It’s not unusual to see baseball coaches palming a “clicker,” more technically known as a tally counter. The small metal device advances a mechanical numerical display each time its button is depressed and it’s often used to keep track of pitch counts.
So what was Rivendell girls soccer coach Tim Goodwin doing with one after his team’s victory over visiting Sharon Academy last week? The Raptors keep track of not pitches, but completed passes.
“I was watching Barcelona on TV and the statistics they keep and the number of passes they complete are outrageous, like 700 per game,” Goodwin said. “Then I read about a youth team that defined victory not by the score, but by how many passes they completed.”
So Goodwin got a clicker and had one of his player’s mothers keep track. Slowly, the Raptors inched their completed-pass totals towards 50 per half. The team began to ask for the total as soon as a game finished and the number was 119 after the Sharon game.
“It reinforces passing and not hanging on to the ball,” Goodwin said. “We talk about why we pass, which is to move the defense. If you watch a pro game, they use a crazy amount of passes, but they’re always trying to find the creases in the defense.”
Rivendell first broke 100 completed passes in a game late last season and has picked up where it left off. The continuity was reinforced by the formation of the River’s Edge club organization, a local alternative to the cost and intensity of the Lightning Soccer Club.
“We’re not trying to compete with Lightning but from our area, it’s a long drive and it’s expensive,” Goodwin said. “We work on passing so much that the other team can’t catch up to the ball. We want our players to be creative and brave in taking chances with their decisions.”
There’s a new air of administrative enthusiasm around Mascoma athletics, where first-year athletic director Rodney Brown and first-year principal Tom Fitzgerald are frequent and enthusiastic spectators at Royals games. Fitzgerald’s predecessor, James Collins, on the job for 15 years, wasn’t often seen at such events.
Brown, the school’s first full-time athletic director, was previously a Goffstown YMCA director and a teacher and soccer and track coach at a high school in Berwick, Maine. He’s pumped up the athletic department’s Twitter presence and is a constant, upbeat presence on campus.
Fitzgerald, previously the principal at Vermont’s Twin Valley and Poultney high schools, was not only in attendance when the Royals hosted a six-hour field hockey jamboree on a recent Saturday, but jumped in as the timer for the team’s defeat of visiting Berlin last week. He’s also been spotted at a soccer road game.
“It’s awesome,” said Mascoma field hockey coach Jenn Hammond, whose team is the defending NHIAA Division III champion and drew roughly 200 fans to its Berlin game. “The community and faculty presence at games makes the kids feel important. Before, there was some support but not what we’d hoped for.”
A situation a long time coming unfolded Saturday during the Lebanon football team’s game at Newport. That’s when sophomore C.J. Childs lined up at middle linebacker for the Raiders, operating under the eye of his father, head coach Chris Childs.
C.J. played on special teams and sporadically at outside linebacker last season, when he weighed all of 108 pounds. That was made possible because he’d grown up with an intense interest in Chris’ preparations for opponents on paper and video. For years, the only child was a mainstay at practices and games, soaking up not only football’s culture but its terminology and tactics.
“He’s always been there, drawing plays with me and just hanging around,” Chris Childs said after his team’s 49-3 rout. “It’s fun to see him go out and execute what he’s learned over the years.”
C.J. Childs, who also plays basketball and lacrosse, has twice broken his collarbone playing football. He’s still undersized but gained 30 pounds during the past year and his anticipation, ability to read the field and tackling form allows him to play bigger than his actual stature. It also helps that he’s boot-leather tough.
“When the game starts, I get caught up in what I’m calling (offensively) and he becomes just another player,” Chris Childs said, not totally convincingly. “He lived in the weight room all winter and spring and it’s paying off now.”
Chris Childs was a Lebanon football and basketball standout during the 1990s. He wore No. 33 on the gridiron, the same numerals now worn by his son.
Notes: Sally Rainey, Lebanon High’s star soccer goalkeeper, said she will decide among Iowa State, New Hampshire and Boston University later this month. The junior, who’s the daughter of Dartmouth College women’s soccer coach Ron Rainey, said the Cyclones coaching staff includes one of her former club coaches, and that she’s leaning towards that school because of the connection. Ron Rainey was the University of Iowa coach before taking over the Big Green… Noah Bradley, a two-way football lineman at Hanover, is the son of former Marauders soccer goalkeeper and ice hockey forward Chris Bradley. Noah Bradley is also the grandson of former Dartmouth quarterback David Bradley, who guided the Big Green to a 7-1-1 record as a senior in 1957… Hanover football lost perhaps its best player when running back and linebacker Jack Loftus elected not to play his senior season. Also a standout baseball catcher, the sturdy backstop is concentrating on that sport and wanted to make himself fully available for fall competition and scouting events, said Marauders baseball coach John Grainger… The Sharon Academy girls soccer team is coached by former Phoenix soccer and basketball competitor and 2014 TSA graduate Andy Ruddell and Spanish teacher Rachel Milito. The former was clearly the tactician against Rivendell last week, shouting nonstop from the sideline while Milito bolstered players’ confidence when they came off the field… Mid Vermont Christian’s soccer field is on a plateau above and hugging Vermont Route 4. It’s not uncommon for errant balls to fly over the erected netting and bounce across the road. The field itself is so narrow that the outer edges of the penalty areas are fewer than 5 yards from the sidelines. Eagles coach Zach Bryan said his team last year earned a home playoff game but had to play it on the road because the field is too small for postseason contests.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.