I am very pleased with the varsity group after the first week. We played 4 very tough games against schools who are typically competing far into the postseason every year. Our first three games were against schools that beat us last year and we were able to come away with wins in every game! That is very encouraging this early in the season, especially when you factor in that we came from behind in two of the games for the win. As a coaching staff we are less worried about results and more focused on continuous improvement and progress. The season is a process and it's important we are taking steps forward and learning at each part of the process. We see plenty for us to work on and the group definitely learned a few important lessons last week, but it is always nice to get positive results against good teams while working to improve.

I won't dive into each game individually, but I will pass on that we are focusing on a couple of specific areas right now. The first is that we are really stressing to the group to play to their strengths. At times we are too rushed and end up playing a bit too direct with forced decisions. On a team with a lot of pace and athleticism, you can get away with that style of play. However, our group for the most part needs the ball at their feet. Playing simple to feet and having patience in our decision making is what we as a coaching staff believe will be key in really maximizing our strengths. We look best when we dominate the midfield and are able to hold on to the ball for longer periods of time. There are a lot of smaller details that we will eventually dive into during training to really break it down (ie specific movement off the ball, interchanging of positions, position of specific players, etc), but for now we are really stressing simple decisions. The second point of emphasis is developing some depth. The varsity team is almost split right down the middle with one half having a lot of varsity experinece and the other half being very limited. No team can rely solely on 11 players and expect to achieve a high amount of success, especially with so many games in a short amount of time. That is only asking for serious injury and extreme fatigue. The players coming off the bench are extremely important and it is vital that we have some guys step up into reserve roles. You will notice that we gave a lot of guys an opportunity to do this during the first four games, and we will continue to do this moving forward in our upcoming games. No better time to do this than at the beginning of the season against quality competition! Not only is there a benefit of developing depth further down the line, but we also are able to give rest to some guys who play heavy minutes. So if your son is one who has only seen limited minutes so far or none at all, encourage them to stay ready and be prepared to make the most of their minutes should they get an opportunity.

I am excited to see how the game goes against Mercer tonight. They are a lot like us in that they had a really good season last year and returned a lot of the core of last year's team. It will be very tough and with the updated rankings putting us at #6 and Mercer at #9, I expect a rowdy environment in Harrodsburg. I will be watching closely to see how our guys handle their emotions. It will be a great test and experience for future big games. Let's go Generals!