Rochester Pride - RSC Lightning '96

Game summaries can now be found under the Schedules menu to the left of your screen.

For any who may need uniforms (jersey, shorts & socks), these items will be available for purchase at Soccer World at 2067 Rochester Road located South of Hamlin and East of Rochester in the plaza where Papa Joe's is. Please note, that RYSL uniform items are no longer being carried by Dunham's but general soccer equipment, of course, still is. (shin guards, boots, etc.) Also, as an alternative, I can highly recommend George's Soccer as a great source for all your soccer needs. George's is where I have purchased my equipment for years and I have always been impressed with their knowledgable and friendly service. George's Soccer is located west off Rochester Road between Big Beaver & Wattles in Troy.

Parents, My favorite time of year is here and I am very pleased to be coaching your daughter's soccer team this season. Many of you now know me and are familiar with my coaching style and emphasis. Just as a review and an introduction to new members and families to the team I'd like to take a minute to review and share my approach to coaching young players so that you, as parents, can get an idea of what I'm trying to accomplish as a coach. First of all, as the coach of young & developing players, I consider it my responsibility to create an atmosphere that fosters enthusiasm for this beautiful game and allows that enthusiasm to grow. That is my primary goal for everybody on this team and everything that I do throughout the season is meant to achieve that end. These girls are playing the game because they like it. Soccer is a beautiful game and I want them to always like it and have it remain fun and fulfilling for them well beyond pre-teen and teen years as it has for me as a player and coach. That kind of long-standing enjoyment will come from an appreciation for and understanding of the game - which is what I will strive to teach. My coaching direction stems from certain fundamental concepts that have been taught to me, the most important of which is an appreciation of what is meant by good play. Good play is play that is skillful and thoughtful. My goal is to promote within the players the desire to play more skillfully. I feel that players at this age have stepped beyond "kickball" and are reaching a point where they ready and wanting to develop an understanding of positional play and execution. That desire to learn is important because as long as they want to learn and improve their skills, they will. And it is very gratifying to see the pride that a young player takes in her accomplishments as she realizes she is learning and getting better & better - game by game and week by week. Good play also means fair, clean play and sportsmanlike conduct. Wherever I have coached, from toddlers to U-20's and at all levels including rec, club and high school varsity, I have always worked very hard to instill these traits in my players. I will continue to emphasize the importance of this because a match played in a fair and sporting manner is more enjoyable for all concerned. Now, I want very much to win. And you will find I intend to and very much expect to win. And I want my team to want to win, and to expect to win. There is nothing wrong with that - it is why we work so hard to improve our skills and execution. But much more important than winning is to win well. And as with all things, the effort reaps its own rewards. Finally, I want to thank you, parents, for your involvement in your daughter's soccer season. Regardless of skill level, team record, friends involved, or personal achievements, NOTHING is more important to your daughter than your support in her endeavors. I am looking forward to a terrific season. Knut Licensed USSF “D” Level Coach KNVB Certified Youth Coach SoccerPlus Goalkeeper School

"It’s not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters." -Paul "Bear" Bryant "It's when you try to sprint down a ball that everyone thinks is going out of bounds and you think it is too. But you go after it anyway and you get to it. Maybe you don't make a great cross with it to win the game, but you pushed yourself beyond what you thought you could. That's what it will take to win the gold." - Mia Hamm "In the end, it’s extra effort that separates a winner from second place. But winning takes a lot more that that, too. It starts with complete command of the fundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline, and self-sacrifice. And finally, it takes a great deal of love, fairness and respect for your fellow man. Put all these together, and even if you don’t win, how can you lose?" -Jesse Owens "I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying." -Michael Jordan "Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly." -Shaquille O’Neal "Do not throw in the towel; use it for wiping the sweat off your face." -Unknown "I ran and ran and ran every day, and I acquired this sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never give up, no matter what else happened." -Wilma Rudolph "Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." -Steve Prefontaine "I’ve worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down, and I will not let myself down." -Mia Hamm "The will to prepare, the guts to risk, and the desire to be the best…these are the trademarks of a champion." -Unknown "The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested players." -Don Coryell, ex-San Diego Chargers Coach "The more honor and respect among the players, the greater the team." -Unknown "People do not lack strength; they lack will." -Victor Hugo "Good coaches teach respect for the opposition, love of competition, the value of trying your best, and how to win and lose graciously." -Brooks Clark "Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself." -Henry Ward Beecher "No student ever attains eminent success by simply doing what is required of him/her; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required, that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction." -Charles Kendall Adams, American Historian "The will to win is not worth a nickel unless you have the will to practice." -Unknown "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." -Ralph Waldo Emerson "There is no such thing as a great talent without a great willpower." -Unknown "Strength Within, Pride Throughout." -Acton-Boxboro Varsity Girls Basketball "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." -John Wooden "How a man plays the game shows something of his character; how he loses shows it all." -Tribune (Camden County, GA) "Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character." -T. Alan Armstrong "Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up." -The Reverend Jesse Jackson Use of profanity is an indication of incomplete and immature thinking. -Jim Turpin "If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat." -Herschel Walker "The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital." -Joe Paterno "Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan." -Tom Landry "A winner never whines." -Paul Brown "Circumstances may cause interruptions or delays, but never lose sight of the goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs." - Mario Andretti "No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit." - Helen Keller -[written By Mia Hamm just after winning the World Cup] A letter to my team: Remember the night before the final World Cup game, when we all got together and wrote down what we felt about each other and then taped the notes to the person's back? Then we ran back to our rooms and read them. Mine said, "Kick me." The note under it said, "Kick me harder." Just kidding, but really, some of your phrases were unbelievable. Things like, "I love how hard you play," "I love how you play for this team," "You play with passion." I feel the same way about every one of you guys. In sports, we go through some absolutely wonderful times and some absolutely fearful times - like when you've got that really easy sitter and you miss it, and everyone in the stands is looking at you saying, "Hey, come on! I could have finished that one!" And your teammates look at you and they don't judge you. In the tough times and the great times, they treat you just the same. That's what sports is all about. Sports isn't about awards or world championships, though those are great. It's about the relationships we have with one another. So that night, before the final game, reading all those quotes, I'd already won. I won because I'm part of a great team. We're players who believe in each other and work extremely hard for one another. From the bottom of my heart, you guys, we did it together. I love you. -Mia Hamm Never Give Up. Never Give Up. Never Give Up. -Winston Churchill

Listed below are game schedules for Rochester High School and Avondale High School JV & Varsity Soccer teams. I would highly encourage you to attend several matches over the season to get a first-hand look at some high quality teenage-level soccer. In particular, games involving Rochester Adams (1999 State Champion / 1998 runner-up), Troy Athens (2000 State Champion) and Troy High (2000 Semi-Finalist) would be of particular interest since these are 3 of the best teams in the state. ROCHESTER H.S. games schedule 5 Apr at Troy Athens 5:00/7:00 7 Apr at Saginaw Heritage 10:00/12:00 10 Apr home vs. Troy H.S. 5:30/7:00 11 Apr at Lake Orion 5:30/7:00 24 Apr home vs. Roch. Adams 5:30/7:00 26 Apr at Seaholm 5:30/7:00 1 May at Lahser 5:30/7:00 3 May home vs. Troy Athens 5:30/7:00 8 May at Troy H.S. 5:30/7:00 10 May at Roch. Adams 5:30/7:00 15 May home vs. Seaholm 5:30/7:00 18 May home vs. Livonia Churchill 5:30/7:00 22 May playoff position round TBA AVONDALE H.S. games schedule 10 Apr home vs. Clarkston 5:30 / 7:00 11 Apr at Waterford Mott 5:30 / 7:00 24 Apr home vs. Groves 5:30 / 7:00 26 Apr home vs. West Bloomfield 5:30 / 7:00 28 Apr home vs. Bishop Foley 11:00a / 1:00p 1 May at Lake Orion 5:30 / 7:00 3 May at Royal Oak Kimball 5:30 / 7:00 8 May at Clarkston 5:30 / 7:00 10 May at Groves 5:30 / 7:00 12 May at Andover 10:00a / 12:00 noon 15 May at West Bloomfield 5:30 / 7:00 22 May TBD - (position round) TBD 24 May home vs. Stevenson 5:30 / 7:00 29 May District Playoffs TBD