COLORADO COACH- FALL 2017 FROM THE SPORT PRESIDENTS UPDATES from the Sport Presidents SOCCER President Justin Stephens Welcome to the Fall 2017 soccer season! With the boys now well under way I am pleased that my first order of business as the new soccer president is to congratulate the state championship teams and coaches from last spring. It seems every year the quality of play and the depth of competition increases in all classifications! 2017 girls state champions: 2A Brad Homan Denver Christian 3A Kevin Davis-The Academy 4A Paul Moline-D’Evelyn 5A Theresa Echtermeyer Mountain Vista The tournaments at all four classifications were as competitive as ever with several matches, including the 4A final, going all the way to kicks from the mark. The championship matches played at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park made for an excellent conclusion to a fine spring season! With such great soccer being played statewide it is becoming an increasingly difficult task to select our CHSCA all-state teams; an excellent problem to have! Despite the difficulty, 2017 boys and girls all- state teams were selected and then divided into North and South teams who entertained the 100’s of soccer enthusiasts gathered at Lakewood Memorial Stadium, a wonderful, soccer specific venue. I would encourage you to join us for this year’s matches, especially if you were unable to make it last year. The games will be in July again with specific dates TBD. Member coaches receive free admission, of course! Here in Colorado we are very fortunate to have such a high standard of coaching. I am honored to work alongside such great people who are instilling in the next generation of players the value of high character! We were able to honor a few coaches in particular last spring with CHSSCA Coach of the Year recognition. Our recipients were Mark Hampshire (5A – Arapahoe), Paul Moline (4A – D’Evelyn), and Joe Swanson (2A/3A – Peak to Peak). Additionally, we had several coaches earn regional awards through the National Soccer Coaches Association. 2016 NSCAA Regional Coaches of the Year include Dan Watkins (Wheat Ridge – girls), Tari Wood (Grandview – girls), Krista Pearman (Kent Denver – girls), Arty Smith (Kent Denver – boys) and Hardy Kalisher (Boulder – boys). I would also like to encourage you to visit our soccer site at http://chssca.org/ and feel free to email me with any questions, comments or ideas about how to make our organization better. We want to involve as many coaches as possible, so please get on our email list if you are not already and please plan to attend our Fall all state meeting which will be held November 18th , 10:00 am at Fort Collins High School. Like many of you, I often find myself searching online and in books for words to inspire the young people we work with. Yesterday I came across this gem, "My sports made me a more focused, sharper, more determined and stronger person than I was before. It's a mental game — the stronger you are the better you are" -- Kiran Khan, Olympic swimmer. Best of luck to all of you and your programs as we set out to help our student athletes find the mental strength to succeed in soccer and in life.