The USC Salkehatchie soccer season is finally over after what to some seemed like a eternity. The Indians both the men's and women's team grew by leaps and bounds if you were to ask me. I have confessed this before but I knew close to nothing about soccer beofore the season started. I grew up in the 1970's and as a youth, not many towns or schools played soccer in the south. I would kick a ball around at recess if we had one but I never watched the game on television, heck we only had three channels. I did know of Pale' (SIC), I read the sports pages in the Post and Courier (Charleston) every detail from stats to stories each day and I knew he was a great player.
When I first started watching the USC Salkehatchie soccer teams this season, I saw one thing missing and that was team unity. I then started noticing that the team and coach Glass grew closer with every passing day. I coached high school football for about eleven years and the one thing I know is that is you don't have that special bond between the players, you will be in for a long season. I noticed that once the season started and the players started to learn one another, they grew both on and off the field. I met coach Glass about the same time as the players and even though he is a quiet man, I have grown to understand that he has a special bond with his players and they respect him for the way he coaches. I have never noticed him getting extremely mad with his players but they seem to know when he has had enough. I watched the players as they grew with each passing match. It was great for me, a fan of sports to watch these young men and women grow as individuals and teammates throughout the season. I know that wins didn't come the way the players or coach Glass would have loved to see them but isn't sports more than wins and losses?
In sports when you start focusing more on winning than getting better as a unit, you lose focus of the big picture and that is getting better and learning life's hard lessons. I salute all the players on both the men's and women's soccer teams, you made the university proud with your performance on the field and the way you have conducted yourselves off the field.
The players and coach Glass are already talking about next season and all the great things that are to come. If this season was any indication of what we have in store for us in the future, I think we can all get excited about USC Salkehatchie soccer.
