Duke coach helps Bigfork soccer

By FAITH MOLDAN

Bigfork Eagle

Life is great when everybody gets what they want.

Bigfork High School girls' soccer coach and U-12 Bandit soccer coach Steve Koch, his players and Duke University Women's soccer coach Robbie Church all got what they wanted July 31-August 3. Church, who has coached the women's soccer team at Duke since 2001, came to Bigfork to hold a soccer clinic and for a vacation. The Bigfork soccer players and coaches were happy to have him in town.

Church had the Bigfork soccer players practicing every morning and evening from 6-7:30 a.m./p.m. throughout the week.

"I had a general plan the first day," Church said about what to cover with the young soccer players.

Church worked on technical skills like dribbling, heading, passing and shooting during half of each session.

"The team will breakdown if those skills aren't there in a game," Church said.

Working with high school athletes was different for Church, but he said that the Bigfork athletes were all working hard and a very sharp group of girls.

"You have to keep repeating them," Church said of some of the new drills he taught the players, many of whom are going to be freshmen and sophomores in high school. Some others are even younger.

"It's a really good opportunity," Bigfork High School sophomore Lena Olson said of working with Church. "We've covered a lot of different things that we don't usually do." Olson said she's improved her ball control, an area that was a weakness for her prior to the clinic.

"I'm a bit more focused," she said. "Coach Church is very involved and you have to pay attention."

Olson added that she was pleasantly surprised by Church's friendliness, as she was expecting things to be run more like a boot camp.

Koch said he learned from Church's approach and demeanor with the athletes.

"He did a lot of the same things we do already, but had some different trigger words," Koch said. Those trigger words clicked with the athletes in a different way and they learned new skills.

Mike Daniels of Bigfork remained in contact with Church after he coached at Daniels' Alma mater Belmont Abbey. Daniels mentioned to Koch that he knew Church and Koch asked if it was possible to bring him to Bigfork. Daniels made the initial contact with Church in December, once the Lady Blue Devils finished their soccer season.

"I asked him (Daniels) to contact him, and we got him," Koch said of Church. He added that he's learning right along with the players.

With the high school soccer season just around the corner, the clinic only increases the anticipation and expectations for the season.

"It makes me really excited for this season," Olson said of the soccer clinic. "It could help us. It gets touches on the ball for the younger girls and lets them play up with us. That could help us in the future when they're playing on the high school team."

"We're ahead of the curve," Koch said. He added that the clinic created a buzz for the athletes that participated.

Church said he tries to get out every summer to coach clinics. He also works with the Olympic Development Program and coaches the U-12 North Carolina State soccer team. He has also coached at Vanderbilt, recording a 21-19-1 record in two seasons as head coach, a 66-30-8 mark at UNC Charlotte from 1994-1998, Lynn University, East Carolina and Belmont Abbey.

Church, a four-year starter at Pfeiffer College, became the head men's and women's soccer coach at Charlotte County Day School in 1991. He was Pfeiffer's leading scorer and MVP as a senior.