No Respect I Tell Ya, No Respect At All

They often get the hand-me-down uniforms, play on the crap fields, scrounge for every piece of equipment and if it weren't for having parents...would only end up playing in front of the occasional flock of seagulls hanging around the field scavenging for food. These are the high school JV soccer teams across America. Maybe it's a rite of passage...working their way up to the Varisty level...paying their dues. As the "professionalism" of high school athletics continues to alter the face of Varsity programs, the JV teams are still a bastion of competition for the sport of it.

I have recently become a volunteer assistant coach for the Glencoe High School JV Soccer Team. It's a fine group of kids that play their hearts out and are learning to play a quality game. The lads are off to a good start for the season with a 3-0-1 record. Their first match of the year was a 3-1 victory over Forest Grove HS, followed by a 1-0 home victory against a physical West Linn HS side.

This week Glencoe traveled to Tigard HS where they saw their 1-0 lead evaporate to a 1-2 deficit. The boys won the battle of the midfield in the second half and tied the match late in the game for a 2-2 draw. Today it was another away match with Newberg HS. On a rough and narrow football field, the lads played a magical first half and jumped out to a 4-0 lead. The second half was a more balanced affair as each team scored a goal resulting in a 5-1 victory for Glencoe. Respect may be tough to attain off the field, but if the lads continue their winning ways, they will earn a fair amount of respect on the field.