By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
The gymnasium at Fort Wayne Canterbury is a small, unimposing place. Unimposing, that is, unless you are a member of the Cavaliersâ?? varsity soccer team. In that case, it is a monument to greatness, and one of coach Greg Mauchâ??s primary motivational tools.
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During the preseason, Mauch gathers his troops in the gym and has them look at the banners on the wall. Those banners represent three state titles and countless sectional and regional crowns. His message is simple: â??Always remember, youâ??re wearing blue.â?
Wearing the blue of Canterbury soccer is one of the great privileges and responsibilities in Indiana sport. Over the past 20 years, this private school of under 300 students has joined mammoth-school powers North Central (Indianapolis) and Carmel as a preeminent soccer power in the state.
And before you even think about it, the dreaded â??Râ? word â?? recruitment â?? has nothing to do with it. Last year, nine of the starting 11 players on the Canterbury team had attended the school since elementary age. Canterbury is an expensive school with demanding academic standards, and Mauch is blunt in his assessment of the school never recruiting athletes.
â??Begging a 14-year-old to come play soccer does not set the right tone for parents or a student at a school as academically demanding as Canterbury,â? said Mauch, who believes instead in constantly raising the bar athletically for students who already attend the school.
An elementary student at Canterbury School, for example, has the opportunity to participate in up to 24 weeks of soccer instruction a year. And that isnâ??t just time playing â?? itâ??s time with the high school staff. Itâ??s not boot camp, either, but rather time devoted to getting young kids excited about the game of soccer. That is a policy followed in many ways by the other sports at Canterbury.
What is the result of all this work with young students at Canterbury? Get ready for an amazing statistic. Last year, there were 54 students in the eighth grade at Canterbury. Are you ready? Fifty-three of them played sports (the 54th was injured and had to sit out the season). That is what you call success.
That student-athlete dedication certainly translates to success on the soccer field. This yearâ??s squad is currently 3-0-1 and ranked No. 1 in the state. The Cavaliers, whom Mauch believes may be the most attack-oriented team in his many years at Canterbury, already have played North Central to a 1-1 tie.
â??We have a hard time keeping a goalie behind midfield when the ball moves forward,â? he said.
That might be an exaggeration, but donâ??t tell it to highly regarded Fort Wayne Snider â?? the then-No. 8 Panthers fell, 5-0, to the Cavaliers last week.
It remains to be seen if another state title is in the offing for Canterbury. There is one thing you can count on, though: the goal of being a Cavalier soccer player.
After all, youâ??re wearing blue.
So what do you think? Share your thoughts in our forum.
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