Player Survey - Awards and General Housekeeping

Lady Generals,


I have created a survey to gather information about our your attendance at our banquet, to vote for player awards, and to inquire about your interest with off-season activities. As a member of the team, make sure your voice is heard by completing the survey within the given timeframe.

The survey has three parts. Make sure you are able to answer all of the questions before you complete the survey because you can only submit it once. The three parts of the survey are described below.

Survey Parts

1. Banquet attendance. We will have our end of the season celebration banquet on Sunday, December 6 at TNHS cafeteria from 4:00-6:00PM. Note we are not having the banquet this weekend.
2. Player Awards. You will have an opportunity to vote for players who best exemplified the traits described for each award. The awards are different from last year as they better align to our values. We will have one representative from both the JV and Varsity teams be recognized for each award. Reference each award and its description below.
• Higher Purpose Award - A player who exemplifies these characteristics played for a higher purpose. They did not use the game to just compete and win, but they used the game to help prepare them for life. They seeked excellence in all areas - in the classroom, outside of school in their community, as a person, and as a player.
• Community Award - A player who exemplifies these characteristics invested a lot of energy into building the community within our program. They reached out to develop relationships with ALL of our teammates. They reached out to help support others on and off of the field. They were a consistent positive life force - someone others wanted to be around.
• Team over Individual Award - A player who exemplified these characteristics ALWAYS placed the needs of the team above their own needs. They would sacrifice their own self-interest for the greater good of the team. They played for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back of the jersey.
• Pursuit of Excellence Award - A player who exemplified these characteristics consistently looked to themselves for ways to improve. They consistently worked to get better by focusing on the small things. They never settled for "that was good enough". They pushed the tempo in practice and they constantly pushed themselves and the team to improve.
• LEADER Award - A player who exemplified these characteristics were a true LEADER on our team and to our program. Others looked up to this person and they were a player who you would follow. They represented and lived our LEADER values on a consistent basis.
3. Off-Season Interest Inquiry. You'll simply rate your level of interest for potential off-season activities.

Let me know if you have any questions about the items on the survey. You must be logged-in to your school's Google account in order to access the survey. Reminder, you can only submit it one time. Click on this link to access the survey when you are ready.


Thanks,


Coach Martin

5th Region Tournament

Lady Generals Soccer Community,


Good afternoon, I'd like to thank all of the fans and supporters who came out to the 19th District Tournament. The energy from the crowd and the contest was electric, and as a result it was a fun environment to be a part of. Ultimately, we came up short on our goal of 19th District Champions, however we have advanced into region play and a greater trophy awaits the winner! As a team, we're moving forward and focusing our energy on advancing in the region tournament.

The rest of this blog post will provide specifics about the 5th Region Tournament and our practice plans to prepare for the those games. Elizabethtown High School (they have a very nice stadium with turf surface) will host the 5th Region Girls Soccer Tournament (click here for an official tournament bracket). In the 1st round of regions, Thomas Nelson will play LaRue County on Sunday, October 18th at 2:00PM. We will not be taking a bus for this weekend game. If we were to advance in the region, then our game schedule would be the following: Sunday at 2:00, Tuesday at 5:30, then the finals would take place on Thursday at 6:00. Goooooo Lady Generals!

Please click on this link to view our practice plans as we prepare for the region tournament. As usual, feel free to reach out with questions or concerns should they arise.


Sincerely,


Alex Martin

Celebrating Taylor's Life

Lady Generals Soccer Community,

I am very grateful for the continued love, support, and care that we have received from our community and our supporters. In recent years, I've gained a greater appreciation for the value of personal relationships and the bonds to which we develop on a daily basis. At the end of the day, it's the loving care and support of each other that will help this program and its stakeholders to continue to grow. Continue tending to these relationships in a positive manner and our community will prosper even more.

On behalf of Will Blaire, close friend of Taylor Martin, he would like to formerly invite our Lady Generals Soccer Community to Keystone Cinema to watch a video that celebrates Taylor's life. The video will be shown tonight, October 1, at 6:30PM at Keystone Cinemas in Bardstown. Each of the soccer players and their families have been invited to the 6:30 showing. The video is approximately 45 minutes in length and will highlight videos, pictures, and music that celebrates Taylor's life. I have informed the girls that attendance is optional and we will end practice early enough to allow for adequate transition time. My apologies on the late notice. Click on the video below to listen to a song written and performed by Aaron Givan in memory of Taylor.

As usual, feel free to reach out with questions or concerns.


Thanks,


Alex Martin

“A community’s well-being simply has to do with the quality of relationships, the cohesion that exists amongst its citizens...it is the extent to which we extend hospitality and affection to one another.” 

Peter Block

Forever in Our Hearts - #14

Lady Generals Soccer Community,

Play for Tay! Taylor was an involved member of our first Legacy Core team, and her assistance with forming the framework for our LEADERship team has laid the foundation for many Generals to come. Taylor was very mature for her age, always offering a holistic perspective on what this team and program was meant to accomplish. Taylor's comments will continue to echo throughout our program as I've organized Taylor's comments from our Legacy Core meetings on this document (click here). I would encourage you to read through this document to gain a perspective on what she wanted for this team and program to accomplish. 

Our Lady Generals Soccer team and TNHS Athletic Family plan to honor Taylor in a variety of ways throughout the rest of the season. Our coaching staff is always brainstorming and having conversations with invested stakeholders to make sound conclusions. I'm sure additional ideas will form, but currently these are a few of the ideas that we have in place to honor Taylor.

1. We have made special "Play for Tay" t-shirts and armbands for each member of the soccer team. Special thanks to Sarah Rogers for organizing the production of the t-shirts, and a huge appreciation to Apparel and Awards Factory for donating these shirts to the team. Expenses for the armbands were taking care of through our booster account. See the image to the right to view the "Play for Tay" gear. 
2. In our first home game following the loss of Taylor, we will honor Taylor by hosting a shield posting ceremony tomorrow night before the JV game. Our soccer team will participate in a small gathering in which we will mount a General Shield that commemorates Taylor in an area overlooking the soccer field. I would like to formally invite everyone to attend, the ceremony will be short and sweet, and should take place at 5:45PM. Following the ceremony, we will support our JV team as they kickoff against Christian Academy of Louisville at 6:00.
3. We several ideas formulating for our senior night celebrations. I would like to thank Michelle Simpson for taking the LEAD on this event, your commitment to these girls and our community is remarkable. Stay tuned for more information regarding our senior night celebration.
4. Additionally, I have visions to decorate or build a landscaping area of a flower bed, shrubbery, and/or tree, and then to dedicate this area in memory of Taylor. We're currently brainstorming options on what that would look like.  

Numerous schools, community supporters, friends, and parents have reached out to me or this program in a variety of ways and I've been extremely thankful for the love and support that we have received. I would like to send a special thanks to each of you for your work and care in our most precious resource - the growth of our Generals would not be possible without your diligent support.

Sincerely,

Alex Martin

Coach's Response to Ejections

Lady Generals Soccer Community,


Thank you for your continued support and Happy Labor Day Weekend. As many of you are aware, at our most recent game vs. Oldham County, myself and a TNHS player received red cards and were ejected from the match. The purpose of this post is to address the situation, take accountability for my actions, and to communicate next steps for how we will learn from this and move forward. Our coaching staff has already met with our players on Thursday to discuss these items.

Accountability for My Actions
I would like to start by apologizing to our players, parents, and supporters for my actions at the game. Receiving an ejection from a match is an embarrassment to myself and our program. Additionally, I will be required to face suspension penalties that will essentially prevent me from directing helping our players. Also, I believe the subsequent red card and ejection received by our player occurred as a result of me being ejected. Ultimately, my actions has affected many people. I take full responsibility for them and I would like to apologize for my actions.

From my experiences I do not believe my actions towards the official warranted such a harsh decision. However, he is the referee, and regardless of how unjust we feel his decisions are throughout the game we must respect his calls. I will be honest and state that I was completely unaware of the harsh suspension penalties that occur as a result of a coach's ejection. I will face a 3 game suspension in which I will not be able to coach, sit on the sideline, or even attend the game as a spectator. Were I aware of this penalty, I can assure you that I would have acted much more intelligently. Many of our players and supporters understand the passion, care, and love I have for our players and program, and it's going to hurt me deeply not being able to support our girls during the next 3 games.

Our Current Reality
As referenced above, I have met with our players to discuss the events that occurred on Wednesday, our current reality, and how we will move learn and move forward together. Our team and program has numerous goals that we would like to accomplish, and we are moving forward to continue to work towards those goals.

I will face a 3 game suspension in which I will not be allowed to coach. Thankfully, we have two knowledgeable assistant coaches who are fully capable of picking up for my absence. We will continue to work and collaborate together, but I have full confidence in their abilities to keep our heading. I am allowed to attend and coach at practice, and therefore we will conduct our practices as usual. However, Coach Hurst and Coach Michael will work collaboratively to manage the next 3 games.

Our ejected player will serve a 2 game suspension and will not be allowed to participate during those games. She is a very strong player and someone who we routinely rely heavily upon in our defense. Her absence will open up minutes for another player and we expect our all of our players to have her back by stepping up in her absence.

Stay the Course
Our coaching staff is fully aware of our team record over the past 4 games (1-3-0), bringing our overall varsity record to 4-3-0. I assure you that no one hates losing more than myself, however I am able to keep our recent performance in check by understanding the context of what we are trying to accomplish. Ultimately, we want to continue working to get better each and every day, and one of our goals as a team is to be playing our best soccer by the time the postseason begins. We intentionally increased the difficulty of schedule because we knew that our girls need to be challenged in order to experience adequate growth. We will continue pushing to improve each and every day. We will continue to seek necessary adjustments to ensure we're playing our best soccer by the time our district tournament begins. Have confidence in our girls, coaches, and program, and stay the course.

As usual, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly if you have a question or concern. I want each of our supporters to be on the same page and thus I am a firm believer in having necessary conversations.


Sincerely,



Alex Martin

2015 Team Goal Setting

Agenda:

1. Why are we here? What are the outcomes of today's meeting?
2. What do we want to accomplish? Team Goal Brainstorming
3. Historical implications and current reality
4. How will we communicate these goals to the team?

Upcoming Events: Celebration and Preparation

Lady Generals Soccer Community,


Good afternoon. We're off and away! Preseason practice is in full swing and the upcoming school year is right around the corner. This weekend, our program plans to celebrate and prepare for the upcoming season and school year in a variety of ways.

TNHS Back to School Bash
What: Open House at TNHS from 5:00-7:00PM and Celebration Bash from 7:00-9:00PM
When: Friday, July 31
Place: TNHS

The TNHS faculty is hosting school open house and Back to School Bash this Friday. Back to School Bash is a fun filled, family oriented event that gives students, family members, and TNHS faculty a chance to gather and have fun outside of the typical classroom setting. I would encourage all players and their family members to participate in the event.

To help support the event and to help promote our program, the Lady Generals Soccer Organization is hosting a booth at Back to School Bash. Dana Whitis will be LEADing this preparation for us. If you are interested in providing support for the event or have cool ideas that would take our booth to next level, please reach out to Dana at 502.827.4975.

Soccer Facility Clean-Up
What: Soccer Field Spring Cleaning
When: Saturday, August 1
Time: 8:00AM - ???

The boys and girls soccer programs will again be partnering up to prepare our soccer facilities for the upcoming season. Major tasks include, lining and painting lines on the soccer fields, cleaning concessions and press box, and spraying bleachers and surrounding areas. Click on this link for a more detailed description game plan. 

Dan Hicks will be LEADing this event for the girls team. We currently need 7-8 supporters to sign up to work the event. Also, we need supporters to bring in necessary materials to complete the tasks listed above. If you would like to help in any way, you can either sign up on the document linked above or contact Dan at 502.510.6644 to let him know how you can provide support!

Preseason Kickoff Banquet
What: Kickoff Celebration
When: Sunday, August 2
Time: 5:00-6:30PM
Place: TNHS Cafeteria

Our program is hosting a preseason kickoff banquet to celebrate the beginning of our 2015 soccer season. At this time, we would like to formally invite you and your immediate family to the event. The purpose of the event is to celebrate our program and its players, highlight our senior class, promote program vision, and to communicate partnering expectations.

The banquet will be a potluck, in which our program will provide chicken and drinks for the event, but we are requesting that each player bring one side dish. Please indicate how many people will be in your party for the event, and please view the side dish that has been requested for each player by clicking on this link. Michelle Simpson (502.827.3024) and Vanessa Reiter (502.827.1554) has agreed to LEAD this event, please reach out to them if you have additional ideas or can support event in any way.

Thank you for your diligence in staying informed, feel free to contact me if additional questions arise.


Alex Martin