Marietta College Women’s Soccer – Coach Sean Kaighin

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Sean Kaighin from the Marietta College Women’s Program in Ohio. We talk about what key attributes he’s looking for in players. We cover the great athletic accomplishments of their whole athletic department. Lastly, we discuss how he likes to see his team play the beautiful game. Learn more about the Marietta Women’s Soccer program.

[00:00:00] Matt: Hi, everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer. I’m excited today to be joined by coach Sean from Marietta college in Ohio. How you doing coach?

[00:00:09] Coach: Good, man. It’s good to have you here. Thanks for the invite. Thanks for the opportunity.

[00:00:13] Matt: Yeah, no, thank you. Uh, you know, I grew up in Columbus and went to grad school at OU in Athens.

[00:00:19] So I got a little soft spot in the old ticker for Ohio schools. Um, now my, my only one real time through Marietta got me a speeding ticket. So I don’t necessarily have a fond memory, but that’s okay. That’s neither here nor there. Um,

[00:00:33] Coach: and then to deal with that, there’s a state highway station right out here.

[00:00:37] So it was probably.

[00:00:41] Matt: 20 years ago. I had a it’s all good. Uh, anyway, so let’s, let’s start talking about, uh, your college in terms of your recruiting process. So when, when do you start usually hearing from players? Like what, what year in high school are they and when do you usually start going out? Watching players?

[00:00:56] Coach: Yeah, so, so, I mean, it happens both ways.

[00:00:58] We have, we have players, uh, we use an online system called front rush that I’m sure a lot of, a lot of colleges out there use as far as their initial questionnaires for, for student athletes to fill out. Um, but we start getting them as early as their freshman year of high school. Um, and we’re happy to have conversations and kind of start trying to help these student athletes figure out, um, if Marietta is the right step for them.

[00:01:19] Um, but let’s be honest. I mean, I know how I was in high school. I changed my mind about a dozen different times. Um, and I know these young student athletes will, will kind of change their opinions and find new interests and things that they liked. Um, but we’re happy to help them explore it as early as possible.

[00:01:34] Um, and then for the most part, You don’t showcases and tournament events. Um, we look for, for, you know, student athletes of all ages, uh, that are in high school, uh, that are targeted at these events and we’ll reach out to them if we like what we see.

[00:01:48] Matt: So let’s talk about those events. What are some of the events that, you know, are, are kind of the must attend the events that you try to get to every year?

[00:01:57] Coach: Yeah, so a blue chip over in the Cincinnati area is always a big event. Um, they’ll get teams from all over the country. Um, you have, um, crossroads of America, which is at grand park in Indianapolis. That’s a massive event in that venue itself. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the park, but they’ve got about 30 some fields that are available.

[00:02:17] So it’s nice that you can go. One location, one venue, um, and see as many games as possible on a weekend. And then there’s a lot of one-off events we try to get to. So a Ohio elite hosted event actually here in a couple of weeks. So we’re going to try to get out to, there’s a new one on our radar this year circle city, um, is putting on, I think that’s a club that way in Indiana.

[00:02:39] Um, so they’ve gotten a met coming up and got a week. Um, you’ve always got. Individual clubs, hosting little showcase events, and then play days. Um, so like bead lane out of the Pennsylvania area, they’ve got an event coming up in a week or so. So we’ll go out there for a day and watch games. Um, the pacesetter soccer club Memorial day tournament.

[00:03:00] Sometimes I try to go back there, but, um, I’m from that area, I used to work for the clubs. So, um, little, I feel a little, um, obligated to try and go and support them whenever. Um, and then castle, or is now a, as it goes under a different name, but it’s down in Raleigh, North Carolina, every fall. Um, and that’s always a massive event that again, falls national teams from all over.

[00:03:22] So, um, the, the quality is good. The talent is good. And the amount of players that are available to see, um, those are the big, big things for us. When we go to those.

[00:03:32] Matt: Well, speaking of amount of players, what would you say is the amount of inbound contacts you’re getting on a weekly or monthly basis?

[00:03:41] Coach: You know, it’s, it’s, it’s hard to track down, um, weekly, if you had to average it out throughout the year, I’d say.

[00:03:47] Five to 10 maybe. Um, but again, there are some weeks where we don’t have any contacts and typically that’s in the fall season when we’re active with our current team and playing in our traditional season. Um, but outside of that, uh, anywhere from 10 to 15 players, probably a month total, um, so you’re talking close to 150, maybe 200 throughout the course of an entire year.

[00:04:10] Um, but that isn’t always all just like one age group. Those are freshmen, sophomore, juniors, and seniors combined. Um, and then every year we try to add to it as we move on down the line.

[00:04:20] Matt: So what do you like to see in that first communication from a recruit?

[00:04:24] Coach: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for us is we just want to establish contacts, um, kind of get a feel for the personality.

[00:04:30] Um, obviously sometimes they’re a little bit nervous. Um, so we always try to kinda like move to keep the conversation pretty simple. Um, but the way we break it down, our first initial phone call, we try to just focus on the soccer stuff. Um, so we try to get a little bit of a background. Um, we always want players that have a strong or an extensive club background, because I believe that that’s where a lot of the development and the player happens.

[00:04:53] So we want young ladies that play clubs. Uh, and not just high school ball, but you have your rare cases. We have a young lady on the team right now, never really played club soccer cause she’s a multi-sport athlete. Um, and she worked her way into the starting line up here this past fall season. So it’s possible, uh, which is a rare occasion.

[00:05:11] Um, So, yeah, we really just try to focus on the soccer stuff, get a feel for their attitude and their personality. And then we have a whole system kind of a flow chart, um, that we kind of follow through to try and keep in touch. Um, but it all depends on where we come in contact with the player. If they’re already a senior in high school, we kind of have to fast track things.

[00:05:31] Um, but if they’re younger, we can kind of take our time, um, spreading out the conversations and seeing that player play as many times as possible. What.

[00:05:42] Matt: What, um, in terms of you talk about club coaching or excuse me, playing club soccer. Are you in contact with club coaches a lot during that recruitment process to get a feel for that?

[00:05:57] Coach: Oh, yeah, definitely. Um, I think we always try to find an opportunity with, with, uh, with a high school or a club coach. Um, at some point in time, especially as we get further down the way in the process where we think we might actually make an offer to a young lady, um, we want to make sure we try to do a bit of a character check or reference check.

[00:06:15] So, um, it’s really just a few questions that I ask every coach, and it’s always this. What’s the player like at training, how’s their attitude and what are the parents like? That’s a big one. Um, cause we want to know who we’re bringing into the family, what the culture impact might be. Um, but we always want some sort of a coach’s assessment, um, of the player because it’s important.

[00:06:36] We can only see so much in a, in a game, right? So your coaches see a lot more, um, in the training field and off the field, um, that we can, during that whole process. Yeah.

[00:06:48] Matt: So what, uh, do you guys do ID camps or work any other, like any other schools camps to help that you’re recruiting?

[00:06:54] Coach: Yeah, I’m um, I honestly, anything we can fit on the calendar.

[00:06:57] I’m always game for, um, we’re on a mission here. I just took over the program within the last three and a half years. So we’re really trying to change things, um, really from top to bottom. Um, and now we’re really, really trying to grind it out and figure out a way to get better talent here, um, and acquire top level talent, um, potential D one D two player.

[00:07:16] Aren’t quite ready for that level of commitment, maybe, um, where they want a little bit better of a balanced in the college experience. So that’s, that’s critical for us. Um, but you have organizations like exact camps. Uh, the CCSC organization runs ID camps, where they pool in, you know, hundreds of players at various events.

[00:07:37] We try to target those ones that are close. So like Columbus there’s always, um, turning or ID camp, Sheldon that area. Other schools, what looks ID camps. And sometimes we get invitations via email to go and attend. And sometimes if we can make it fit on the calendar we go. And then here, we try to always post it as one ID camp on campus every year.

[00:07:57] Um, I’ve played around with it. We’ve had summer camps that did really well and not so well. The next year we had a fall ID camp at the end of the high school seasons. Um, some years it’s done really well, other years, not so much. So we’re still trying to find like the best time of year. Um, but we’ve got coming up mid to late March, um, here this spring.

[00:08:16] So hopefully we’ll, we’ll get some decent numbers. Okay. So do

[00:08:20] Matt: you have a set number of players you’d like to bring in every year? Does it just kind of vary?

[00:08:24] Coach: Honestly, it kind of depends on necessity. Uh, how many players are graduating? How many players are ineligible, um, potential for players leaving school that right.

[00:08:34] There’s always those, those one-off situations where you just don’t expect it. Um, In the last few years I’ve been here anywhere from seven to 12 players. We’ve brought in my first three years, we had some big classes. So we had 11 the first year, 12 and acts. And then we had 10 last year. So big classes. Um, this next fall of 2022, we’ll probably only bring in about seven or eight.

[00:09:00] Okay.

[00:09:01] Matt: Um, now being D three, uh, you know, obviously there’s no athletic money, so what’s the scholarship situation like, uh, on the academic and merit side at your

[00:09:11] Coach: school. Yeah. Um, I’ll be honest with you. I’m pretty amazed and impressed to what this institution provides. Um, even outside of athletics, um, because we can offer athletic specific money.

[00:09:22] Um, it’s amazing to see. The amount of financial support that the institution provides. Um, but you know, if you look at the stick at market price, um, sorry, sticker market price is a. Around 50,000 a year. Um, but I assure you, no one on this campus is playing. It is paying anywhere close to that. Um, so it’s important that you have a high profile.

[00:09:45] Um, we definitely want to pursue student athletes that are at least 3.0 and above. Um, but to be honest, 3.5 and higher is, is better for us because then we know we’ve got a young lady that has a good head on their shoulders. It’s going to end, it’s going to take the classroom serious. Um, But there are loads of opportunities, additional scholarships and grants through the institution, as well as outside.

[00:10:08] We always encourage student athletes to look at at local organizations in their community that might, that might support, um, scholarships. And there’s always, you know, a paper to write or an essay or something involved, excuse me, or maybe some community service, um, with that. There’s a lot of additional ways, especially like here at Marietta, if you want to get into our leadership program, that can get you additional money every year.

[00:10:34] Uh, but you have to have the grades and the profile to get accepted into that. Um, so there’s different tiers, different levels of it. Um, but I honestly have been really amazed with the amount of financial aid that this place provides.

[00:10:47] Matt: That’s fantastic. So, I mean, you, you talked about, um, character in talking with college or club coaches and stuff.

[00:10:57] So what are kind of your, when you’re out recruiting, what are the key ingredients? What are the, the hierarchy of things you’re looking for? Both on the field and

[00:11:05] Coach: off the field? Yeah, definitely. So, um, we have a talent identification list that my assistant and I have put together. Um, and it really is just kind of eight simple categories and we just kind of check the boxes based on what we can see of that player.

[00:11:20] We’re watching them play. Um, but you’ve got to obviously have a technical foundation in the game. You want to make sure you have club experience, you know, with your soccer IQ. Does it show that, you know, when you can read the game, um, athleticism comes natural speed and pace. Um, those are some things we look for, but the little things I also like to look for.

[00:11:40] So, uh, Let’s say a player in a game makes a mistake. They make a bad pass. They miss a shot. Um, how do they react immediately after that moment to the hands go up in the air or the cover their face. Does the head go down? Um, or do they just react and try to win the ball back or move on to the next opportunity?

[00:11:59] Um, those are little tells that we look for. And then when a player gets substituted off the field as well, I do like to see, do they walk past their code? Did they disregard any feedback that the coach might offer? Um, or do they listen? Are they coachable? Right. So there’s little things like that that are telling moments for us that we try to pay attention to at these live.

[00:12:19] Yeah, no,

[00:12:19] Matt: I, I keep stressing it’s, uh, to, to players in our club. Same thing that, that that’s all always watching. Right. It’s like the monsters Inc movie. You’re always watching. Um, so last, uh, question for you on the recruiting side of things, how, how do transfers walk ons and internationals kind of all fall into your recruiting puzzle?

[00:12:44] Coach: Yeah. So, um, I’ll cover like internationals at first. Um, it’s not something that we, that we’ve really targeted, um, in the three years that I’ve been here, I’m not opposed to it. Um, but we we’ve, we’ve tried, um, financially at the D three level, it can get pretty difficult, um, because obviously domestic students have, have more opportunities, more access to more financial aid, uh, than not in domestics.

[00:13:07] So that becomes a little difficult. But, um, every once in a while you have some, some organizations that are. International players that reach out and say, Hey, their budget is this much. And we’ll certainly evaluate it and look at some film. Um, but it’s difficult to, to ask a young lady to come that far away from home.

[00:13:28] Uh, and spend a lot of money to do it. So we’re able to find plenty of domestic talented players, uh, in our experience so far, but I’m certainly not opposed to it. Uh, the transfer portals is something that we just recently started to explore. Um, we’re starting to build what we think is a successful program and we’re working towards winning more games and that need more competitive on the field.

[00:13:50] Um, and you always have those players. I think they can play or go to a higher level, then maybe they’re not happy or things just don’t work out. Maybe they’re not happy at school. Um, so it’s always worth, I think, exploring that. And then I will say every, every year in the spring season, um, it seems that we always have three to five players that contact us late in the recruiting process that maybe they didn’t think they wanted to play college soccer, and now they do.

[00:14:17] Um, so we kind of opened the door and see what we can do, but we’ve always had a few players walk on. And we give them some time in that fall season to see if they can adjust and see if they can compete. Um, sometimes it works out and they’re still on the team. Other times they end up, you know, just stepping aside from soccer, but as a Testament to the institution here, um, a lot of those players that stay on campus and in school, Let’s bring it up to the right place.

[00:14:42] Matt: That’s good. And let’s talk more about the school itself. Um, folks, you know, may not be familiar with Marietta, Ohio. So what, you know, besides what I can find on the website, what are some of the things that, that your school is known for that are great about your school that are gonna make somebody want to check

[00:14:58] Coach: it out?

[00:14:59] Yeah, well, I think one of the biggest things that this place is known for on the athletic side is the baseball team. Um, they have six or seven national championships in the last 25 years. Um, so they’re very, well-known in the baseball world. Um, and Brian Brewer, the current head coach continues to build a competitive program.

[00:15:15] So I know they’re there, they made it pretty far last year in the NCAA tournament. I know they’re trying to do the same thing again. Um, our men’s basketball team and our women’s basketball team, actually both nationally, right. Uh, the men’s basketball team has been nationally ranked for a couple of years now.

[00:15:30] Um, softball does really well or other athletic teams do really well. And soccer has been in a conference tournament for six of the last seven years. So when it comes to being a student, It’s really fun to be a part of this campus. Cause everyone knows what, what you play. Uh, and they all support one another.

[00:15:47] Um, but as far as things that kind of attract to it, um, the town itself is beautiful. It’s, it’s, it’s smaller, right? So if you want the small town fit, this is definitely a place to explore. It’s safe, um, in the community to support a fantastic. We’re right on the Ohio river. So there’s loads of hiking trails, walking trails, biking paths, um, that really are aesthetically appealing to the eye.

[00:16:10] The campus itself is gorgeous. Um, so I would encourage people to take the virtual tour before you visit, if you can’t. Uh, it’s nice in the digital world we live in, but that’s successful. Um, and then the downtown area is probably one of my favorite things to show. Everything is local family owned, um, which I think is really cool.

[00:16:28] And it makes it really unique about this place. So you have your chain and your franchise stuff closer to the highway. Um, but the downtown area, it’s all local family owned restaurants and businesses. So it just is, uh, it’s neat. And it’s, you know,

[00:16:42] Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, so how do your students balance those academic and athletic commitments that they have?

[00:16:51] I mean, what, what, what’s the, what’s it like specifically a Marietta?

[00:16:54] Coach: Yeah. So, I mean, it’s important that when you come in, you’ve got some time management. Um, I think there’s, there’s always a, an acclimatization period, especially for freshmen coming in that kind of adjusts to the difference of mom and dad.

[00:17:09] Aren’t at home with me every night to make sure I do my homework to make sure I go to class.

[00:17:16] That’s right. So there’s a self-accountability female athletes, but they just seem to have their heads on. Right. And they do their job to go to class and to do the work. Um, so thankfully touch wood. We’ve not had really any major issues. Um, but typically for us as a women’s soccer player, you’re going to class Monday through Friday.

[00:17:34] Um, our trainings are typically the evenings once in a while. We might throw in a morning session depending on the schedule and field availability. Um, and then you traveling anywhere. One to two days a week, um, or playing games one to two days a week as well. So it can be a little heavy when you’re in that traditional championship season.

[00:17:54] But when you get outside of that, because of NCA rules and what we’re limited on, as far as what we can mandate the players do, um, I think they get a much better balance. So school and sport and having a social. Uh, once they’re outside of their traditional season. So when the winter in the spring months, you know, our, our young ladies are trying to do some workouts on their own strength and conditioning.

[00:18:17] Um, and then we have a very short, condensed spring season where we only train for three days a week, uh, for, we stretch it out for about four or five weeks. Um, but that’s, that’s what we’re allowed to do. So it’s a lighter load. It’s manageable. Um, we’ve even had young ladies on the team that had duals. Uh, competed.

[00:18:35] So for the young lady right now is on the soccer and the track team. Um, so she’s busy fall on spraying, but she’s doing great. Her grades are solid, so, and she’s, she’s excelling in both sports. That’s awesome.

[00:18:48] Matt: Well, what, what support mechanisms are in place both, you know, whether they’re just, uh, athletic department specific or overall academic support that the school offers.

[00:19:00] Coach: Yeah. So, um, our academic resource center, I think is outstanding. Um, the school provides free tutors in every department, which is awesome. Um, so at least these kids, if they’re struggling with anything, they’ve got access to. Um, we have players that go to study sessions, additional, extra credit opportunities, uh, throughout the week.

[00:19:19] And sometimes that means they’re gonna either miss an entire training session or have to come late or leave early. Um, which we’re okay with academics is always going to be our number one priority. So we always work with the players. We just ask that they communicate in a timely manner, um, so that we can plan accordingly.

[00:19:35] And then we try to make up for any time missed if it’s possible, but we certainly don’t expect it. And as long as it’s not an ongoing trend where it’s becoming an issue of concern, uh, we really don’t have any shortage of consequences for players having to miss certain things. We want them to be able to balance their time as best as they can.

[00:19:54] And we want to trust our student athletes to tell us that, Hey, if they’ve got big test on Friday and they need to leave Thursday nights training little early so they can study. We’re okay with that. We just hope that the grades reflect it. Once we get to the midterm and the final. Um, I haven’t extended myself to help, you know, to players.

[00:20:12] I, my first year here, I tutored one of our players and I wanted to be a math teacher before full-time coaching came into the picture. So I’m willing to extend myself beyond just a coach as well. Um, but there’s loads of opportunities for study table times and then individual study and at the libraries for them to book rooms.

[00:20:31] Um, there really is no real. For a student to not be successful, I think here at Marea.

[00:20:37] Matt: Good. So, I mean, you mentioned, I guess you classes did today, most practices in the evenings, um, in terms of, uh, travel, you know, what’s, what’s kind of your average travel radius for games and how does that factor into, to classes and all that?

[00:20:56] Coach: Yeah. So, um, you know, there’s always going to be the weekends. Um, we try to save the further trips and thanks to the conference. The conference schedule is, is scheduled by the league. Um, so they plan the furthest trips within the conference. Uh, and it’s the OAC here at the Ohio athletic conference. So, um, the schools are all now.

[00:21:16] Uh, which is nice from a certain, you know, as far as travels, not too crazy, but one of the furthest trips we might take is about a four hour bus ride. Um, but those are typically on Saturday, so you’re not, um, impacting school too negatively. Uh, but you’re always going to have some non-conference games and travel, um, mid week.

[00:21:35] Um, it is a school policy here that if you’re traveling in your championship season, um, that it is an excuse to have. For outside competitions. Um, but the student athlete is responsible obviously to make up and sort of work that they might miss. So, uh, we give every player a letter at the end of the year.

[00:21:54] They’re supposed to take that to the professors at the first day of class, introduced themselves as a student athlete. That letter says, Hey, I’m part of the women’s soccer team, and I’m going to miss some class this semester. On the other side of that, we provide the schedule and the travel dates and the bus departure times.

[00:22:11] Um, so that, that way the professor knows early on that it’s going to happen. And then we expect our, our young ladies to, you know, send out reminders to the professors and communicate with them, um, in a timely manner so that they can make sure they make up for anything that they might.

[00:22:27] Matt: Okay, well, let’s, let’s talk more about the soccer side of things.

[00:22:31] Um, you know, you say you’ve brought in some, some pretty big recruiting classes of late, you know, if I’m an incoming freshmen, you know, I guess hopefully that means I’ve got some, some chances to compete for some plans on.

[00:22:44] Coach: Yeah. Um, I mean, that’s, that’s been one of the greatest selling points for us in the first few years of trying to rebrand this program is we’re telling freshmen when they come in and look, you can come in and make an impact and play right away.

[00:22:56] Um, I hope I’m never the type of coach that disregards a younger player just because they’re, they’re young and inexperienced at this level. Um, If we’re recruiting the right level of talent and the right character of players, I don’t see why you shouldn’t have an opportunity to come in as a freshman and compete right away.

[00:23:15] Um, if you want to look at this previous last fall season, I would say in almost every game, we started anywhere from eight to 900 classmen. So all freshmen and sophomore, um, and a couple of games was the fall of 11 where freshmen and sophomores underclassmen. There’s definitely opportunity for young players to come in and play right away.

[00:23:38] And a lot of the conversations we have with these young student athletes, that’s what they want. They don’t want to sit at the bench for a year or two and hopefully try to get some playing time. They want to make an immediate impact. And this is a place that we definitely think that that’s possible.

[00:23:51] Matt: What’s your ideal roster size and you want to carry.

[00:23:55] Coach: So we have 32 lockers in our locker room. We’re pretty fortunate with our facilities here on campus. They’re outstanding. Um, so we try to fill that as possible. Um, thankfully there’s not much pressure from the institution to say that you have to have that number, but we’d love to have it.

[00:24:10] Um, most T3 schools will have bigger officers in general. Um, but part of our philosophy is we want to have, we want to play at a high temp. We want to rotate players through. Um, I would argue, we average anywhere from 19 to 22 players. Uh, which is really unheard of in our sports specifically. Um, but that’s because we want our players to play at a high level.

[00:24:32] Um, and sometimes they’re going to get fatigue, right? Um, they’re doing classes and training and two games a week. You’ve got to make sure you keep players healthy and protect the longevity of their careers. So I think it’s important that you have a big roster. We’ll always try to have three or four goalkeeper.

[00:24:47] So you’re looking at anywhere from 28 to 29 field players. Um, and we try to make a competitive environment that helps these young ladies and motivates them to want to compete for a spot to play. Um, but we want them to appreciate one another and understand that if a young lady, Leon lady plays a full 90 minutes on a Wednesday, Their legs may not recover by the Saturday games.

[00:25:11] So we need depth in the bench, um, to make sure that we can rotate players through and still play at a high level. For sure.

[00:25:19] Matt: Well, what’s your, your soccer staff, like besides yourself? W who else is helping with the program? What roles does everybody

[00:25:25] Coach: play? Yeah, so, uh, it’s myself and I have a full-time assistant coach as well.

[00:25:30] So Michelle, Rick, she played division one at Wright state university, um, over in the Dayton area. So familiar with. Um, it has connections to clubs and teams over that way, high schools as well. Um, but we worked full time to try and put everything together. Um, we’ve looked into trying to bring in a goalkeeper coach in the past.

[00:25:50] Haven’t quite found someone that really, really, um, worth the time and commitment and able to bring in and really kind of trust to take that on himself. So when it comes to field players, player manager, Um, the traveling and the team meals, all that stuff. That’s, that’s Michelle and I pretty much do everything and we’ve got a pretty good system in place.

[00:26:09] I think, I think we’re doing the best we can with, uh, the resources that we have

[00:26:15] Matt: even a full-time assistant, uh, is, is a good place to be. Sometimes when you’re in a three program, I was coaching D two. I had zero assistance. So I, I, I hear you.

[00:26:26] Coach: I’m pretty lucky to have the full-time holder. I think we’re one of the few in the conference to have a full-time assistant in our sport, at least.

[00:26:32] So, yeah, it’s definitely a, it’s definitely a privilege. And, um, I’m, I’m grateful to have,

[00:26:37] Matt: what about other athletic department staff? Like, do you have the, you know, I’m assuming athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, anything like that?

[00:26:44] Coach: Yeah, so we don’t have a full time strength and conditioning coach.

[00:26:46] Um, so the caveat to that is we can kind of. Um, we can kind of help coordinate and plan. Um, off-season strengthening conditioning for our young ladies. Um, so we’re able to, Michelle takes a lot of that on herself because she’s passionate about it. She studies it a lot. She’s currently pursuing her CSCs. So, um, that’s a licensure that obviously alter, um, know what she’s doing.

[00:27:07] Right. And I continue to learn as, as, as we go through it. Um, we’ve got full-time athletic trainers and we have one that’s assigned to our team. Um, so our athletic training department to be honest is outstanding. Uh, they have seven or eight total full-time, um, employees in there and every, every varsity team on campus has an athletic trainer, a trainer assigned to them in their championship season.

[00:27:33] Um, so it’s nice that the players have that actual. Um, and then they have just added that as they graduate program as well. So now you have graduate students that also help assist them. Um, so the program has continued to grow and develop and improve. Um, and I think the, the resources that those, those athletes have, uh, again, when I have injuries and things, the first question I ask is, did he talk to the it department because don’t know more than I do at that point in time.

[00:27:59] And that’s what they’re there for.

[00:28:01] Matt: That’s great. You mentioned it a little bit before, but how would you describe your style of play and your, your style of coach?

[00:28:11] Coach: Yeah. So, uh, I tend to think I’m, I’m pretty high energy. Um, I’m pretty fun guy to be around. So I like to, I like to be playful and enjoy ourselves, but, you know, we want to embrace a blue collar work ethic and we want to make sure our young ladies are trying to do the same thing.

[00:28:26] So. You know, there’s a time to concentrate and focus and be serious. Um, but like every session, for example, we always try to start with some sort of a fun little activation. Uh, we always try to make it sport-specific. Um, so there’s always some sort of mobility, agility, balance coordination involved with it, but it gives the girls, uh, an opportunity to, you know, to have some laughs have some fun and kind of lighten the mood for this session.

[00:28:52] Uh, before we get right down to it, as far as playing style. Um, I think adaptability is probably the best way I can describe it. You know, when I first came in, I was that coach that thought we played one system and study our system and that was it. We just perfected, but this is an ever evolving game and it’s important that you can adjust on the fly.

[00:29:11] So, um, system-wise changes, I think, game to game, depending on the opposition and what we expect to, to go up. Um, obviously injuries and, and player players who are able to play that always impacts your decisions you make as well. But I definitely lean more towards a possession style game. We want to make sure our players are comfortable ability to the thirds and trying to break lines.

[00:29:33] Um, I’m not much of a direct style coach. Um, if we’re down a goal, 10 minutes left, then a game, okay, we’ll play direct a little bit and try to push numbers forward. But for the most part, we want to play the beautiful game, the way it’s supposed to be.

[00:29:47] Matt: Yeah. Makes sense. Um, all right, well, Hey, you know, last question.

[00:29:52] This is the catch all you get to just tell me, you know, what else about your school, your program, or anything else you want to, you want to share that maybe we didn’t cover yet?

[00:30:02] Coach: Yeah, I think, I mean, I think this has been pretty awesome. I think you’ve covered a lot of, a lot of different facets for us. Um, I think at the end of the day, um, if there’s, if there’s student athletes out there that want the young energetic.

[00:30:14] Passionate and empathetic staff. Um, this is the place to be. Uh, I tend to think I’m a very patient and compassionate person. So, uh, I, I care about the student just as much as I do as the athlete side of things. And we want to make sure that the character development pieces, right. Um, so if you want to have a good experience enjoyed along the way, try to win as many games as possible and come into a program.

[00:30:36] That’s trying to build something, right. Um, anybody can go to a top level program and continue to win. We’re trying to take something that has struggled in recent history and build something. Uh, and I think that makes it special and unique. And, um, we’re trying to find those young student athletes that want to help contribute to the same golf.

[00:30:54] Awesome.

[00:30:55] Matt: Well, I wish you the best of luck and, and hope, uh, you continue to build that, that program and. Get a rocket enrolling in it, down there and Marietta. And, uh, I, if I make my way back through Athens, I’ll have to swing down and, and see what you got going on down there.

[00:31:11] Coach: Yeah. And you give a call, give an email or something.

[00:31:14] We’d be happy to show you around. Just watch your speed. Okay.

[00:31:19] Matt: Awesome. Thanks coach. Appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate

[00:31:22] Coach: you, man. Take care.