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Top Drawer Soccer
www.topdrawersoccer.com
PDA
Wildcats: A Retrospective
by Elisabeth Redmond & Robert Ziegler 1/14/2007
Editor’s Note: Following is a tribute by Duke midfielder Elisabeth
Redmond to her club team, PDA Wildcats. The squad won four consecutive
Region I championships and a national title. The team members have
finished their 1st season of college soccer and are looking to a final
bite at the apple this summer when they intend to compete for the U.S.
Youth Soccer U19 National Championship, beginning with the New Jersey
State Cup. Interspersed with Ms. Redmond’s comments are quotes from
some other team members made during a TDS interview in Des Moines,
Iowa last July.
Now
that we have all completed our first season of college soccer I think
I speak for my teammates in saying we all have an enormous
appreciation and respect for our club soccer team, the PDA Wildcats,
and what went into making our team truly great.
Every August, college coaches across the country, no matter what
program or level, are trying to create one thing among their teams of
constantly changing players: chemistry. When I reflect on the time I
spent playing for the PDA and experiences with my 17 sisters, I can
honestly say that chemistry is was what made us truly great. Our
coaches, Mr. Tom Anderson and Mike O’Neill, created this team
environment that fostered a deep respect and love for one another,
ourselves, our coaches, and most importantly, the game.
We were, and very much still remain today, a family unit that
always had fun, and continues to support one another. Our coaches, Mr.
Anderson and Mike O’Neill, are very family-oriented men, and family is
something they both value above all else. Mr. Anderson created the PDA
with hopes that it would exemplify just that. Every team is committed
to representing the club with class, upholding its good name, and
ensuring the success of the other teams. PDA truly is a family and
within that larger family are these individual teams, bringing me to
my Wildcats.
From the very beginning, Mr. Anderson fostered this idea of
family. Since we were 12 or 13 years old our team has maintained the
same core group of girls.
The team originally formed in Somerset, NJ. Current U.S.
National Team player Tobin Heath recalls having poison ivy on her feet
at the initial tryouts. Kelsey Quick recalls not quite grasping what
it meant when her mom told her she was on “The A Team……then we
starting winning State Cups…..” Melissa Seitz remembers the team
winning every game it played at the U12 age, including the Region I
Championship in Rhode Island.
It was definitely a risk Mr. Anderson took, his not changing
players around and bringing in new, “standout” players. However, it
ensured his confidence in all of us and vice versa. Mr. Anderson had
confidence in each and every one of us, and likewise we have
confidence in each other. When a new player came to practice he would
ask us how we liked her as a person, not as a soccer player, “would
she fit in on the team?”, he would ask. Sometimes the answer was no;
it was for the best.
In our early years, we did fun things together off the field. Mr.
A took us and our parents to Broadway plays and dinners in the city,
for example, and a few of us remember going to charity events with
him. I think this helped us realize there is more than soccer, and
gave us an opportunity to get to know our teammates off the field. We
had fun together and respected one another.
Kelsey Quick - “When I would tell my friends from school, ‘I
have to leave for a tournament,’ they would say ;Oh, that sucks’ and
I’m like ‘No, it doesn’t. It’s great’”
Erin Guthrie – “They haven’t had half the experiences we’ve had.”
There are more stories than you could possibly share in such an
article, although the (non) kidnapping of Rutgers star Jen Anzivino
before an important match has to be the topper (don’t worry, everyone
turned out OK). Mr. Anderson breaking down karaoke numbers and some
interesting costume parties are other highlights.
There were members of our team that, throughout the years, made it
to higher levels; our youth national teams, regional teams, state
teams, etc. One of our teammates has recently been called into the
full National team. However, whenever we were all together at
practice, no one was ever bigger than the team or the game.
Tobin Heath – “This is definitely home. There’s no better team
for me than this one.”
What I mean by that is that no one was ever treated differently or
acted above her teammates. Mr. Anderson and Mike wouldn’t allow it. Of
the many inspirational things Mike ever said to us, one thing that
sticks out most in my mind was something he would scream to us at
practice. If we weren’t going make the tackle or get up for the header
or do the work, “you’re letting your team down,” he would say. It was
always about that, doing it for our teammates, being together on
everything.
Erin Guthrie: “ I remember practicing with Mike and him saying
we want to be the best team in the country. We started out with
possession every day and they would always challenge us and make it
fun for us. That was something we always looked forward to.”
Lizzie Nicols - “Our goalies do everything with us – and they are
as good with the ball as the rest of us. Mr. Anderson always had us go
indoors and play against the wall for hours, it was all about touch,
and it paid off.”
Tobin Heath - “Ever since we were little, there was a huge
emphasis on 1v1 play, and that has made us where we are all
comfortable with the ball now.”
Libby Doyne - “When I joined the team in the 6th grade, Mr.
Anderson gave me this packet that had diagrams of all the moves. I
remember having to learn every single one. We would practice this
Coerver stuff and I remember coming home and crying because we would
go in straight lines over and over and I didn’t feel like I was doing
it right. They really made that 2nd nature for us.”
Between the fun things we did off the field, the respect and
confidence we all had in one another, what we worked to represent, and
the people that supported us, our team developed a chemistry that was
unmatched. We always knew where everyone else was on the field, it was
such a natural connection.
Melissa Seitz - ”What’s on is on and what’s off is off. We
don’t take our competitiveness off the field.”
Tobin Heath - “We’ll all be at each other’s weddings.”
Lizzie Nichols – “We’ve seen each other at our worst and we’ve had
fights, but we’re always there for each other. This is a family that
is very important to me.”
Jess Fuccello (most recent addition to the team) - “All the other
teams I’ve been on it’s like you just get together for soccer, but
here everyone was friends.”
Up until the final game, the (U18) National Championship game,
when we lost in the last two minutes, we had gone undefeated for more
than twenty games. We were perfect. I think I speak for my teammates
when I say we’d step on the field and know we were going to win,
without question.
We all plan to reunite this spring for our last season together.
Although it’s sad to know the end is in sight, I know I will never
lose the friendships or the memories. I will always have a 2nd family
and my 17 sisters.
Carolyn Blank – “I didn’t have any friends before I came to
this team, but now these guys are all my friends. You can talk to them
about anything and you can do anything and they’ll still accept you.
That’s going to be very hard not to have anymore.” |
