Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 1, 1995 TAG: 9511010028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The area has a highly successful girls soccer club, the under-14 New River Wildcats.
The Wildcats are one of four girls teams in the New RIver Valley Soccer Association. The 18 players are from the Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Giles County areas.
The Wildcats were second in the Bristol Pepsi-Arby's Autumn Chase Soccer tournament Sept. 9-10, and finished first in their division in the Richmond Columbus Day tournament. The team has also gone a year and a half since it last lost a league game.
The Wildcats have been in operation three years. Mike Frederick has been the coach and Kelvin Bergsten the manager the entire time. Frederick's soccer background included stints with teams made up of children from U.S. military bases around Naples, Italy.
Frederick came to the Wildcats in a roundabout way. His wife is a teacher and when some of her friends discovered he had a soccer background, they asked her if he was interested in coaching.
The Wildcats have not always been as competitive as they are now.
``When I first came here, this same group of kids was getting crushed,'' Frederick said. "It took a while for them to really improve and get to where they are now. But that has been our goal since the beginning, to always keep improving."
The team had to make a slight adjustment in playing style to accommodate the new coach's philosophies. The Wildcats now play more of a passing game that features lots of touches and one-to-one passes.
Judging by the Wildcats' success in statewide competition such as the Richmond Columbus Day tournament, it's safe to assume that the girls have learned their lessons well.
"We have been getting compliments from a lot of other teams the last couple of years," Frederick said. "Coaches from the Richmond and Northern VIrginia areas have said that they don't ever remember New River area soccer teams being so strong."
But it's not enough for this group of girls to simply take the field week in and week out. They want to win every time they lace up their cleats.
"The girls are very competitive and their goal is to win the league tournament as much as possible," Frederick said. "From the first down to the 18th player, they all want what is best for this team. Most importantly however, they all seem to enjoy it. Each one of them has fun out there."
Frederick believes the team has the ability to compete in the Virginia State Cup, but a limited budget has forced the team to pass on the championship tournament.
"It's a very expensive tournament," Frederick said. "We brought the issue before the parents, but we just decided that it was too expensive. But hopefully we'll be able to go in the future, because these girls can do well in the State Cup."
If you have an idea for a story or note about recreational sports, call Chad Willis at 381-1672 in Montgomery County or Radford or 1-800-346-1234, extension 672 elsewhere or fax to 381-1656.
by CNB