[ad_1]
Maple Hill soccer coach Dan Gillespie glad to be back with his team
Dan Gillespie began preparations Monday for his 47th season coaching the varsity boys’ soccer team at Maple Hill. To say the circumstances surrounding the start of Gillespie’s latest season are unique would be a vast understatement.
The first day of practice for the 2020-21 scholastic year inside the New York State Public High School Athletic Association is unprecedented. Some sections in the state are not competing at all this fall. Inside Section II, many of the finest high school athletes in the Capital Region have had their fall sports pushed to March. Usually, the fall season begins with the first practice on the third Monday of August. Nothing has been usual about the athletic atmosphere that kids around the state are dealing with more than six months since the coronavirus pandemic disrupted everything.
There are just two of eight Section II leagues competing in boys’ and girls’ soccer this fall. The Patroon Conference and Suburban Council, minus Ballston Spa and Bethlehem, will compete for league titles as sectional, regional and state playoffs have been eliminated from the fall schedule.
Maple Hill, the preeminent boys’ soccer program in the Patroon Conference, has been led by Gillespie since 1974. The state’s all-time leader in victories appreciates the fact he gets the chance to coach this fall and simply getting to see his players practice Monday afternoon.
“This kind of reminds me of my first year coaching because I never played soccer. It was learn as we go,” Gillespie said. “I am trying to follow (safety) guidelines, but still get the quality practice you need. About 90 percent of these kids I have not seen since basketball season. … This season is going to be totally different than any before.”
[ad_2]
Source link