With Thanks and Appreciation for All...

My name is Corey Kilroy and I am a Dedham High School junior (class 2018) varsity soccer goalkeeper (and basketball player).

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my teammate, captain Dan Emery (DHS Boys Varsity Soccer) along with Nina Heilmann, Cassidy Sullivan, and Sam Hickey (DHS Girls Varsity Soccer) and myself, for being named 2016 Bay State Conference All Stars.

I have been playing sports for well over 10 years now, and have come to realize, that above any individual honor, recognition, or achievement, credit must be given to the “team” as a whole and to all those around it.

There is a huge commitment to playing varsity sports, one that involves a great deal of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice.

Our training begins weeks and weeks before the season starts, with practices and conditioning almost every day of the week. We have been “on the field” days over the summer at the crack of dawn and others at night until it was too dark to even see the ball. We have played when it was 95 degrees sunny and humid as well as 45 degrees dark, cold and raining.

Our record at Dedham High School is not always the best, but it isn`t for lack of trying. Dedham has always been one of the smaller schools in the Bay State Conference and we`ve had to play powerhouse teams from Walpole, Needham, Framingham, Natick, etc. We all know, going in to these games that we are the heavy underdog, but we`ve never given up, in spite of our opponent or the score, and we play hard until the final whistle.

Our Athletic Director, Steve Traister, has been well aware of this and recently made the move to have Dedham join the Tri-Valley League beginning next season. I am looking forward to leading this team as a senior next year in to battle with the likes of Westwood, Medway, Millis, and Dover-Sherborn.

I can`t thank our coaches, Sal Ledda and Steve MacDonald enough, for all they`ve done for us. They have “been there” every step of the way and have made us better soccer players and better young men. I remember Coach Ledda running us back and forth through the Middle School gym on snowy Saturday mornings, teaching us how to dribble and run with the ball, how to pass and how to think soccer. Sal has been like a second father to many of us.

Coach MacDonald just finished his second season with us and we`ve made it to the MIAA High School Tournament for both of them. Coach Mac is like that older brother we`ve always wished for, he`s even helped me maintain my good grades and has me thinking about playing soccer in college… the best.

Most of all, I`d like to thank all our parents. They`ve been there for each of us through all of this. Giving us rides at the crack of dawn on their days off, leaving work early to get us – before we started getting our own drivers licenses – and being there in the stands to cheer us on, cowbells in hand, whether we were winning or loosing, whether we played at home or away.

Being a Bay State Conference All Star or DHS Athlete of the Week would never have been possible without all of this and all of them!

Go Marauders… Thank You!