Abbie Zensen

JV soccer coach Darren Rahe informs his players what position they will be playing. Rahe taught the girls about their role on and off the field. ¨If you approach practice each and everyday to be the best that you can be, you can use that same mental focus for anything that you do in life,¨ Rahe said.

Focusing on self-improvement, new girls JV soccer coach Darren Rahe prepares to lead the team to success both as athletes and individuals .

“As each individual decides what it is they want to focus on, it’s my goal to help them improve so that I can create chances and develop their awareness of where they are on the field,” Rahe said. “It’s my hope to help each individual focus on the goal that they want to achieve.”    

Varsity coach Annie Wayland searched for an assistant coach with a passion for the game to take over coaching the JV team.

¨[We were] looking for someone who has knowledge of the sport and someone that’s good with kids,” Wayland said. “They need to be able to have a good relationship with the kids, have integrity and are professional, responsible and able to communicate.”

Wayland plans to help the team and the coaches to be successful throughout the season by emphasizing the work behind the scenes.

“There’s so much more behind the scenes that many people don’t know that coaches do in this building, and it’s even harder when they’re not in the building,” Wayland said. “You need to understand the outs and ins of everything it entails from practices, games, buses, formations and just learning everybody’s names.”

Rahe is not only here to teach the girls the fundamentals of soccer, but also to teach them a positive mentality when times get tough.

“In practice it comes down to your decision to commit to the ideal goal that you have in mind and then once you’ve made that decision then it comes down to working on it to become the best that you can be,” Rahe said.

Returning player sophomore Ale Calvo takes the life lessons that Rahe teaches and applies it to the real world.

“He always tells us to encourage each other and do the best that we can and just be positive and I think that’s really helped me in my regular life,” Calvo said.

Rahe’s passion for soccer allows him to teach the players to have a strong mindset heading into the season.

“If you want to focus on your shooting, your passing or whatever part of the game that you want to improve, then that’s what you focus on, but that can be applied to anything in life,” Rahe said.