Erika Ryan
For the rest of the Mount students, it’s just another year. But for the men's soccer team, they start off the season with a new coach. Mount St. Mary’s welcomes Brett Teach onto the field this season.
Teach came to the Mount in November 2023, roughly nine months since he has been at the Mount. Previously, Teach was coaching at Virginia Commonwealth University, but he was greatly impressed with the Mount Athletics department and intrigued by their potential. One of the primary reasons he selected the Mount was his close connections with the Athletic Director, Bradly Davis and the Assistant Soccer Coach, Daniel O’Rourke.
While winning the championship is always something he strives for, Teach explained that to make that possible, tangible goals must be set. He states that there must be intention within each individual so that those aspirations can contribute to the team’s purpose. He states, “I want to build these young men into individual leaders, not just players on a field.”. This year presents many obstacles for the team, one being that there are about 30 new players to be incorporated into this process. Team chemistry is easily overlooked by many but Teach has his own unique team-building strategies he is already implementing. He describes his coaching style as a blueprint because it is multifaceted.
Teach explains that it’s a matter of performance and execution, but that requires everyone to be optimistically outcome oriented. To guide these players with patience, he asks the question, “What does it mean to be outcome oriented?” Referring to the blueprint analogy, the steps are to know, understand, and execute. Teach states that the biggest challenge for the team is the “expected goals”. However, this is the statistic that records shots that result in a goal. Fortunately, he explains that this can easily be overcome because of their skill to obtain and control the ball.
Half the battle is ball retention because it increases the team’s chance at converting into goals scored. The first home game of the season was a tie at 3-3, but the first away game was a loss at 0-2. While it may look as if this plan may fall through. Teach has decades of experience under his belt to lead the soccer team faithfully.
Mount Athletics
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