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Kennett soccer team gears up for year two
KENNETT, Mo. - As the Kennett soccer team prepared for another indoor practice due to the heat, head coach Jeremy Westerfield passed the ball around with some of his players.
Despite MSHSAA regulations forcing them inside, Westerfield knew with their first match of the season approaching, they needed to get more practice time. The indoor facilities at Ultimate Fitness had everything the team needed to carry out a full practice.
Two goals, turf like flooring and some open space.
The theme of this season for Westerfield is perseverance, which Westfield has seen a lot from his players.
“I’m pretty excited about this season,” Westerfield said. “We got a lot of talent out here this year, and we got a lot of drive, which is the main thing. I can go without talent if we have drive. I can make good soccer players, but I can't make driven students.”
Kennett soccer is entering only its second year as a school affiliated program. In their inaugural season, Kennett captured a single win against St. Paul Lutheran (Farmington) and managed to tie a match against Perryville who finished 13-8 last season.
According to Westerfield and assistant coach Alex Lee, there was a lot of potential last year in only the team's first season. Now they are looking to turn this potential into results. With a season under their belts, the soccer program has a more clear vision of how they can succeed in the long run at Kennett.
Westerfield and Lee began implementing their vision for the team by preparing them for this fall as early as March. With spring and summer training, the Indians are a lot further down the road then they started off last year.
“I could not stress enough how much that extra time goes into developing the dynamic of this team,” Westerfield said. “Being able to work out in the spring and just get those kids warmed up is phenomenal. Days in spring and summer really go a long way.”
This summer gave Westerfield more time to focus on specific skills needed to help the team excel in game situations.
According to Lee, one skill they focused on the most was communication. After last season, Lee said he knew communication on the pitch would help this team be a lot more successful compared to the previous season.
“The biggest thing is their camaraderie between the players now,” Lee said. “They’ve gotten to a point where they can communicate with each other now that it just helps so much for them to be able to play with each other.”
Another factor to the off season contact was allowing the players to know each other. Lee said the more they play and practice together, the better they start to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses on the field.
Kennett will be returning the majority of their roster from last season while adding a few new faces. Three freshmen have joined the crew and some upperclassmen who didn’t play last year have bought into the program this season.
After playing with each other for a full calendar year now, the team’s chemistry has grown a lot according to senior Meagan Spielman.
“I think we work a lot better as a team this year,” Spielman said. “Last year we didn’t really know each other that well, we weren’t really friends. This season, it’s been a lot better growing closer as a team.”
Spielman, along with Tobias “Toby” Ray, have stepped up as leaders this season.
Westerfield said Ray and Spielman were at every single workout session during the off season. According to Westerfield, Ray also spent a lot of time working out on his own outside of practice and helping the underclassmen during workouts.
“As an upperclassman, they respect me,” Ray said. “In return, I respect them.”
Westerfield said Spielman and Rsay, along with all the returners, have helped produce a driven culture in the Kennett soccer program.
He believes the work his players have put in will result in a few more wins this year.
“I’m coming into this season with a clear vision of what we want,” Westerfield said. “We’ve changed our vision from last year of what this program needs to be. The kids coming into it with the drive they have and the passion that they have really helped shaped that vision.”