Poore keeps Jay focused as playoffs near
The Express-news recently interviewed Jay boys soccer coach Kevin Poore about the Mustangs making the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and their newfound identity. Jay is 15-3-3 this season and has a chance to clinch the second seed in District 29-6A with a win against Brennan on Wednesday.
Q: How big is your game against Brennan tomorrow? A:
“It's tough because the first time we played them, we played really well and they didn't play really well. So, it was a kind of a lopsided game, and so they're going to be ready to play. And I got to make sure that our boys are ready to play. They're in the other room lifting weights right now. And at this point in the season, it's really about keeping your body right.”
Q: How do you manage fatigue and burnout? A:
“It's just knowing your players, knowing which ones are playing a lot and kind of limiting their minutes in practice so that they can give the most of the game. They do an ice bath to get their bodies ready. For me, the weight room is really about injury prevention during the season. We lift two, sometimes three days a week during the season. Depending on what days we play, we just try to keep their muscles good so they don't have any soft tissue injuries.”
Q: What makes this Jay soccer team different from the past squads?
A:
“The only thing different is really our experience. We have two guys who have been on the varsity and two seniors who have been on the varsity since they were freshmen. So they have a lot of experience. Going through what we went through last year, missing the playoffs by one point, and talking to them throughout the off-season. We don't know what game is going to be the most important game of the year because there were some games last year that we tied. We tied Stevens last year in a game that we probably shouldn't have tied, but they played well enough to tie us, and when you miss the playoffs by a point, you kind of reflect on those things.”
Q: When did you realize that this team had a chance to compete for a district title?
A: “I knew at the end of last year. So, at our sports banquet last year, I told everybody in attendance when I spoke that I expected this team to compete for a district championship this year. And we did that, we fell a little bit short, but we competed for one. But at the beginning of the year, I was talking to my assistant, and I couldn't really tell if we were good and a lot better than last year or if the talent that we were playing was just not as good. And so it took me a couple of weeks. But I would say probably after the Smithson Valley tournament is when I started to realize that, OK, we can be pretty good because we played Smithson Valley a man down for 67 minutes. We were able to come back and tie that game against a really good team. And so that's when I was like, ‘Okay, I think we got something here.' ”
Q: How have you managed different teammates’ personalities and experiences? A:
“I've had teams where a lot of kids, maybe they kind of broke off into little cliques or whatever, but this team here, they really get along. They're competitive and they want to win, and so they work really hard but they really do get along.”
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Q: How important are Ervin Rosas and Delahmu Reeves to your team?
A:
“They are super important. Ervin is a sophomore, and last year, as a freshman, he was the district offensive player of the year because he came out of nowhere and scored a lot of goals. And Delahmu has always had that ability. But last year, I think he was trying a little bit too hard. This year has come a little bit easier for him, but I think it makes it really hard to defend when we have two players that can put the ball in the back of the net from pretty much anywhere on the field.”
Q: What is it like to coach someone with Delahmu’s size?
A:
“I mean, he's about 6foot-2. He's pretty tall for a lot of the players in this area, and he's really strong in the weight room. He's a 455-pound squatter. There's nobody in the weight room who can touch the number, not our team anyway. It's really hard to knock him down, and soccer is a physical sport. Now he gets called for some fouls because other guys can't handle his strength, and they'll fall down.”
Q: How special is it to coach a sophomore with as much potential as Rosas? A:
“What I love about Ervin is that he's really quiet. He's a hard worker. He started to come out of his shell a little bit as he's gotten more used to the guys. He's easy to coach because he's been trained well at a young age, and so he's easy to coach from the perspective of he listens and he'll do what you ask him to do. He finds himself in the right spot a lot because he just puts himself in a position to receive balls and just to be where he's supposed to be.”
Q: How do you prepare a group that hasn’t played in the playoffs?
A:
“I keep reminding them of what it takes and give them anecdotes of how we've done in the past. And so finishing with Harlan, Taft, and Brennan, those are three really tough teams, and the Harlan game had a playoff atmosphere. In the Taft game, we weren't physically ready (due to) being on spring break and all that stuff. And so those are all good learning moments for them going into the playoffs.”