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