Revival of Women's Soccer

Last year, when the spring season came around, and basketball seasons wrapped up, it felt as though something was missing from our athletic department. That something was the women’s soccer team.

The long-running sport at JCHS did not have a team last year, due to lack of interest, yet this year — spearheaded by senior Liora Ami — the girls' soccer program united as a force once again. Joined by freshmen and sophomores new to the program, the team rebuilt girls soccer at JCHS, working hard to make their season a success.

This year’s team was made special by their closeness, defying age differences and developing respect and friendships with one another, this helped them form a tight-knit group. They lifted one another up each time they lost, and constantly encouraged their teammates to succeed. This positive mindset towards the game was also different; because they were a new team, and often struggled against difficult competitors who were more experience and had more practice time, their main goal was not to win, but to try to use every second to get better.

The girls’ goal at improving was encouraged by their coach, Mr. Mirelman, who preached an important mentality to help achieve their mission. He believed that they had to win every 10 minutes. Upon asking Coach Mirelman about this mentality, he explained, “when we realized we were going up against hard teams, and if you thought of 80-minute games, it was hard to find the small victories. But once we timed every ten minutes, we could really see the success that was being made.” This idea was introduced by Coach Pollock, the recipient of the golden bagel award this year as the head coach of the boys’ soccer team, who taught Coach Mirelman this while he served as the assistant coach in the fall.

In addition to different strategies, the players were also still learning how to work together. This year, the team was navigating what it looked like to have a team with very different skill sets while trying to build trust and communication. Players were asked to fill roles they had never done before, like playing a different position or handling the ball more.

For next year, improvement areas include fitness, working less on fundamentals in order to make room for developing more set skills, and game strategies.

Stay tuned for next spring when the girls' soccer team makes its second appearance in the new league!