After a lot of hard work, the U14 Morden Eagles are ready to take off and keep fostering the love of soccer in young athletes.
Eagles assistant coach Jen Martens is looking forward to being back outside on the field although it depends on Mother Natures mood. "I like the space to run," she says with a chuckle. "But, dealing with the wind and weather is never as fun when you're used to being inside. It's good to get outside, though."
Having the team go through work together and gel has been a real highlight for Martens. "It's been really great. I mean, it all came together really fast. I think some of the girls train together over the winter. My daughter does not because she is involved in gymnastics, I'm also the head coach of the Morden Magic Gymnastics, shout out to that. So, a lot of the girls didn't know each other, we have so many from different communities, we have kids from Morden, Winkler Carman, so when we were carpooling, they only had one practice together, maybe. Maybe not even. We were going to Winnipeg for their first game and my daughter and her friend were wondering how the team would be and I said I have no idea. The first game may be rough, you don't even know your teammates names, you haven't played together, don't hold up too much hope. But, the girls were so great right away. Excellent passing, sure, there are a few things to work on, like communication, but they were doing a great job. They won their first game like, 7-0, so I think things are working out for sure."
Building friendships and lifelong relationships has always been at the core of minor sports and it's a belief Martens holds true to this day. "It's really great, it'll be nice as the season goes on to see it more. We've barely gotten into things, we've only had a couple of games and a practice. Heck, I'm still learning everyone's name. It's really great to see the girls laughing together and I'm sure there will be good friendships forming. They will probably play with and against each other for years to come. The funny thing is, my older daughter has been involved in the U18 team for many years and she's really good friends with her teammates, but then when they play high school, everyone has to go back to their certain towns and they have to play against former teammates. That's always tough but they like to joke on the field, give each other a fun, hard time. It's great to see."
U14 is a unique age as there's a mix of developed skills while also working on finding that next level, something Martens loves getting into. "There is a wide range of talent. There are kids that have a lot of experience and understand the lingo, they understand the game, the strategy, the passes, then there are some kids where you have to start at the basics. Something like staying goal side, they ask what that means. I love coaching like that because then there is so much information you can give them. This last practice, there are other women that are helping as well, we all play together on Sunday's over the winter, I was teaching things like jockeying and the other coach was thinking three or four steps ahead. We have to remember that we need to take our time, even though some are ready for those advanced steps. It's nice to have a wide range and we work with everyone to build them up."
Martens says this team wouldn't be possible without many around the program that made it all happen. "Huge shout out to Claes (Aschberg) who put these teams together. He spent so much of his time volunteering to organize this and get it together. I'm just helping out because I wanted to beable to support Claes and help any way I can. He's doing a U18, U14 and the high school, he is soccer crazy, so busy and I just want to help any way I can. I have experience and it's been so great to work with him. He lets me have my input with things and it's great."
On top of being a coach, Martens, it turns out, still has the skills to keep up with the U14 players, including possibly showing off some bicycle kicks. "I don't know if I've ever pulled off a bicycle kick," she says with a laugh. "Like I mentioned earlier, I do like to run, I mean, I'm getting older, in my mid-forties here, but I can still out sprint a lot of these young kids. Given the opportunity, I will do it, I will let things cook, I will sprint past them. I'm having fun and we love to laugh, it's a pretty great group, that's for sure."