Preseason is both mentally and physically exhausting, so in an effort to release as much tension as possible, the Centre Women’s Soccer coaching staff tried to create different activities throughout the week to promote team unity. After our scrimmage versus Bellarmine on Sunday afternoon, Monday morning we took the day off to go visit Claiborne Farms.
Claiborne Farms is where Secretariat was conceived. Secretariat was born in West Virginia and then returned to Kentucky after winning the triple crown to breed for the remainder of his life. Jay and Coach Chis thought taking a visit to Claiborne Farms would be beneficial to our team this year especially since we have a very diverse Freshman class. This is the first time ever where we have girls native to eight different states around the US (Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Kentucky). Going to Claiborne Farms allowed them to understand the tradition of Kentucky and to see how the past has helped shape what we still do today.
Below is a picture of “Blame” who won the Breeder’s Cup last year.
While talking about the care it takes to uphold such amazing animals, we learned more and more about the tradition and pride that the horse farm takes for their horses and the horses bred there. Jay proceeded to relate this to Centre Women’s Soccer. He had a former player write to us a letter about what CWS meant to her. She went on to explain a year by year account of her favorite memories of the good and challenging times working within the program. Much like at the horse farm, we began to see the pride and joy that can be found throughout our program.
The team behind Secretariat’s grave
The team in front of the Kersey’s house:
After the horse farm, the team traveled to Winchester, KY, home of Mariah Pohl (’15) and Mary-Taylor Kersey (’13). We went to the Kersey’s house for some great food and fun.
On Tuesday, to further promote team bonding and to see how well we could work together, we went to “Wild Thyme” in Lexington to participate in a cooking class!
All in all, through the bruises and pain, preseason was a successful one. With the respect, hard work, and optimism seen from the coaching staff, seniors, juniors, sophomores, and incoming first years, we are excited about the upcoming season and what is in store for this year’s CWS team.
