Weekly Summary #1

What an amazing way to start off my senior project. With tons of online classes, practices for my own team and countless hours spent with the players of Kearsarge United, it’s fair to say this week was a blur. I learned countless things about coaching, especially about coaching younger kids. This is something I was actually quite nervous about heading into this project was that I haven't coached 8-9-year-olds before. But the kids are nothing but enthusiastic, welcoming and open to their new coach. I had an absolute blast with all the teams from the u10’sall the way to the kids my age on the u18. Observing how my fellow coaches work has also been extremely interesting. Each with their own coaching styles and tendencies, all teams won their games this weekend in confident and prideful fashion. I am truly enjoying what I have been doing and look forward to the tasks and challenges of each new day. Everything went about as I had expected it to. The biggest surprise came on Saturday in the boys u18 game, where one of our players took a full-on sucker punch to the face. It was a situation filled with unease, anger, and confusion. But it was also super interesting to see how our head coach Jon Root handled it, he kept our players calm and pointed out that we were still in fact winning. There was no need to lower ourselves to their level and retaliate. Even the player who took the punch, Caleb, didn’t retaliate. The opposing player was asked to leave the game and the facility afterward. I feel I am just beginning to find myself as a coach, and this week served as my introduction to this art. It will help in the future, as I have already learned so much from both my courses, my fellow coaches, and my coach for my own team. Each and every single one of them are remarkable in how they conduct themselves while on the field. It’s amazing to watch, and it’s amazing how much their players look up to and respect them. I am very much looking forward to week 2.