Notes From Camp, and a Look at The Week Ahead

The Varsity felt pretty smug avoiding Henri, boarding the schoolbus in Hanover and heading North up Rt. 89 to Roxbury, a little village tucked in between Randolph and Northfield. We passed through a few rain showers, but once we arrived at the Windridge Tennis and Sports Camp, the skies were almost sunny. We got to camp, moved into our cabins, and made it down to the recently-mowed soccer field in time for a 4:00 scrimmage with Paine Mountain, the local high school for Northfield and Williamstown. After playing the best two Division Two teams in NH in Lebanon and Oyster River, the was less of a challenge, and we made the collective mistake of playing down to their level. We took a 3-0 lead, with goals by Jack Gardner and Oscar, and an own goal directly from an Eric Ringer corner kick. They pulled a goal back before halftime on a well-taken shot, but the mood at halftime wasn't great. We promised to make adjustents, and them promptly allowed a soft goal to make the score 3-2. As the second half continued, we played with more precision, and started scoring a lot of goals. Jack Gardner ripped a hard shot for his second goal of the day, and Zach Tracy rolled a seeing eye shot into the lower left corner, and the score was a more comfortable 5-2. One of the keys to our second hald success was the stong play of Charlie Forbush, who played three positions in his Varsity debut. Oscar was on target for two more predatory goals, giving him a hat trick, and then Murphy Hunt, who had his best half of the preseason, picked the corner from outside the 18 to make the final score 8-2. We gathered in the dining hall, well-ventilated and separated from the other teams, and then had free time after supper. Many of the players enjoyed a robust game of two-on-two basketball, and after a while eight players hopped into the swimming pool for an even more robust game of Marco Polo. It's a tradition at Windridge for the team to circle up in a team meeting and speak from the heart about our goals for the team and for the season. These young men are self-aware and care a great deal about each other and the journey we hope to have this season. As darkness fell the boys loaded on the bug spray and headed to the campfire circle. Becket McCurdy tended the fire and Jacob Kubik-Pauk provided hot dogs and they had an ample supply of s'mores supplies. They are up there now as I type this thanks to dining hall on a humid night. I'll chase them into the cabins at 11:00 and we'll try to get enough sleep to set us up for the day on Monday. We'll be back to Hanover by Noon. We'll let Henri play itself out on Monday and gather every non-Varsity player at the Pasture on Tuesday Morning at 10:00, ready to finish the process of sorting ourelves into three teams. We'll wait to name the JV1 until after the scrimmage with Woodsville Tuesday night at 6:00 on the turf, and and have the Freshman and JV2 team sorted out by Friday. All three subvarsity teams will be ready to go for games right at the start of the first week of school. Please be on the lookout this week for a fundraising letter from the Friends of Hanover Soccer. We make one appeal annually, simply by sending a letter to parents and friends, seeking the extra support that is critically necessary for running a program that involves 94 players and six coaches, playing a total of more than 60 games. The amount of money we receive from Athletic Department funds is very, very small, and we need to raise nearly $10,000 every year to make this program go. We do not ask the boys to raise money. They don't sell dicount cards or run bake sales or carwashes. We prefer to have them spent their time raising money for charitible causes, and have alreaady raised over $1,500 for the Haven and LISTEN this year. We support the Alzheimer's Walk, the CROP Walk, and Grassroot soccer, and you will hear more about that soon. But we prefer to simply ask parents to help us fund the expenditures for a four-team program, which helps us by balls, equipment, and uniforms, and helps pay expenses for some of the coaches who are basically donating their time. We also raise money with a program book that is a joint effort with the girls' program, and if you run a business that wants to advertise, we would love to hear from you. But please consider a non tax-deductible (sorry! not a 501-c-3) donation to the Friends of Hanover Soccer. It's money well spent. It's a Cadillac program on a used Toyota budget, and we would love your support, which helps every player.