoor Camp.
"We have kids with talent in the area, but we need to get to them young and start teaching the basics and fundamental skills that they will need when they reach the high school" said Lady Cougar Soccer Head Coach Eric Martin. "Most kids come up through the system thinking that the most important thing is scoring goals. That's the wrong mentality, and we're working to change it. The young kids need to know the importance of passing and working as a team to move the ball. We want them to be confident that they can take on anyone, one on one, and keep the ball away from them. If they can do that and then add effective passing and ball movement, then the goals will come."The players who attended the camp ranged from the youngest recreation league players to current eighth graders who will be trying out for the junior varsity team this coming spring. During the first day of the camp, the focus was on ball handling and effective passing techniques. The campers were split into groups by age, and current Lady Cougar varsity soccer players worked as their coaches with Coach Martin and assistant coach Tim McPeak over watching the progress.
"We want to try to get the players from all age groups together as often as possible to work with them" said Coach Martin. "We're trying to build our program up, and it has got to start from the younger levels. We want the kids involved, and we need them to be out playing as much as possible. We want our program to be able to compete with anybody, and to do that we've got alot of work to do. The good news is that the kids really seem to be willing to do that work."
The final session of the camp will be held this Sunday at Pulaski County High School, with a start time of 2 pm. Anyone interested in finding out more about the camp can contact Coach Martin at javascript:window.top.openSendEmail('etmartin@pcva.us.','','','');
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