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The Villages girls soccer programs are building strong players
(Courtesy: Brian Rausch)

The Villages girls soccer programs are building strong players

THE VILLAGES, Fla. — There is a dichotomy in youth soccer in the United States, similar to volleyball, where players compete for a club and at their respective high schools.

But this chasm can also become a symbiotic relationship. It has in The Villages. The technical aspect of the game is served by the club, and the competition side of it is provided by the high school.

The Villages Soccer Club bridges skill set development from February to just before the Charter High School season begins in the fall.

“We gotta keep them playing all year long,” first-year Buffalo coach Brian Rausch said. “The only way to do that is to play competitive somewhere and we try to keep them there at The Villages.”

The girls program at the club has been evolving for the past three years, and a crop of underclassmen are showing signs of compelling play. Many of the sophomores on the high school team have been playing together for a number of years.

“They’re really starting to play well together as a team, which is what I’m most concerned about,” Rausch said.

Conversely, Rausch said the soccer game environment in high school competition is much more animated than in club games.

“The excitement of high school is you’re playing to win something,” he said. “You’re playing to win a championship. You want to be part of history at that school. You see a different attitude with them in high school versus a soccer club.”

The ascension of soccer in The Villages occurred in 2008 when The Villages Soccer Club began offering competitive and recreational soccer for youth. In 2015, the club hosted its first tournament.

The club complex has an indoor facility, three outdoor fields and three more on the way, Rausch said. A Brazilian strength and conditioning coach-physiologist, who worked with Ronaldinho, is also on staff.

Rausch has been with The Villages Soccer Club since 2014. He coached a variety of boys teams at the club before concentrating on the girls program.

However, all is not perfect in their soccer world. There are some challenges.

Rausch said Charter High School requires that one or both parents be employed in The Villages and work a minimum of 20 hours per week.

“You can lose kids immediately, if a parent gets fired, if they move, they get transferred…so it’s kind of a weird program for high school,” he said.

Player retention within the club and high school program can be an obstacle too.

“Trying to keep these same kids with the club and playing high school at the same time,” Rausch said. “The problem with a lot of these clubs is a lot of these kids, they move around so fast, from club to club, maybe they’re unhappy, maybe they feel like they’re not getting playing time.”

The short Florida high school soccer season can be problematic for players due to its high volume of games.

“Some of these players run three to four miles a game, and then you’ve got no rest the next day,” Rausch said. “And you got another game and then another game, and then a rest and then another game. It’s way too much for these kids. You get injuries. It’s just not healthy.”

But on the positive side, Rausch feels the team will finish the season strong. They’re currently 5-1 and play next against West Port on Jan. 5.

“That’s really simply because they have been playing together for quite some time,” he said. “The players know each other. They know where they’re supposed to go before they get the ball. We work on the same system. We haven’t changed anything.”

Only three seniors remain, but the squad is underclassmen-heavy, containing 12 sophomores and one freshman.

“These 10th graders as a group, when they get to their junior year next year, we hope that they’re going to be even more developed and they’re going to continue playing,” Rausch said.

Three of the team’s key contributors represent different grades. Senior forward Claribel Hernandez, also a sprinter on the track team, has already amassed 12 goals this season, and junior forward Lilly Goller has added eight goals of her own. Freshman center-mid standout Giovanna Laaber has scored five goals and registered 20 steals.

Sophomores Anna Rausch and Katherine Probola, another sprinter, and junior Delaney Stradinger round out offensive key contributors collecting two, two and three goals, respectively, so far this season.

Defensively, sophomore defenders Gianna Dimaggio and Emma Johnson have recorded 36 and 34 steals, respectively, and senior center-defensive mid Erica Wyatt has registered 31.

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