A little about the Ridgely Town Rep

Position: Ridgely Town Rep.
Name: Theo Fernandez
General:
I was born in San Diego, Ca.
Moved to MD in 1978.

Soccer Background:
Let's see...

   I first learned how to kick a soccer ball while our house was tented and being fumigated in San Diego. We had to stay in a motel, and a kid around my age at the time, who was also at the motel, had a soccer ball and asked if I wanted to kick it back and forth with him. I said OK. I was barefoot but it didn't matter to me because I learned real fast to kick with the inside of my foot (NOT MY TOES! - just a pet-peeve of mine).

   I stared playing soccer the first year my family moved here, which was 1978. After the first practice, I was hooked. I quit football to play soccer. I played Park and Rec until High School. I was even on the very first "unofficial" official Charles County Select Team.(I think these teams are now called by names like - elite, travel, club)

   I went to Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf, MD. I made the varsity soccer team my freshman year, lettered my sophomore year.

• 2 years All SMAC (Southern Maryland All County) and All State

   I have a great passion and desire to pass on my knowledge and enjoyment of the game to my children and to the children in this community or wherever I have the opportunity to coach. There are so many benefits to playing a game like soccer. Probably the most important one is good sportsmanship. It's one thing to be a good player - who is not a team player - or is a dirty player, and it is another to be good and be a team player (and doesn't play dirty).

   I have played against some very good players, some I would say are or were exceptional. As far as I know, nobody I ever played against ever said anything bad about me or the way I played. I played against a lot of the same guys year after year, from park and rec through high school and some were long time friends of mine. On the field it was all business, nothing personal.

  What are my main goals for kids who are learning or developing their game?

• Learn the fundamentals
  • Having the basic skills down, leads to more of an understanding of the game, an understanding of the strategy of defense and offense, and to having fun at practice and in a game.
• Practice as often as you can
  • When I didn't have anyone to kick the ball around with, I practiced other skills. By bouncing the ball off the curb, I could head the ball, practice chest/thigh and leg traps, and turning with the ball. To increase my goalkeeper skills I would practice catching and deflecting the ball by varying the force of the throw against the curb.
• Have Fun
  • Practice was never something that I would consider as "fun", but I did have a lot of fun at practice. Everyone should. Practice is always a serious time for learning the fundamental skills and the various positions, but when you go at it with a negative attitude, it's not going to be fun. It takes time for players to develop individually and as a team, and not everyone is going to make progress at the same rate. So have fun learning, and encouraging each other. Team mates can have just as much impact on a player as a coach or a parent.
• Do your best/don't give up - * don't listen to sideline yelling, listen to your coach
• Become part of the team
• Don't criticize your teammates
  • Good sportsmanship starts with you.
  • Would you want every bad pass, every whiff, every missed assignment or missed shot of yours pointed out and harped on as a possible reason for the team losing a game? There are 11 people on the field for your team. If your team lost the game, it's because the whole team didn't play well, not because 1 person didn't play well; and it might be that the other team just played better.

I've seen too often that a team is controlled by one or two "talented/good" players and the coaches set their team up to highlight these players, instead of using the "talented/good" players as a building block for their team.
I always discourage cheating or dirty play. How does it benefit any player to cheat or play dirty? If you have to play dirty, then you should probably work on your skills more.
The game of soccer continues to grow in the United States and I hope to have a positive impact on that growth while I can.