1999/10/12 Review Appeal
County is Soccer Recruiter's dream
by Mike Williams, sports editor
Mike’s Missives: County is a soccer recruiter’s dream
By Mike Williams
Sports Editor
Perhaps it’s a maze.
Perhaps it’s an exercise in organized confusion.
Perhaps it’s a quandary of epic proportions that very few of us on the outside looking in understand. After all, watching 5,000 youths running around on soccer fields throughout the county on any given Saturday is enough to make you seasick.
Ask the poor parents who drive hither and yond dropping off kids, picking them up, and toting them to the newest hyper-sports mart for the latest in designer Adidas, kevlar shin-guards and silk uniforms.
Is it all worth it?
Answer:
You betcha.
Especially when you consider that all the worry and equipment costs could very well be offset with a free or at least a partially paid- for college education.
When colleges start scouring the country for soccer talent they feel one day could be beneficial to their programs, you can bet that written at the top of their hot-spot list is Williamson County.
Look in just about any college soccer media guide and you’ll see the name of a player who got their start on the pitches of Williamson County.
Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Florida, UAB, Auburn, UNC-Charlotte, Appalachian State, Bowling Green, Harding, Western Kentucky and Belmont are just a few — a few of the colleges that have seen players from this county playing soccer for them.
Charlie West, coach of the Brentwood Academy soccer team and knower of just about every child in the county who has ever laid a foot on a soccer ball, can name so many names of youngsters who have gone on to college that it would fill up this entire column space. Of course, this year is no exception.
On Friday, the TSSAA District 11 Girls Soccer All-District Team was announced.
Of the 22 girls on the squad, more than half play their prep soccer for either Brentwood, Centennial or Franklin. And of those players, several will no doubt head off to college next year when they sign their name on the dotted line of a soccer scholarship.
Franklin High placed Holly Robbins, Cristina Ciaramitaro, Brittney Potts and Katy Rayburn on the team.
The Brentwood Bruins placed on the team Beth Chapman, Kristin Giardina, Lauren Eyler, Emily Smith and Leslie Anderson.
And the Cougars saw Kristen LeBlanc, Kris Whalen and Katie Heard listed.
Chapman and Eyler earned MVP awards for defensive and offensive players, respectively, and Robbins won MVP for the league.
At Page, Fairview, BA, CPA and BGA, several other players will be named to All-Everything teams during the days to come. And some of those players will go on to play ball at the collegiate level. And with the NCAA’s adoption of Title 9, girls, now more than ever before, can benefit from playing soccer.
Does all of this mean that every child that learns to kick a soccer ball one day will go on to collegiate glory?
Of course not.
There’s competition out there. And it’s fierce.
But what an outlet.
The Y’s, the Williamson County Soccer Association, and all the travel teams provide the opportunity for youngsters to hone their skills.
And in this day and age, opportunity is the least anyone can ask for.