Something to love about this season…riding bus #125 to the OESJ game  through farmland and rolling hills with country music blaring and a cacophony of modified girls exploding into sound at the back of the bus.

Another thing to love..Mrs. Canell.  She was once on a Galway modified soccer team herself.   She then moved up to Varsity in 9th grade.  Eventually, she transitioned to being a coach rather than a player.  She coached JV girls soccer from 2000-2008 and then in 2009 she started coaching the Varsity team. This year Mrs. Canell coached modified soccer for the first time.   Center defense player Lily Gullet was honest in her assessment: “She works us hard but it pays off.  We have all gotten better and are continuing to get better.”

Through practices, drills and games, Coach Canell taught her players many fundamentals and advanced skills.  When the team started to break apart, and girls were whispering behind each other’s backs as junior high girls have been known to do, Coach taught us the importance of kindness, taking time out of practice to sort out the problems.

Coach’s energy during a game is evident of how much she loves competition.  And how fiery she can be.  She is best left unprovoked.  Listen to her–eating when she tells you to eat and only eating what she tells you to.  If you’re not on your game 100%, you’re on the bench.  If you aren’t on your girl, you better be running and probably need to cover your ears: “Get on your girl!  Who’s on 21? ” and the team’s favorite, “If you win this game, you get Thursday off.”

Stretching and warming up is a process some love and some love to whine about.  After a lap, or so,the team lines up and does line to line warmups.  There are the classics like high knees, butt kicks, bench slides and foundations but then there are the ones that elicit groans or cheers.  Cartwheels.  Whoo!  Round offs.  Groan.  Inch worms.  Groan.  Juggling.  Groan.  “I like inch worms.  Mostly I like them because everyone else hates them!” Rachel Wnuk, #3, shares.  It is one of those things you have to be there for and do to truly understand why the girls cheer, but mostly groan.

Almost every week the team learns new formations for field play, including the diamond and certain overlapping procedures.  Then, there are the formations or postures individual players need to have to kick the ball successfully.  Toe down, body forward, planted foot, laces contact, land, look.  Goal!  The team enjoyed observing Coach Canell’s mad skills when she taught us formations.

The season was real. We girls loved the sport, loved Coach Canell’s style and loved the experiences on the field.  We’re disheartened it is over.  Groan.