1) Why did you want to become a coach?
ZA-My grandfather was a football coach at Richmond and my dad was my coach growing up and still coaches at CCA. Seeing all of the lives they have impacted and the joy they have shown through coaching made it an easy decision to coach when I decided I wanted to teach.
2) Can you describe what a typical practice looks like for your teams?
ZA-Practices vary spending on where we are in the season and how many games we have for the week. Girls soccer usually has 2-3 games a week. A typical practice now consists of stretching, drills to help us improve on areas that we struggled with in previous games, and then a mixture of small field or full field scrimmages to try and apply the drills we just practiced.
3) What are your core values as a coach?
ZA-My coaching staff and I focus a lot on the small things. With it being early in the season, two items we preach on are being ready on time and not cutting corners. Most athletes do not continue their sports career on the college level so we try to teach values that they can continue to use in life.
4) How do you view the relationship between academics and athletics?
ZA-When I played in high school and college, I was always told that I was a student athlete. Student being first meant academic come first. As a coach, I still believe that is true. Students must take care of their work in the classroom in order to play.
5) How will/do you develop community support for the team?
ZA-The boys soccer team hosted an alumni game this past fall. We had about 24 alumni that were able to attend. The girls team hosted a youth soccer camp in March. Even with the cold rain, we still had around 90 kids attend. We are also hoping to have a youth soccer night this season as well (will need to ask Alex if the details are set yet).
6) What approach do you take when your team is struggling?
ZA-The season is around 25 games played in close to a 10 week period. There is not a lot of downtime with there only being a few days if any in between games. Just taking it one game at a time and trying to reset after a loss are what we try to focus on throughout the season.
7) Describe what your bench area looks like during games.
ZA-My assistant coaches end up sitting on each end of the bench. I usually cannot sit and end up pacing between each end discussing with coaches any changes I should make while also talking with players about what has gone well and what needs to change in the game.
8) What are your off-season expectations?
ZA-The majority of girls on the team play multiple sports for the high school. My expectations for the girls is to stay involved and active through any open field/gym. Summer weights are a great way to help out athletes for every sport they are involved in. The team this year had great attendance this past summer and I hope they continue to take advantage of it this coming summer too.
9) What was the main objective at the beginning of the season?
ZA-Last year we went 14-11 and lost in the district semifinals. The goal is to improve off of that. We are off to a good start with winning the Clinton Cup and can hopefully continue this success throughout the season.
