News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
In her first year as White County Girls Soccer Coach, Madison Mason said it’s her goal to turn Sparta into a soccer town.
After spending a season as an assistant coach at White County Middle School, Mason said it was an easy decision to make the jump up to high school to be a head coach. With the past two seasons seeing the team go a combined 7-22-2, Mason said it takes a shift in mindset to change things.
“Sparta is known as a basketball town, not a soccer town,” Mason said. “So, really getting them in the mentality that this can be a soccer town. We have the opportunity to be a strong program and I’m really think they’re starting to really believe that. We have the mantra of “Let’s have winners mentalities” this year. Even if we don’t win every game, I think you can start seeing their confidence grow.”
Through three games the Warriors have gone 0-2-1, letting up 11 goals and have yet to score themselves. Mason said that offensive cohesion has been a concern of hers since the off-season.
“We aren’t as good with possession plays, so we’re going to have to make sure our back line is solid,” Mason said. “And I’ve also learned that in our first few games, so I have been really trying to focus on making sure we move in rotation and know where to be right now.”
White County’s back line features senior leaders Autumn Burnwell and Poppy Shank. Mason said Burnwell and Shank are great representations of the program and the underclassmen respect and look up to them.
“I think they have really stepped up to the plate this year,” Mason said. “I set my expectations high from the get go and they’ve really stepped up to them. I have to say that I’ve just been really impressed with how they want the soccer program to change.”
When evaluating her team’s performance, Mason said her team’s effort needs to improve.
“I want to improve on just giving 110 percent,” Mason said. “Right now, I tell them all the time ‘Winners choose to run up front and winners choose to stay after practice’. And I have some girls staying after practice, wanting to get better.”
