By Sara Belsole
In order to have a successful team, coaches spend months, or sometimes even years, recruiting players from all over the country to play for their teams. A coach sees a player perform, contacts that player, and before you know it, the player is flying into town to spend a 48-hour recruiting trip on campus. Seems pretty easy, right?
Not exactly. For a player, recruiting can sometimes be a very stressful situation. She is already trying to focus on her senior year papers, tests, service hours, college decisions, and adding soccer recruitment into the mix does not make life much easier. The decision of where to commit to play soccer can never be taken lightly. All aspects must be perfect; you have to like the location of the school, the academic program, the school size, the scholarships being offered, and of course, the coach.
After long deliberation, I decided to be a part of the University of Tampa’s women’s soccer 2007 recruiting class, under the head coaching of Bobby Johnston. I had found my perfect match, and now all I had to do was sit back, relax, and enjoy my decision. That is, until I found out that Johnston had resigned and taken another coaching job at his alma mater, James Madison University.
The recruiting process, which I had thought I had completed, became hectic once again. Where does this leave me? Every coach has his own style of play and type of players he likes, and there was no guarantee that I would be what the new coach was looking for.
Tampa’s coaching selection process seemed to take forever. I waited while the qualified applicants underwent interviews, resumes, and team meetings. Finally, three months before the start of preseason, Gerry Lucey was named head coach of the Spartans. Lucey was an assistant to Johnston from 2004-06 and head coach of West Chester University in 2006, leading the Golden Rams to the NCAA Division II Final Four.
Being from Tampa, I had the opportunity to meet with coach Lucey prior to reporting to preseason. I was nervous going in. I was the recruit that was about to play for a coach who didn’t recruit me; he had never even seen me play.
Meeting with coach Lucey put me at ease. We cracked a few jokes and talked about the team and where I would fit. He seemed like an easygoing guy who knew a lot about coaching a successful team. I felt confident that I could find my place with the Spartans and be successful in Lucey’s playing style.
Now, three months since I first got here, I couldn’t imagine playing under Bobby Johnston. The University of Tampa’s women’s soccer program is under the direction of Gerry Lucey. He is the one who we learn from everyday. He is the one who makes us better soccer players. And he will be the one to guide us through the NCAA Tournament, aiming to take the team one step further than last year: to the National Championship.
