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Kennett soccer returns for second season
KENNETT, Mo. - Kennett Indian soccer enters its second season ever after head coach Jeremy Westerfield helped start the program last fall.
Westerfield said he was even more excited for this season after having a consistent summer of training with his athletes.
“Several [players] came out for our summer contact,” Westerfield said. “We were able to get into two different stages of our summer. The first stage was workouts and the second stage was drills. We got a lot done this summer.”
As the team battled cancellations due to the heat and working around the player’s summer schedule, Westerfield was still able to get decent numbers for summer contact.
His goal this year is to continue building confidence in his players on the pitch.
“We learned a lot of lessons last season and we’ve made some adjustments,” Westerfield said. “So we’re able to come into this and kind of shift our goals to where we think is gonna benefit the team the best.”
Priori to fall of 2023, the last time Kennett had a soccer team was in 2009 according to MSHSAA records.
Due to being a new program last season and a lack of numbers, the team could only compete as a JV squad.
With some key returners and a year of experience, the Indians look to build upon their established foundations from its inaugural season.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how we’ve developed as a team and how each of my players have developed over the summer,” Westerfield said. “We worked on some of these new drills that Coach Lee and I worked out. I’m excited to see how well these benefit our players.”
Alex Lee served as the assistant coach for the team last season. He along with Westerfield attended a Missouri Soccer Convention in Columbia this summer to network with other coaches and college coaches. Here they picked up a few tips and pointers on how to keep developing the program from scratch.
They learned it starts with making sure each player can be fundamentally sound on the field. This summer has been focused on building the program by building each player’s individual skills.
“Individual player development was one thing we started trying to work on a lot more this year over the team based stuff,” Westerfield said. “We think that’s really where the team is gonna come together, when each player is more confident in their own skills.”
The Indians are hoping to build upon a 20 player roster from last year.
The team is set to play eight home games this year at Indian Park, including a Saturday competition against Vienna, IL.
The first two matches are at home on Sep. 3 against Jackson and Sep. 5 against St. Paul Lutheran. Both of those competitions will start at 5