Dear Friends -
One of the features of this blog is the opportunity to see how many views it gets. My ego is not tied to the number of clicks. I do that on Instagram. Still, it's good to see that readership has spiked, now access to the email addresses provided through the school's Family ID site. Rob Adams, the face and voice of Friends of Hanover Soccer, will continue to add names to the list, and make corrections. He will continue to send group e-mails, although for day to day information, this blog is the place to go. When there is conflicting information, always go with the most recent post. There are so many aspects of this program that are moving targets. We do our best to be predictable, and timely. That said, we are at the mercy of the weather, parsimonious bus contractors, fellow schools with minds of their own, and the Soccer Gods. Bear with us.
We start soccer on Sunday night with registration and fitness testing at the high school. We will meet in the parking lot near the track, behind the school. We can all check the wonderful progress on the turf field (predicted to be ready for our August 27th preseason home opener). We will have a registration desk, to check in every player. Normally, we do a 20 yard shuttle run called the "beep test" , which is a superb measurement of fitness. This requires a turf field, and that's not available. Instead, we will bring running or training shoes, and do some timed runs on the track. After a brief warmup, we will put class groups through their paces in the 50, 100, 400, 800 and perhaps 1500 meter runs. The first event of the night will be the sophomore 400 meters, run in two heats. We will be charging admission for the senior 50, featuring Kyle, Eli, Amane, Pat, and whomever dares to join that quartet. We have an all-star cast of timers coming to help. The emphasis will be on having fun.
We currently have 96 students registered for soccer, and almost every registration has been "approved". We will be endeavoring to get every physical logged in, and go for 100 percent approval by the end of the day Friday. Only approved students will be permitted to participate in tryouts. 96 is literally the perfect number, allowing for optimal roster size. We intend to have 26 players on the Varsity and JV2 teams, and 22 each on the Freshman and JV1 teams. We have carefully thought out every aspect of team placement, always keeping in mind the best interests of every individual, as well as that of the four teams. Because this is a vertically-integrated program, all four teams are linked to each other. We train together, and take advantage of that proximity to maximize coaching and training resources. I usually spend a good deal of time on each of Hanover's four teams. This season I will be devoting some extra time to both the JV2 and Freshman teams, as you will see.
Attendance at preseason (and in-season) trainings and games is important, but students and families lead busy complicated lives. We are always willing to excuse players for medical and dental appointments, family events, driver education, and other co-curricular conflicts. Many soccer players are also members of instrumental, choral, quiz, journalistic and dramatic groups. We delight in this participation, and work hard to create an atmosphere of flexibility.
A final note on our upcoming visit next Tuesday and Wednesday from the 30 boys and coaches from the Royal Grammar School from Newcastle, England. We have hosted RGS three times previously during their regular tours of New England. We'll start the visit on Thursday night, with a scrimmage between a varsity-level team (named Tuesday morning) and the RGS first team at 6:00. We will have just finished the afternoon session of tryouts, and will have a picnic supper for every player. We are eager to have them stay and eat while they enjoy the game. Why not plan on a 7:00 - 7:30 pickup of your progeny that evening, knowing they will be fed. After the match, we will feed both two teams and send the Newcastle boys with their host families. We have had a nice surge of volunteers to host Newcastle players. Thank you! We still need more host families, each willing to host two players for two nights and two breakfasts. This is not limited to Varsity players. What better way to jump into the HHS program than sticking your hand up and taking a few charming Brits home?
Once you settle into reading this blog regularly, we hope you notice that we'll always try to balance reporting on games and recent events, and preview what's up next. We will always try and provide background and context, and not assume prior knowledge. Please stay in touch vis e-mail with your questions. Never a bother. There are no silly questions. coaachgrabill@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment