Caring, Sharing, DHS Boys Soccer Team/s Serve Community...

The encyclopedia defines a “team” as a group of people linked in a common purpose. Teams have members with complementary skills, and through a coordinated effort, they can maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. A group of people does not constitute a team.
A team has a strong sense of mutual commitment and generates a performance greater than the accomplishment of any of its individuals.

With that in mind, Dedham High School Boys Soccer Coaches, Sal Ledda and Stephen MacDonald (varsity), along with Andrew Podolski (junior varsity), set out months ago to create a “team.”

Way back in August, while it was 90 plus degrees every day and most other boys were sleeping in or on vacation, a group of sophomores, juniors, and a handful of seniors, laced up their cleats, grabbed a couple bottles of water and took to the turf at Dedham High School. They began a tireless regiment of running, dribbling, passing shooting, and conditioning that began some days at 7am and lasted on others until after 9 o`clock at night.

When their 18 game schedule was released early in September, I`m sure the coaches felt, that for the most part, they would be leading the lambs to slaughter.

Recently, just before a game, we had the opportunity to catch up with the DHS boys and their Coaches and asked Sal Ledda a simple question – “Well Coach, what do you think?”

Ledda paused for a moment, starring out on to the field, Coach MacDonald still in his dress clothes working out their goalie, the boys calling to one another passing the ball, and replied: “I couldn`t be more proud of this group of guys, what a good “team” they`ve become.”

“Their season began as tough as expected. Dedham is a Division 3 Team and we`ve been up against powerhouse teams from Division 1 and 2. Our goalkeeper is a sophomore and starting for his first season. We lost the bulk of our team from last year as graduating seniors and most of these boys hadn`t played together before.”

“I`ve been around soccer my whole life”, Ledda went on, “and I didn`t want any of them to get frustrated or discouraged and give up on the team or on themselves.” “Do you realize”, he asked, “that we put together 18 boys on varsity and 16 more on junior varsity and we`ve been together nearly every day of the week for the last 10 weeks?”
“I have never seen such pride in a team, not only at game time, but about their community.”

“These boys, as a group, have held two under 14 soccer clinics.” “I`ve got 14 of them coaching and training the little guys around Town, some as young as 6.” “We`ve had booster drives, fundraisers, Town cleanups, team dinners, and they have all really come together.”

“There was full participation at Cow Day, with all of them showing up and helping out at some point.” “21 of them took a bus over to Harvard Stadium at the crack of dawn on a weekend recently, and volunteered their services at the Wounded Warrior Project.”

“Last Sunday, after a scrimmage and a 2 mile run, more than two dozen of these guys came to the Dedham Square Crossing at the intersection of High St. and East St. and met up with Maryanne Hawkins and the Dedham Civic Pride and planted over 500 bulbs that will flower next Spring.”

“You know, sometimes it`s more than just the numbers, the wins and losses – it`s about “the team!”