End of Season Celebration Banquet

Good Afternoon Lady Generals Soccer Community,


Time flies when you're having fun - well, that's what they say anyways, ha. In all seriousness, time does fly by and here we are again at the conclusion of another soccer season. I'm super proud of our girls and what they have been able to accomplish with their growth as a player and a person. One of our program traditions is to gather together at the end of season to celebrate our members, reflect upon the season, and to share gratitude. I'd love for your and your family to attend this awesome event. Continue reading for details and next steps.

End of Season Celebration Banquet Details

• The event will be held on Thursday, November 15 from 6:00-7:30PM at Thomas Nelson HS.
• The banquet will be a potluck meal. The meat will be purchased and bought by the booster club, and then all players will be responsible for bringing at least one side dish to support the meal. We will be having fried chicken and will plan on eating at 6:00PM. Please click on this document to view the item that we have requested you to bring. If you have a specialty dish that you would like to bring, please feel free to make adjustments to the sheet.

End of Season Celebration Next Steps

1. Players - Discuss the banquet with your family and determine how many people will be attending from your party. Include this number on the Google Form linked within item #2, even if you cannot attend.
2. Players - One of the goals at the banquet is to celebrate each individual and the gifts that they bring to our team. Each player has been partnered up with another player - please reference this LINK to learn about the pairings. You will then be responsible for reflecting about your partner and identifying what you appreciate about them and how they contribute to our program. At the banquet, you will read the celebrations that you have identified for your partner. Complete this GOOGLE FORM before Thursday, November 1st with the gifts showcasing your partner.
3. Players - Character Awards - We will honor select individuals for demonstrating outstanding character throughout the course of the season. All players will have an opportunity to vote for student-athletes who best exemplified the traits described for each award. We will have one representative from both the JV and Varsity teams be recognized for each award. Before you vote, please read the descriptions for each award - the descriptions can be found within the Google Forms. Varsity team members will vote for the varsity awards, while JV team members will vote for the JV awards. If you were a dual player, then you will vote for both. The following awards will be distributed: Higher Purpose Award, Community Award, Team over Individual Award, Pursuit of Excellence Award, and the LEADER Award. Votes must be received by Thursday, November 1st. JV PLAYER AWARDS - Vote Here,   VARSITY PLAYER Awards - Vote Here
4. Players - Uniform Collection - all player uniforms should be properly washed, bagged, and returned at the banquet. Players who fail to return their uniform or parts of their uniform will have a charge placed on their student account until it is returned or purchased. 

Pork Chop - Ribeye Sale

CLICK HERE to print our flyer.
CLICK HERE to place your pre-order today!

Nominate Girls Soccer Rep for TNHS Homecoming

Lady Generals Players,


Thomas Nelson fall homecoming will take place on Friday, September 21st during halftime of our home football. Each student organization will nominate one SENIOR LEADER to represent their organization for homecoming. This student nominee should ultimately embody and live our LEADER values and they should be someone who represents our organization well, on and off the field.

Please click on the following link to vote for a homecoming nominee to represent the girls soccer team. This nominee will then be placed on the initial ballot for the whole school to vote. I need ALL PLAYERS to vote by 8:00AM, Wednesday, September 12, 2018. The voting window will close at that time.


Thanks,


Alex Martin

Taylor Martin Memorial Game

Nearly three years ago, our community lost a dear friend, teammate, and Original General as Taylor Martin was taken from us on September 10th, 2015. Taylor embodied LEADERship through peacemaking, care, and friendship. To honor and celebrate her life, Thomas Nelson High School will host the Nelson County Lady Cards in our annual Taylor Martin Memorial Game. Led by the Legacy Core and Student Organization Council, the goal of this event is to bring together all members of the community to connect and celebrate, much like Taylor was able to do in her own life. Entry into the Memorial Game and its aligned activities will be donation-based, and all proceeds from the game will go directly to the Taylor Martin Memorial Scholarship Foundation (see below for details regarding the scholarship foundation).

The Game
The evening will feature a varsity soccer match between the Lady Cardinals of Nelson County and the Lady Generals of Thomas Nelson. The varsity game will begin at 7:00PM. A pre-game ceremony honoring Taylor's life is set to start at 6:50PM. Soccer alums of both Nelson County and Thomas Nelson are invited to participate in the ceremony.

Food and Social
We will host an "Ignite the Memory" social and tailgate to create a space for all members of the community to gather and connect before the game and throughout the evening. The social is set to begin at 5:00PM, and it will include food, drinks, games, and other activities. We will not host typical concessions so the social will serve as the main hub to get food and drinks. All food served at the game will be available to the public and will be sold on a donation-basis.

T-Shirts
We will also sell t-shirts that commemorate the Memorial Game and celebrate Taylor's life. The shirts will sell for $10.00, and profits from the sales will go to the scholarship foundation. See the image below for a rough sketch of the shirts. This year's shirts will be a light purple with white font, and the number "14" on the back came from a doodle drawn in Coach Martin's notebook by Taylor during her senior season.

Taylor Martin Memorial Scholarship Foundation

Finally, we have established a scholarship foundation to honor Taylor's life. The Taylor Martin Memorial Scholarship Foundation seeks to raise $10,000 contributing to an annual $1,000 scholarship to a graduating senior. This scholarship will be awarded to a senior female that represents peacemaking, CARE, and LEADERship. 2017 scholarship recipients were Laken Culver and Michaela Johnson, and the 2018 recipients were Julia Rogers and Grace Frederick.

How Can You Help Support?
All products to support the events described above have been ordered and purchased. Therefore, the main supports we need from our community are people to work the stations described above. We will need approximately 16-20 adult community members to support. Please reference our sign-up document (CLICK HERE) to review the supporting roles and to sign-up to work an event.

Next Steps: 

1. CLICK HERE and share this information through a Facebook Post to help spread the word about the Taylor Martin Memorial Game. Encourage others to attend as well. All proceeds from the game go to the Taylor Martin Memorial Scholarship Foundation.
2. Provide your support during the game and sign up to work an event.
3. If you choose to write a check for your donation, please make checks out to "Taylor Martin Memorial Scholarship Foundation".
4. Please reach to Coach Martin if you additional comments or questions.

Thank you for your support.

Individual and Team Picture Order Forms

The Lady Generals Soccer Team are set to take team and individual pictures on Friday, August 17 at 4:00PM at Thomas Nelson. All players should wear our ALL NAVY uniform and should be prepared to start at 4:00.

CLICK HERE FOR AN OFFICIAL ORDER FORM

TNHS Lady Generals Partners with SNYSA to Present 1st Annual FREE Youth Soccer Camp

The TNHS Lady Generals Soccer Team is partnering with the South Nelson Youth Soccer Association to present our first annual Youth Soccer Camp. The camp is FREE for all youth players.

The camp is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 28th from 9:00AM-12:00. The camp will occur at the New Haven Soccer Fields located directly behind The New Haven School. Address for the event is 489 High St. New Haven, KY. Boys or Girls, ages 4-13, are welcome to participate. We will have free pizza and drinks for participants at the conclusion of the camp. Current Lady Generals, TNHS coaching staff, SNYSA, and volunteers will work closely with the youth players on skill development and competitive games.

Contact Melanie Rogers at 502.460.0786 or Alex Martin if you have questions or concerns.

CLICK HERE to complete the initial sign-up process. Please fill out this form multiple times if you have more than one child who will be participating in the camp.

Notes:

• You will be required to sign a medical release form before your child can participate. These forms can be found on our CAMP FLYER or they will be available on-site during registration. Registration will begin at 8:30AM on July 28th.
• All participants should bring cleats, shin guards, water bottle, soccer ball, and tennis shoes.
• Please pass along to others who may be interested.

Honoring the Work of Coach Whitfield

Also discussed at our recent player's meeting, Assistant Coach Maggie Whitfield will be resigning from her position at Thomas Nelson to pursue opportunities to teach abroad. Although, I support Maggie in the pursuit of her dreams, it's unfortunate that Coach Whitfield will not be returning to our staff. Maggie is a very strong and caring LEADER whose work impacted a number of players and students this past season and school year. Coach Whitfield's strong presence helped make me a better coach and I am grateful that I had an opportunity to work along side her. I want to encourage you to reach out to Coach Whitfield to express your gratitude and to wish her the best of luck with her future plans.

At this time, I do not have someone in mind for assistant coach. Nelson County Schools will post this position on their website, so it will be open for people to apply. I will be brainstorming options whom I feel best align to our mission and whom can best support our program moving forward. Thank you for continuing to support of our program and our community.


Thanks,


Alex Martin

Quarter 4 SOC Reflection

CARE

1. How do you wish to help others in your student organization to be their best selves next year?
2. In what ways do you want your student organization to build on service for your community partner? What have you learned from the experience.
3. What do you want to experience next year? What steps do you need to take to achieve this?

Coming into this year as a new SOC rep, I often had questions on what this process would look like and be.
Striving to not only be my best self on the field but also the classroom was a step I needed to take personally
all four years of being here. Next year, the new rep has amazing leadership skills, and will do the job just like
it would need to be done. I am super excited to be working with Sammi Howard to ensure all of my action
steps can be built upon and made into something more. Instead of having one service project, she can plan
two. She will ensure everyone around her that they can be pushed into becoming a great leader. With the
help of her peers, she can be pushed to become a bigger and better leader. I have learned that it is hard
having attendance at certain events held with your community partner, so try and promote the idea during
the season so when the time rolls around, you can easily gather people to attend the event.


CONNECT

1. What methods of communication will you utilize next year to ensure the needs of all stakeholders were met? How will you ensure your communication demonstrate a connection to the larger mission/vision? What would you change?
2. What questions should you be asking that you are not?
3. Does your blog connect with the community?
4. How might your small group, organization, or SOC help you?

Before this year I had never wrote more than ten emails in a school year. This year, in order to ensure proper communication with my sponsor, community partner, and many other people I used email as my main method of communication. Having a one on one conversation on email and making sure it is easy to read and understand is important. With Coach Martin leading the blog and remind 101 system it is easy for him to stay in touch with the community, players and their parents and keeping them involved and informed with everything going on.

CREATE
1. What is ONE Thing you are most proud of for your work today? What is ONE Thing you need to dedicate more energy to?

In SOC this year we had time to create many new projects and ideas get others involved and to get involved within our community. With this time I was able to make things for my student organization and also within the school and SOC. I am most proud of my work with the angel tree project and also the Taylor Martin Memorial Soccer Game. Both events gave back to our community, and we were able to prepare for these events with the time given to us in SOC. The angel tree initiative was as a whole, and the Memorial Game was through my student organization.
One thing I would have done differently is spreading the word to 8th graders and freshman before the season started instead of waiting until we start games to gather people to come and try it out. With the new SOC rep this year, I believe she can start traditions and rituals with keeping the same ones in place. She also can help Coach try and get new faces to come out and see what TNHS Girls soccer has to offer them. It is all about opportunities, and who will take what is out there.

Pre-Summer Player Meeting

Hello Lady Generals Soccer Community,


With only six school days remaining in the current school year (depending on which day you read this post of course), summer 2018 is fast approaching. With that being said, the preseason window for fall sports is coming soon! The purpose of this post is to provide an overview of our upcoming calendar while highlighting a few major events that will be occurring during the 2018 fall season.

Each of these items were reviewed during a recent player meeting on May 16, 2018. If you were unable to attend this meeting, please review our agenda LINKED HERE. Embedded throughout the agenda are action steps that each player should take BEFORE the upcoming fall season. Please review these and complete them before July 10th. As usual, feel free to reach out to me with questions or concerns.


Thanks,


Alex Martin
Head Coach Lady Generals Soccer

Quarter 3 Fly Closer Reflection

Caring for my community and the members in it is vital for success. In SOC this quarter I have planned a R.U.S.H. booth for middle school girls interested in soccer, helped plan and format and winter formal video and a homecoming video, collaborated with NCHS to plan a project for project grad May 11, I helped set up winter formal, planned and set up ignites, attended a first responders breakfast, and am currently organizing a service project for my student organization. Next week I want to reach out to my community partner and get the date verified, and talk to the team and see who can attend and bring food and items to help. Through the Back in Action dashboard I can see my deadlines and try to meet them and if I can not meet them, I need to have someone help me with what I need. I strive to push others to be their best self, and truly want others to succeed. With the collaboration with NCHS we are given the time and space to collaborate and get new ideas to create a project that will be for all of Nelson County to attend and a great fundraiser for both of our schools. Come to Nelson County High School May 11, time is TBD, it will be a Old School (teachers) vs. New School (students) basketball game! SOC has given me the opportunity to voice my opinion and create new things together.

Connecting with different student organizations and my community partner is important in being a purple cow leader. Some different methods of communication I used this quarter to ensure my needs were met were through email, face to face, and texting. Proactively connecting with those when planning a service project is important to make sure everyone is on the same page. For example, this semester I am planning a service project for the Girls Soccer team with Bardstown First Christian Church for March 22. As of now we are bringing food and going there to eat and have fellowship with homeless people in our community. The program is called "Room in the Inn" and different churches around the area host homeless people throughout the week, and this church is in charge of Thursdays. On another note, our blog reaches out to the community because the team checks it frequently and usually our coach updates us on the blog with any changes or any social events for us to attend. Email is another communication I use frequently to communicate with my coach and other people around the school and community. Connecting is a part of life in which all of us need to do in order to be successful. 

Creating rituals and traditions is something we push people to start at Thomas Nelson. With it being a new school we are able to create legacy's and have those coming after us to help grow our ideas and make them stronger. This semester I have worked in SOC to create and help grow our program and SOC as a whole. In SOC we are collaborating with NCHS to create a new tradition. Going back to this idea of creating, we are creating a foundation for those in the future to build upon what occurs May 11th. My goals this quarter were to not only build the program, but also to create and make magic. One thing I am most proud of this quarter is RUSH back in January. We got the word out there to incoming freshman and encouraged them to sign up and come to a few practices over summer. We will be low on numbers this year, so getting people to step out of their comfort zone and try something different will be good for our team and them as well. Something I need to focus my energy on is communicating with the SOC rep for next year and making sure they know what will be going on next year and make sure they have all the documents they need. This quarter I have created a lot, and I can not wait to see what I create next quarter after spring break. 

Community Service Project

Hello Lady Generals!

I am planning a service project with Bardstown First Christian Church for March 22, time is TBD. They host homeless people around the Nelson County area, for "Room in the Inn". We will be feeding and eating with them and some other community members. Caroline Boone and I have made a spreadsheet which you can put your name, and what food dish you are bringing. Service opportunities are all around, please come out and support our community and help others! It is a great program and is a good opportunity to come out and have team bonding and get together even though its off season. Please let me know by Sunday, March 18th, if you are able to attend!! 

Thank you! Hope to see you there. 

You can contact Alex Barlow (502) 507-7339 if you have any questions or concerns.

Link to spreadsheet 

Blog Reflection #2

1. What does the work toward our “WHY” create for our Community?
2. What improvements have you seen in our community, school and organizations that have come from the work we are doing together to build community?
3. What LEGACY has the SOC created thus far, that will support community building in the future?

Legacy building is something we strive to do at Thomas Nelson. Creating a legacy for all the student organizations, including the Girls soccer program is very important. We are planning on setting a date with our community partner to feed the homeless at Bardstown First Christian Church within the next month. Creating a strong legacy within not only our school community, but within the community of Nelson County is needed in becoming successful. As we look into the future of SOC we see an endless amount of opportunities to grow and change to form into a caring and community impacting class while having the responsibility of being a LEADER of our organization. We want to make the community stronger, and with that we make ourselves stronger too. Through RUSH we got to meet incoming eighth graders and encourage them to join Girls Soccer this upcoming school year. I am planning on reaching out to them soon and having them come out to practices this summer. The SOC class has given me the opportunity to create new things and create a legacy for years to come.