1Carteret: Students. Sports. Success.

Croatan Soccer

Fans have been getting a real kick out of Croatan soccer this year. The Cougars had posted an impressive 8-2 conference record heading into the 10/15 matchup with perennial nemesis Swansboro.

Swansboro proved too much again as they handed the Cougars a 4-nil defeat. CHS has three more regular season games before heading into post-season play with a relatively high seed.

MCMS Wins Girls Soccer Title

In a true battle of the heavyweights, Morehead Middle defeated Broad Creek Middle by a score of 1-0 to defend its conference title for at least three years running.

Minuteman striker Emily S. ripped the net with an 18 meter shot in the latter part of the first half. From there, it was a defensive struggle as both teams fought for possession.

Hat’s off to players and coaches from both squads for seasons well done. Many of the players will continue to play the remainder of the season with their club teams: the Seashore Soccer League Riptides, the Swansboro Lady Pirates, the Eastern Carolina Soccer Association Wahoos, and the New Bern Area Soccer Association Lady Bears.

Follow this to a slideshow of the championship game.

For all the Marbles

Can you believe the middle school girls soccer season is scheduled to end today?

It is only fitting that a couple of key matchups that have bearing on final standings are taking place:

The  BMS v. NMS tilt determines the 3rd place finisher.

And in the game for all the marbles, the MMS v. BCMS tilt determines the 1st and 2nd place finishers.  The last time these two teams squared off, the match ended in a dead heat (0-0).

Good luck to today’s contestants.  And congratulations to all girls and coaches who participated in another season of middle school soccer.

Got It Going On!

Last week, I pointed to the Croatan Sports Network as an exemplar of efficiency in sports score reporting. Now my vast scouring of the web has revealed two middle schools who have got it going on that way.

For the latest on school sports scores and other sports related info/pics, check out the football and girls soccer links at—

Broad Creek Middle and Morehead Middle

The girls soccer link at Beaufort Middle is showing signs of life, too!

One sidebar about the BCMS site. It is pretty much managed by the students. This is another reason they won NC IMPACT school of the year. Check out their sports related podcasts with the coaches on their home page. Priceless!

Coaches Education. 25 Takers?

Yesterday’s county-wide education conference was a home run for the home team. But their was at least one session that didn’t make. That was the National Federation of High Schools Fundamentals of Coaching Course.

For us to bring this course to Carteret, we need 25 participants. We had eleven sign up. I have tentatively rescheduled with North Carolina High School Athletic Association to bring the course here on February 18, which is a workday. We will do three hours face-to-face and the next three hours on line within a year.

Like anything, coaching has its highlights and lowlights—almost on a daily basis. And no matter how cagey we are, we can always sharpen our saws.

So the question: Are there 25 takers for this course in our coaching corps?

The Importance of an Athletic Administrator

How important is the Athletic Director? You decide. What does an administrator of athletics do? He or she establishes the climate of sportsmanship, fair play and ethical conduct within the athletics department and to a large extent within the entire high school! (from the Importance of an Athletic Director)

Of course, cases of over-zealous parents and hazing incidents only happen elsewhere. But if they did happen here, to what extent could athletic directors preempt them?

We have athletic directors at our high schools and middle schools. These professionals are key to the athletic development of close to two thousand students in our system. Their responsibilities include student athletes, personnel, stakeholders, communication, administration, public relations, 14 legal issues, conflict management, event management, assessment, budgets, equipment, facilities, and schedules.

To maintain their knowledge, they require professional development—just like any other professional in our business.

The North Carolina Athletic Directors Association is an organization that provides just that. It is recognized as a national example. The NCADA state conference will be in Asheville in March. Some of these professional development courses will be offered.