A.D. I almost guarantee that we could have gotten your grades up. Several of the things we did was have a mandatory study session 3X each week, by the way the players loved it, we did it as a team and often times found time prior to practice. Players were always helping each other out. There are things we did to build "Team" character and when that is developed, the individual will shine more than ever, but as a team player not an individual player. We had tutors come into the class and work specifically with the players on the team. On the last team I coached, we had 25 on our roster, the most we could have, by the way 26 also met strict lettering requirements. The study session worked with each kid individually, in the last year there we had 7 all conference players, was ranked in the top 10 in state and my proudest accomplishment for the team is that we were named the North Carolina Pepsi Scholar Team. The teams overall GPA was 3.7, good for a bunch of soccer players. We had kids who had been failing previously who started to excel, getting, and maintaining a B average overall.

I a part of my responsibility to do everything possible to help those that wanted to, to continue in soccer while in college. I still believe it is a part of a coaches responsibility, not just to give your athlete the best chance possible to win on the athletic field but also the chance to win in life, which for those that desire it, a chance to go to college. The high school coach carries a tremendous amount of responsibility in this area, as do the athlete and parents. While the coach can't do it for them, they can provide opportunities for success. If provided in an appropriate way, I also believe you could have maintained my 2.5 requirement.