Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Bluffton Soccer: Tension Among the Ranks
Jacob Graham
Differences in style and opinion between the Bluffton Men’s Soccer players and the coaching staff might be the reason for tension that has been going on and may always be going on between the two sides.
The coaching staff handles every situation carefully doing their best to make everything fair for everyone. “The views of the coaching staff are to first be a good person, second be a good student, and third be a good athlete” said Sophomore Seth Hertenstein.
“We want to win games, that’s why we came here, to play soccer” said Junior Nolan Phelps. The players are used to winning games when they come to Bluffton. The majority of players on the team come from high schools that won over 50% of their games.
Bluffton Men’s Soccer has had one season winning 50% of their games in the last 16 years. This poses a problem when players go from winning the majority to losing the majority.
Among the different ranks of the Bluffton Soccer team there is different levels of tension with the coaching staff. It seems tough for both sides to come to common ground between the coaches and the players.
Junior Co-Captain Brian Good describes the tension as “the players look at the small picture and want to win games. The coaches look at the big picture and want to make better men out of all of us. They (coaches) make us better people in life, by forcing grades to be high and help the community, as well as trying to win games”.
Bluffton Soccer: Youth Camps for the Locals
Jacob Graham
Bluffton Youth Soccer Camps are hosted every year, by the Bluffton Men’s Soccer team, for the local kids in the Bluffton area. “The Bluffton Soccer Program makes it a point to help out the community as much as we can every year” said Coach Steve Smucker.
Every fall the Bluffton Men’s Soccer team helps coach youth soccer players from the Bluffton area. These camps are held to help the kids get better in soccer.
The men’s soccer team does different types of community service throughout each year, but always makes sure they have a chance to help the local community with something they like to do.
These camps are as much for the kids as they are for the parents, and players. Everybody wins in this situation. The kids learn soccer skills and have fun. The parents get free time. The players get experience coaching and get to help the local kids.
Some of the activities at these camps include scrimmaging, storm the castle, fox in the hen house, and technical drills. Most of the youth that are being coached at these camps are between the ages of 6-12.
The kids have a blast and look up to the soccer players turned staff at these days of training. The camps usually are held one day for two to three hours.
The day of the youth soccer camps falls on youth day for the Bluffton Men’s Soccer Program. The same day the players help coach the youth players, they have a game later that same day introducing not only the regular roster but the youth players at the game as well.
This day is one that is very special to each kid that comes to the camp and, or game. “You can tell how much it means to the kids. So it feels good doing something that makes them happy” said Junior Jason Hudson.
Bluffton Soccer: Diversity as a Goal
The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer Program lacks diversity. Only two different ethnicities as part of the team. The majority of the players as well as all of the coaching staff are Caucasian and from the United States of America.
There is one player of Hispanic descent on the team and is from the United States of America. In fact, the 2009 roster of the Bluffton University Men’s Soccer team shows 20 of the 22 players that were on the roster being from Ohio and all of which being Caucasian.
The effects of this could be felt throughout the school in many different ways. The students could become more accepting of people as well as giving people opportunities they may not have had without a diverse atmosphere.
“The soccer team is accepting of everyone, we just don’t have a lot of minorities on our team,” said Junior Jason Hudson. This indicates that the school has instilled the meaning of diversity in some of the students but has yet to have many minorities on athletic teams.
When asked about the opponents’ diversity on their roster Junior Nolan Phelps made an interesting point when he said “Now that I think about it, the teams we played always had more color than us (Bluffton University). I wonder if there is any correlation between this and winning games.”
Bluffton Soccer: The Shock of Bluffton
“Making friends is one of the biggest fears for incoming freshman at Bluffton,” said Junior Co-Captain Brian Good, it is shocking for these students to be with all new people. The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer team reports to school two weeks in advance from the regular students, and a week before the other incoming freshmen which makes the transition easier.
There at least three positive results from reporting to school two weeks early. First, there will be friends made before the majority of people arrive. Second, the campus becomes familiar and easy to navigate. Third, the soccer team has more time to practice and interact with the other members of the team.
Some new students find the first couple weeks overwhelming. Until they find a routine or a rhythm, school will continue to be overwhelming. The freshmen playing sports have the connection with the team, so they are less likely to be overwhelmed. The freshmen for the soccer program are quickly accepted into the soccer group or clique. These freshmen are not easily overwhelmed due to routine and familiarity.
Bluffton Soccer: Making the Cut
Being on a starting roster for any collegiate athletic team is an honor but not every athlete makes the cut. The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer Program and Coach Steve Smucker are notorious for starting youth.
In a sport where experience is crucial, usually the team with the most upper classmen wins the conference; Bluffton takes a chance on effort. The last three conference titles were won by the team that started the most seniors. The youngest player to win the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the year award has been a junior.
Bluffton continues to start youth when experience is needed to win games. Jacob Graham believes underclassmen, generally, try harder than the upperclassmen. The upperclassmen are better skilled, but the only time the majority tries is game-time.
There have been numerous cases where upperclassmen have quit due to a lack of playing time after playing as a freshman and sophomore. In 2007, Bluffton started five freshmen and four sophomores for the majority of their games. Bluffton started four freshmen and four sophomores for the majority of their games in 2008. In 2009, Bluffton started two freshman and four sophomores for the majority of their games.
The record of the Bluffton University Men’s Soccer team in 2009 did not show the experience from years past, but in goal differential this showed. Bluffton lost four of their six conference games by one goal.
It pays off to start the more experienced players with only the top of the youth joining the starting roster. The Bluffton Soccer team is taking steps in the right direction shrinking the number of underclassmen starters, which points to a bright future.
Bluffton Soccer: A Promising Future?
The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer is quite promising; the incoming freshman will make an immediate impact on the varsity team. “We always bring in a talented recruiting class, this year is no different” says sophomore Seth Hertenstein. The men’s soccer team has 10 players who have seen significant playing time as a freshman that are still on the team.
The goal of the men’s team is to make it to the conference tournament. Bluffton University Soccer has never made it to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, which is made up of the top four teams from the conference. The eight returning juniors, soon to be seniors is the most in Bluffton history and could very well be a key component of a record breaking season.
Statistically, the soccer team in the past five years has done better in the conference as well as overall than the five years prior. The past five years there have been more people from Bluffton on the All-Conference team, whether that is first or second team All-Conference than the five years preceding. There are three players currently on the team that have been on the All-Conference team before. Two of the three were selected by the coaches to the first-team.
Bluffton Soccer: Rich History with Room for Improvement
Bluffton University Men’s Soccer Program originated in 1964 as a club and was coached by Bernard Peters. Later, in 1967, the team became sanctioned as a college sport by Bluffton College and was coached by Frank Porter. The team’s final record in 1967 was 4-7.
Bluffton University Men’s soccer was around for 15 years before the team went back to being a club team. In 1984 the Bluffton Men’s Soccer team did not have a team at all. Bluffton has since had a soccer team since 1985. In the total of Bluffton’s 41 seasons as a collegiate soccer program the school has had 11 different coaches. The overall record for the Bluffton University Men’s Soccer Program is 156-404-24 with a winning percentage of .288.
There have only been two coaches that have coached over one hundred games in their careers at Bluffton University. These two coaches are the two most recent coaches, Randy Keeler and Steve Smucker (the active coach). The winningest coach in Bluffton’s history of the program in terms of winning percentage is Shiv Gupta (.357) and in terms of games won is Randy Keeler (47). Bluffton has been a part of the AMC within the NAIA and the HCAC within NCAA division III.
Bluffton Soccer: Brian Good
Co-Captain Brian Good
Good is a junior at Bluffton University and is co-captain of the Bluffton Men’s Soccer team. This is Good’s second year as co-captain and was named to the HCAC second team this past season. Brian had one hundred saves in this season ranking him 12th in school history. This goes along with his 232 career saves which ranks him 7th in school history and he has only played three years thus far.
Good is a double major in biology and physics at Bluffton University. Good said “The amount of work I have to do is quite a lot and I do not have much free time.” Last summer Good got married to Mary Conrad (formerly on the women’s soccer team). Good said “Bluffton is the best thing that has ever happened to me. The people I have met and the things I have accomplished are experiences I couldn’t have accomplished elsewhere”.
Bluffton University Men's Soccer
Jacob Graham
The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer Team is in the middle of their offseason right now, although the regular season has ended, this is not a time for rest for the group. The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer team is challenged everyday in the “off-season” in order to both earn a starting spot on the roster or end with a record better than last year’s dismal 4-12-1 record. Whether the challenge is in weight lifting, fundamental drills, skill building, or the regular play of the game, these athletes are faced with out of season tasks.
Despite the tension among the ranks and immediate culture shock for incoming freshman, the history of the men’s soccer program indicates the men’s team to be one of the campus’ most successful programs. The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer Program has yet to make it to a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament appearance but still have an incredibly promising future.
The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer team has 8 returning juniors (seniors next year), including co-captains Brian Good and Jacob Graham, which is the biggest senior class in the last decade and possibly in school history. This is not the only reason that next year has high hopes as well as shows real promise. The offseason this year has an attitude towards it that has never been matched. Everyone on the team is expected to go and be a part of the team in everything the team does. The team unanimously agrees that lifting is more structured and cared about more than ever before. Fundamental drills are taken seriously by the players to edge out competition both on the field and for next year. Skill building has been approached in a new way by splitting up the offseason into different areas of skills. All of the hard work by the players can still be shown through intense games of 4 on 4 soccer displayed in both Burcky and Founders Gyms as well as at Bluffton Family Recreation.
There are many things that are included in the offseason for the men’s soccer program here at Bluffton. Some of the things that are included are: weight lifting, training (both outdoors and indoors), indoor games, outdoor scrimmages against other schools, fundraisers, youth camps, recruit night, and planning for next year.
So far this offseason, the Bluffton University Men’s Soccer Team has almost doubled the amount of fundraising from last year. Most of this fundraising is done in hopes of purchasing new long-sleeved jerseys for next season as well as another pair of game shorts and game socks. Unlike the lack of diversity on the team, the fundraising has been quite diverse. Fundraising for the Bluffton Men’s team includes: Food services at Ohio State University, selling Bluffton Men’s Soccer T-Shirts, selling Bluffton Beavers wristbands, and selling bundles of care products (which includes shampoo, conditioner, body spray, lotions, etc…).
The Bluffton University Men’s Soccer Program doesn’t only work hard in the offseason to become better at soccer but are becoming better people in society as well as knowledgeable in each of their own future professions. One of the goals for the Men’s Soccer Program is to become better people “Academically, Physical/Mentally, and Spiritual/Socially” as stated in the Bluffton University Soccer Mission Statement.
Watch interviews with members of the Bluffton University Soccer Team here.