THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610220100
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 79 lines
With 16 victories to its credit, you'd have to say the Norfolk Christian boys soccer team has things pretty much together.
Coach Rich Rose works in mysterious ways to assure that.
While it might look like the Ambassadors are creating another way to play follow-the-leader in the middle of their practice field at Suburban Elementary, that's not the case.
They're creating unity.
What Rose calls the ``unity circle'' starts with his 19 athletes jogging in a large circle marked by a couple of orange cones. He signals them to sprint. Then walk. Backpedal next. At the sound of his whistle, they head an imaginary ball. Then they side step, sprint again, jog, march. Whatever. The key is they do it together, imitating the precision of a marching band for anywhere from five to 20 minutes.
Chad Grey, leading the line, might feel like going at his sprint at full speed, but he tries to keep pace with the guy behind him. In fact, everyone is aware of the guy in front of him, behind him, even two places behind him.
``The key thing is spacing; they have to stay together,'' Rose says as he shouts encouragement to his team. ``The slow guys have to pick it up, and the fast guys have to adjust. I started this with a team that was not together about five years ago. It helps with conditioning, too, only they don't realize it's conditioning.''
The Ambassadors pick each other up along the way with occasional ``Let's go, guys''; ``Stay together guys.''
Rose mixes in a little fun also. ``Clap,'' he tells them only to hear a half-hearted response. ``Lousy clapping; let's do better than that,'' he instructs and suddenly the Ambassadors are clapping, in time. ``They can play soccer and they've got rhythm!'' Rose cheers.
They've got the soccer part nailed. The Ambassadors, 16-4-2 at this writing, are five wins away from a school record. They have four players who have scored 30 points or more this season, led by Jae Kim, whose 15 goals, nine assists and 39 points are first in the TCIS. As the top Christian team in the state, the Ambassadors were invited to a tournament in Florence, S.C., earlier in the season. They beat teams from North Carolina, Georgia and the home team to win the trophy. All this from a group of guys who placed seventh in the TCIS last fall.
The difference?
A lot more of what they do is ``For Him.''
A lot less of what they do is ``For Them.''
``We're focused on God and where we're going as a team,'' says keeper Kyle Roof shortly after he and his teammates finished praying together arm-in-arm in a circle. ``We're really taking the focus off ourselves.''
``The two years before, I never had fun,'' says Ryan Mulder. ``I was just out there almost thinking, `Our team stinks. I hope I play good to show that I'm good.' But this year I don't care about me; I care about the team.''
Note the T-shirt that many of the players don in practice. Matthew 6:33: Attitude is everything.
That's the feeling that has shaped the Ambassadors this season: Forget me, and for the most part, forget my pain. So many injuries have hurt the team that, Rose says, he goes through two rolls of tape per practice. Mulder is hobbling on a sore left ankle. Roof is coming off an infected foot, originally injured when he fell out of a canoe during a senior trip. The doctors told him not to play; he did anyway. Kim is playing with a dislocated arm.
``A cast would slow me down,'' he says. ``I'll see a doctor after the season.''
``I have an iron man award I give at the end of the season,'' Rose says. ``I'll have to give it to everybody this year.''
Many on the team grew up playing together on a team called Ephesians - in Norfolk, a rarity from a school that draws many of its students from Virginia Beach. ``We used to practice here when I was 6,'' Mulder said.
The season started slow but turned around after the Florence win. Norfolk Christian overcame a reshuffled starting lineup after Brett Ols transferred to Tallwood during the first week of school. Now, the Ambassadors are tied atop the TCIS with Norfolk Academy, Norfolk Collegiate and Hampton Roads Academy. A loss last week to Walsingham ended a 12-game win streak.
But even the loss, Roof says, adds perspective in reminding them not to get too cocky about success.
``This team is really unified,'' he says. ``We feel we can play strong, be tough on all cylinders. Last year we were a bunch of players who didn't have a place.''
KEYWORDS: TCIS BOYS VOLLEYBALL by CNB