On Winning the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association Media Person of the Year Award I had covered exactly one high school soccer game in 2018 before I was named the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association (SPSCA) Media Person of the Year. Although it had little to do with the award, I thought immediately of the night. It was the District 1 3A semifinals, and Strath Haven beat Upper Perkiomen, 10-1, in the kind of game that is difficult on everyone—the players, the coaches, the parents, the referees and even the media. As part of that last group, I had to tell the story, and given that I was working for the Delaware County Daily Times, I wrote from the Strath Haven perspective. The Panthers, powered by a strong offense, peaked at the right time to clinch their first PIAA state tournament appearance since 2005. One Upper Perk fan didn’t appreciate that slant. I failed to address the 1 side of the 10-1 score line, this person argued. Didn’t I ask why the Indians—a quality side—struggled so much? Shouldn’t I have known that the team was filled with underclassmen and battling injuries? This person, via an anonymous twitter account, verged on calling the game story fake news. I’ve heard and read enough negative comments to brush them off. Besides, it would’ve been just as unfair to discredit Strath Haven’s accomplishment —winning a district semifinal game by nine goals—in any way. And any additional context would’ve come off as disingenuous. Upper Perk was not nine goals worse, of course,
but then what score better reflected the talent level of the two teams? 4-1? 5-1? These are things that came to mind when I first saw the anonymous tweets, although I didn’t respond. Cynicism permeates the soccer world, so there’s no need to add to it. Instead, I can hold up positive examples of things done right. Like the behavior of the Upper Perk sideline. As things quickly deteriorated for his team, Indians coach Kyle Fisher remained calm. He saw his boys go behind early. He watched his goalkeeper take two knocks, the second of which kept him from returning to the game. Fisher inserted his backup, a freshman, and gave him words of encouragement (and if anyone can impress while letting in bunches of goals, this keeper did). Fisher asked questions of the officials without questioning them. I could see the effect on the players as well, who continued to compete without taking their frustrations out on their opponents. Fisher didn’t lose his sense of humor either. When the lights went out at the stadium with mere minutes to play, he joked, “This means Strath Haven forfeits, right?” Afterwards Fisher shared what the game had meant for his young team. “We had set out a goal at the beginning of the season to make districts,” he told me. “Having an exciting game against Pottsgrove (in the district quarterfinals) and being able to get to this point was a big feather in our cap and a big step forward for[!5 our ] program. I’m
hoping we got a lot of guys some good experience.” I don’t know how well Coach Fisher can explain formations and their purposes, or what in-game adjustments he makes to counter deficits. I do know the impression he leaves on the players he coaches. The poise, in less-thanideal circumstances, stands in stark contrast to the behavior I’ve often seen on other youth and high school sidelines. Leaders like Fisher make it easy to support high school soccer even if it’s not directly written into my job description with Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer. The game matters to the coaches and kids who play it, and the experiences they gain are unique in the greater context of the sport —like when the whole school showed up to see Strath Haven off to Hershey for the state final (the Panthers finished second); or, crossing the state here, when Duquesne University commit Nathan Dragisich scored a hat trick to give West Allegheny its first state championship; or the Souderton girls team, which received firetruck escorts back to the school following its state triumph over rival Pennridge. It was an honor to be recognized by the SPSCA for my contributions to high school soccer—all I did was watch a few games and pull together rankings with the help of coaches and fellow media members. And I was happy to do it on behalf of a state association that, from our mission statement, “promotes and facilitates the game of soccer for all youth at all levels of play in eastern Pennsylvania.”
