'Champions' Soccer Team Living Up to Their Name

U14 girl’s team coached by Karl Hedley calls themselves the Champions, and they are living up to that name.

“The way we have improved is most encouraging,” coach Hedley wrote in an emailed response to questions. “The last four games we have scored 15 goals and only conceded three.”

But Hedley is not focused just on winning; he wants his players to enjoy the game of soccer.

“Obviously the goal is to get the girls smiling and enjoying playing the game,” Hedley wrote. “Also, I do believe that winning is not the most important thing, but it does make it more enjoyable as the kids get older.”

Coach Hedley leads his team with the help of assistant coach Andy Paulson and team manager Laura Stevens. The coaching team leads their players with a simple, but effective coaching strategy.

“We keep it simple,” Hedley explained. “Soccer is a simple game made complicated by people. We tend to want to over coach our kids when sometimes we just need to teach them the basics and put the ball down and let them play.”

The team wins games because they have confidence, and have learned to work well together both on offense and defense.

“The team has a quiet confidence but most importantly the girls work hard for each other,” Hedley wrote. “We teach the girls to keep the ball by passing and moving quickly and working very hard to get the ball back when the opposition has it.”

Dacula Patch Team of the Week: DSC Hedley U14 Girls aka “Champions”

Head coach: Karl Hedley

Other coaches: Andy Paulson

Team manager: Laura Stevens

Players: Victoria Botz, Leah Fowler, Sofia Guzman, Madison Kay, Gennevieve Kennedy (Genne), Lauren Leach, Ashley Lewis, Emery Matta, Hannah Paulson, Lydia Powell, Mary-Rose Provence, Lauren Sanchez, Katherine Sidwell (Katie), Lindsay Stevens, Isabella Underwood, and Caitlyn Welch

Record: Won 5. Lost 1. 

Up next:  Beginning of December - Tournament in Conyers.

Click here for more information about the DSC Hedley U14 Girls team and the Dacula Soccer Club.

Send us an email to nominate the next Dacula Patch team of the week!