New boys’ head coach Trent Deans, longtime Lady Dawgs coach hold coed soccer camp

By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press

New Copperas Cove boys’ head soccer coach Trent Deans and longtime Lady Dawgs coach Pat Rox held a coed camp for soccer players this week at Copperas Cove High School’s practice fields.
For Deans it was his first chance with his new squad to show what he expects from his players and see what the incoming players have to offer.
Deans likes the crop of returning seniors and what his younger players bring to the table as well.
“I saw a lot of guys on the JV team step up and I feel pretty good about or underclassmen coming in,” he said. “I feel like we have a good corps of seniors that are going to make this year great but we also have a group of underclassmen that are going to make this year successful. They’re going to do everything they can to make this team the best they can. 
“We have some underclassmen that are definitely going to fill some big shoes.”
Deans knows the struggles the squad has had in recent years and he just wants to make sure his team is no easy out this year.
“The main thing is I want us to be a competitive and hard-working team,” he said. “I want just want us to run, compete and fight to make them really have to work to beat us.”
That all starts with the offseason workouts and Deans feels staying active all yearlong is the key to success.
“That’s the thing about soccer; it’s really long distance running and marathon runners will tell you that if you take three days off you lose,” he said. “In the weight room you can take a week off, but running you have to do every single day. That’s why we tell our players to go run a mile every day. You can spare 30 or 40 minutes a day to go run a mile. I don’t even time them. I just want them to run and stay active. 
“That’s what we’re really trying to push here. Being physically fit is the ticket but we’re also focusing on soccer skills and drills.”
For Rox it’s just about keeping the train rolling in the right direction. The Lady Dawgs soccer team is perennially in the playoffs, however, Rox would like them to take that next step and that began at camp.
“I think they got better,” Rox said of the contingent of girls at this year’s camp. “We asked them to work on touch, receiving the ball, passing the ball, shooting and finishing, primarily.”
These camps are also a great opportunity for the coaches to eye upcoming talent and that has Rox hopeful.
“It gives me hope for the future,” he said. “It’s not that we’re bad now but we have some good people coming up. We have some freshmen that are telling the upperclassmen that they want their jobs and we have some girls that won’t be here for a few more years that I’m anxious to see on the varsity.”
Both coaches felt this year’s camp was a successful one but, obviously, the more that come out the better the program will get.  
“The camp went great,” said Deans. “We have a lot of the freshmen and underclassmen coming in to be a part of this and they got a first tastes of how we play this game.”
“I think the camp went really well,” said Rox. “We had a good turnout, of course not as many as we would like, but we had about 50 players pretty evenly split between boys and girls.”
Deans also encourages kids to play f or travel clubs and anywhere they can get opportunities.
One such opportunity is coming in the next few weeks with tryouts for the 14-and-under Copperas Cove Football Club. Tryouts will be held Saturday, July 9 and Saturday, July 16 at Copperas Cove High School’s north side soccer field. Players born on or after 2004 are eligible.
For more information email copperascovefc@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page at Copperas Cove FC.