Steve Ballentine
Presents Keith Shrum with this year's award. |
|
2007 SCYSA Girls
Coach of the Year
Experience continues to
bless our coaches in South Carolina. Understanding soccer
from an early age lends to a lifelong understanding of
the beautiful game, and its impact on Keith Shrum, this
year’s winner, has been apparent during the last 12 years
with the Lexington County Girls Soccer Association. Married
with 2 children, Keith owes much of his success to a supportive
family and the strong spiritual foundation he has with
Fellowship Bible Church.
Soccer is something that Keith doesn’t
take casually. When he is really interested in something,
he likes to learn as much as he can and then employs it
in action. Despite his wizened ways in the game, however,
he continues to be a student of soccer and tries to find
new and fun ways to teach his team.
Perhaps the most illustrative story relayed
to SCYSA has to do with a little girl who had been intimidated
by other coaches who placed too much value on winning
games and not enough focus on enjoying it. Completely
defeated, the youth player was ready to hang up her cleats
and try her hand at something else. Then, Coach Shrum
laid out 2 simple rules he insisted would change her attitude
if she gave them a chance:
The
little girl was astounded by the simplicity of it, and
that there was no mention of the all-important winning
mentality that had been drilled into her head by the less
enlightened. With his positive influence she has become
one of the most successful players in South Carolina youth
soccer.