Surprise Shower
Week of Sept. 10, 2007

Renee Rice is one of the academic advisors in the athletic department. She played soccer for 3 different coaches at Belmont and was an assistant coach for the two coaches before me. If there is anyone who has “seen it all” with this program, it is Renee. Renee is getting married this weekend, so the soccer team had a surprise shower for her last Wednesday. The theme for our shower was to give her gifts that started with the letters, B-E-L-M-O-N-T Grrr!!

Each class was assigned a group of letters, and they did a great job of being creative and getting Renee and Donovan some thoughtful gifts. The coaches got them a Grrrill that was on their registry, so it all worked out well. With the help of Colette Keyser, our academic compliance coordinator, we interrupted one of Renee’s meetings with a student athlete and took her to the locker room. She got to wear a tiara and a BIG button, both of which said, “Bride to Be.” The locker room was decorated with balloons and streamers. Like any good locker room bridal shower, we had Gatorade and cupcakes. Good luck and best wishes to Renee and Donovan Schultz! We love you both!

Last week, we worked on our speed of play. Although I think it helped our general soccer abilities, I don’t think we were able to apply it to our 4-3-3 system. In our wins last weekend over UALR (2-0) and Central Arkansas (1-0), I was unhappy with the shape of our midfield. This week, we will be working on the shape of the midfield and the distance of support between them and the other positions, both defensively and offensively.

In our wins, I was happy with the goalkeeping by Micaela and Zirka and the contributions of freshmen on the score sheet. All 3 of our goals were scored and assisted by freshmen. Although we usually start 2 of the freshmen – Erica Carter and Jessica Rix - I think there was a time during the game against UALR when we had 7 freshmen on the field. I don’t want anyone to think that this is a team of the future. This is a team of the present! We have 8 seniors on our team, and we have lots of urgency to be successful today!

This weekend will be a big test for us – our first road games and quality opponents. We’re looking forward to our weekend in Indiana, and I will tell you all about it next week.

I hope everyone is watching the Women’s World Cup. It is difficult to catch those games live at 4 a.m. central time, but I am both excited and curious to watch this young U.S. National Team – “The Greatest Team You’ve Never Heard Of” – on this stage. It’s also great to see some of the old WUSA players I haven’t seen in so long, like Sawa (Japan), Kelly Smith (England), and Katia (Brazil).