Livingston Academy Girls Soccer Team Has Eyes Set On The Prize In 2019
In sports, continuity is key to building a winning team. It can shape a program and build a winning culture where one is needed. While they may have a new coach, the Livingston Academy girls soccer team is returning a majority of its 2018 core and has set its sights on the highest prize for 2019.
While this may be his first season coaching girls soccer, David Sadler is no mere rookie; he coached football for the Overton County Junior Wildcats, and has coached the sport for 17 years. Even with all of that experience, Sadler knows this is a different ballgame entirely when it comes to coaching girls soccer.
“That was challenging, moving from boys in football to girls in soccer,” Sadler said. “How to deal with them, they have different personalities and emotions that boys don’t have. And of course, the game of soccer is different than football, strategy-wise.”
Sadler is quick to point out the talent of this team, and there’s certainly an abundance of it. This is a squad that won the district last season and went to regionals. While they don’t return everyone, they are currently sitting at six juniors and one senior amongst a team of primarily freshmen and sophomore. This makes them a very young team.
The plus side of being a young team? They know how to play with each other and have spent years playing together as a team.
“They make me look awesome (as a coach), they are a very powerful team,” Sadler said. “They are a very special group of girls that have been playing together for a while…we are in a position to where it’s tough to make the decision on who is going to start and play because we have so much depth and ability.”
While the games of football and soccer appear drastically different, a deeper dive reveals otherwise. Once you simplify it down, you have two teams with a certain number of players on each side that are trying to outscore each other. Sadler has that same approach to coaching.
“Coaching is coaching,” Sadler said. “Once you get to the kids and you learn positions as a coach, we are here to be supporters and motivators…my main objective is to make these kids better.”
It’ll be hard to surpass last season’s success, as winning the district championship is a feat of its own. To go further is an even bigger journey. That is the goal of this year’s team for Livingston Academy. They don’t just want another district title though; they want to go even further.
“As a team, we definitely are looking to re-take the district and carry on into regions,” Sadler said. “(We want to) go further than we ever have before.”
