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
Thanks for the accountability statement whether warranted or not. Thank you for your overall vision: what is being taught at every training session and game is much more important than overall records. Even this blogspot is above and beyond. PRESS ON WITH THE MISSION, SOLDIER!!
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