Success for Women's Soccer Begins in Training

Photo courtesy of Sebastian Afanador, Watauga Yearbook

The women’s soccer season has begun and some new changes have been implemented this year. This season, the coaches and teams are hoping for a successful season and the ability to grow closer together.

One new change to the soccer program is journaling.

“Our coaches ask us to journal about practices and our mindsets a few days a week after practices,” said sophomore Ellee Bishop, who plays for the Varsity team.

Another new change the soccer program is working on mental health throughout the season. To preserve the mental health of the team, the coaches are attempting to limit the time that players spend on their phones.

“A new thing we're doing this season is working on mental toughness,” said Bishop.

This mental toughness comes in the form of repressing the urge to check phone notifications constantly.

“Coaches ask us to stay off of our phones for one day a week for an hour,” said sophomore Claudia Hooker, also a Varsity player.

By spending time away from these distractions, the coaches are hoping to see improvement with the players' attitudes toward the game and their confidence while playing.

Another change implemented to the soccer program is that players from both the Varsity and JV teams are asked to spend time together to build camaraderie.

“We have small groups we hang out with every two weeks and our coaches organize entire team events as well,” said sophomore Ananda Verling, Varsity player.

This season, both the Varsity and JV teams practice together, and an average practice starts with warming up and doing drills together, regardless of whether players are on the Varsity or JV teams. After warming up together, the teams separate to work on specific skills for each team.

“This year we have started doing mixed drills with JV and Varsity players for the first half of our practice,” said Verling. "This has helped to create a stronger team bond between the overall program and allowed for more improvement in both teams.”

Building relationships between the Varsity and JV teams has been a priority for the women’s soccer coaches this season.

“This is new this year. We definitely wanted to create a little bit more cohesion between the two teams and form some stronger relationships across the entire program,” said Varsity Coach, Chris Tarnowski. “We want to make sure that we have one cohesive group that works together for the common good.”

This season, coaches hope to bring the teams closer together and have a successful season.