The United Soccer Coaches Association recently announced the 2020-2021 recipients of their national annual Ethics and Sportsmanship award. The La Marque Cougars boys’ soccer team was one of three boys’ teams to receive the Platinum award! Thirty-two girls’ teams were Platinum recipients.
Teams awarded the Platinum award completed the entire soccer season without receiving either a yellow or red penalty card, quite a feat for a sport requiring rigorous movement on the field continuously throughout the game.
After almost a decade hiatus from competitive soccer, La Marque brought back boys’ and girls’ soccer. First-year Head Coach Jonathan Hersh said initially he was not sure they would have enough boys to even field a team and had to recruit potential players from the gym, athletic classes, and football team. “This was a true coaching experience as most of the players never participated in organized soccer so we had to teach the players from the start on how the game was played” Hersh said.
Although the team was winless in their initial season, the players did not give up throughout the season, rather they continued to give it everything they had plus more Hersh said. Coach Hersh said, “La Marque now has a nucleus of soccer players for the spring season and several players are already excited about returning to play!”
Hersh gives credit not only to the players on the soccer team but also to the player’s parents and families for their support in teaching their sons ethics and values which they carried to the playing field. Assistant Coach Tyson said, “This was a great experience to teach our kids a sport they only saw on TV or played on video games. They gave it their all, playing their hearts out knowing the odds were stacked against them, but their sportsmanship was on true display as they continued to give everything they had. This is a testament to their selves, their parents, their teachers and coaches as the players constantly demonstrated what it means to have Cougar Pride!” Additionally, several of the players received student-athlete recognition awards for maintaining high grade point averages while excelling in soccer. At the end of the soccer season the GPA of the soccer team was 3.44!
With positive player attitudes the future looks bright for the La Marque Cougar boys’ soccer program! We also want to thank Texas City ISD for their support of adding the soccer program to La Marque High School.
