High School Soccer

Last year Callie played Henry Clay soccer as an 8th grader, which meant she could only play JV. This year was different because she was now going to be a student at the school and she could set a goal of being on varsity. For months she and her friends talked about whether or not any freshman would make the varsity squad. What also made this year different was that there was a brand new coach who didn't know anything about the players from the previous years. Tryouts started on July 15 and Callie was a bit nervous but was determined to do her best. We were nervous too and didn't want to have any expectations about the results. Turns out Callie knows what she is doing and she was one of only three freshman to make varsity. She was over the moon to say the least and especially enjoyed the traditional welcome the varsity bestows on its new members. It's amazing how long toilet paper can stay on trees.

Training over the summer was a little different than last year. The new coach has a day job so there were only evening practices. Callie was perhaps one of a small group upset that they did not have two-a-days. But she was excited to play with the sophomores, juniors, and seniors that she looked up to. It took a while for her to feel like she belonged, but when she got her uniform she certainly looked the part.

The varsity began playing games only a couple of weeks after practices started. The first slate of games occurred in the Bluegrass State games. Now an important coaching detail is that the new head coach, Haydon, had coached Reese when she was 8 years old and first starting at LFC. Her husband, Tom, coached Reese for the past two years and is the one who led Reese's team to the Village Cup championship. Reese adores Tom and the feeling is mutual. At the first game of at the Bluegrass tournament, Tom asked Reese if she wanted to hang with him on the sidelines. She jumped at the chance. This had so many more benefits than we could have imagined, because Reese learned first hand that many of the girls on the varsity squad were excited to have Callie on the team. And we loved this picture of Reese and Tom striking a similar pose on the sidelines as they analyzed the competition.

On the field, Callie started to prove herself right away. Not only was she in the starting lineup, but she scored the first goal of the season for Henry Clay in that first game. It was almost too good to believe and it certainly helped her feel like part of the team.

One of the great things for us at this point is that we have professional women's soccer just down the road in Louisville that we can watch. We had made plans with the Abrahams to watch Racing Louisville play the Portland Thorns. The Thorns are Ella's favorite team and they also happen to be really good. Of course, our girls would go with the Abrahams to watch paint dry, but professional soccer on a beautiful day makes things that much better.

Coincidentally, Callie's high school team had also arranged to go to the game as a group for some good old team bonding. We saw a great game in which the first goal was scored on a great run by Sophia Smith, a striker on the Thorns who is also a star on the national team. She was amazing to watch. And led by Ella, we did some post-game lingering and managed to get a photo with Sophia. Awesome doesn't even begin to describe it. The new soccer year was starting off very well.