As my high school soccer career comes to a close, I find that it is necessary to thank coach Drew McNeely for everything he has done for me and the rest of the West Ashley girls during his coaching career. Since my freshman year at WAHS all I really wanted to do was go on to play college soccer. McNeely is one of several coaches who have helped me to achieve my personal goals. So although I thank coach Mac, thank you also to almost every coach in CUSC and to various odp coaches I've encountered on my journey here.
I've never really coached, but I would think that coaching at the highschool level is probably the hardest of all levels. In almost all other instances, the team is comprised of 18 people who are there because they are spending money to pay a coach to help them become better players. But at the highschool level, the team may contain some true soccer players, some people who are simply athletes(with no previous experience), and some people who are there just to get the warm-up jacket and to hang out with their friends. A great highschool coach has to figure out a way to get every girl on the team to not only love the game, but to have a passion for it, and be able to turn that into success. I feel like coach McNeely does that. It's not because he knows some secret drills that no other coaches have adopted yet, or because he runs us into the ground at practice. He, instead, believes that a team should respect their coach not because he punishes them, but because they know that he can make them better. I could go on for pages about the things that McNeely has taught me and my team, but I'll narrow the list down to 4 main things:
1) Coach Mac has taught us that above all we have to believe in each other, and with belief, will come success.
2) He taught us to play with emotion, because soccer is 99% mental, and no team can train to defend against an emotionally propelled team.
3) He taught us to always have fun, because success is no good if you didn't have fun gaining it.
4) He taught us to play for each other, because a team is not a group of individuals, it is a single unit that succeeds and fails together.
If you are reading this, I hope that you know how much you are appreciated by your Lady Wildcats, Mac. I hope that I can take what I have learned from you and apply it not only to my soccer career in college, but to life in general. You have not only been a great coach, but a great mentor. Thank you for everything you do, you will be remembered in all that I do.
To all Lady Wildcats- please feel free to post any comments you have regarding Mac. He deserves to be acknowledged for everything he has done.
Thanks again Mac,
-Your senior captain
