Fresh off an exciting 1-0 win against Cache, Racer Soccer Coach Tom Pecore sat down for an interview and a cup of coffee at the Dunkin’ Donuts in Newcastle.
Pecore described what he said was probably the best goal shot he’s seen in high school soccer — a ball sent from the right side of the field, away from the Cache goalkeeper and bent into the higher portion of the left side of the goal.
Pecore was excited about the shot and the game, and he’s excited about where Newcastle soccer has been, where it is now, and where he would like to see it go.
When the coach first came to Newcastle in spring 2019, the high school team was playing about three months out of the year. He said there were a few kids who played club ball and there were no plans for further development — no summer camps, no college visits, and no resulting college scholarships.
Pecore said each of these have now been addressed. He said Newcastle now has a plan for development which includes starting the kids out in elementary school playing soccer, streamlining the coaching so it matches throughout their education, and funneling the kids into the high school program.
Now, in spring 2023, the Racer boys team, many of who play club ball throughout the year, has an overall season record of 14-3. This includes their scrimmages early in the year and all has been achieved by a team of underclassmen. Pecore said there’s not a senior starter on the varsity team. Although the Racers are currently in Class 4A, they’ve taken on and beaten several Class 5A schools. Their regular season record is 9-3 while their District record is 4-1, with their only District loss coming from Chickasha.
Pecore believes that other sports nationwide are beginning to see dwindling numbers of participants, but not soccer. With that increased
participation, comes an increased need to continually work towards merging the programs from elementary to high school and beyond.
The goal, he said, is to provide opportunities for the most amount of Newcastle fifth and sixth graders to have opportunity to play competitive ball, and a pathway to mature. Pecore said by merging the programs from elementary to high school, the athletes benefit, and the more students who are involved the better Newcastle Schools is serving its students.
He said it’s important to have professionally certified coaches who know to teach kids, and what they are capable of at the various ages. Pecore said Newcastle High School is blessed in this area because he and the other coaches are certified. Pecore carries USSF National C and National Y licenses, and served as a state licensing coaching instructor with the Oklahoma Soccer Association, which means he has trained to know coaching tasks, concepts of coaching, principles of player and team development, and development of elite players and teams.
Newcastle’s assistant boys coaches Nick McMillan, Harry Donaldson and Colton Kinney also have certifications, with McMillian carrying a National USSF C license, Donaldson a UEFA C license, and Kinney a USSF E license. Girls coaches Hannah Evans and Juan Lucas have both played at the collegiate level, and Evans is pursuing her National D certification, while Lucas has a Spanish Soccer Coaching license.
Pecore said the right coaches in a program can bring all the elements that go into coaching including psychology, physiology and health, and then the next level of playing the mental game, and the level after that with athletes being able to compete collegiately and professionally.
While Pecore is the boys head coach and one of his overarching goals is to help boys become men of purpose, he continues taking interest in the girls’ program, as well. He said coaches Evans and Lucas are reaching down into the middle school looking for girls to participate.
They are holding meetings to garner interest, and all know the part that competitive team sports can play in girls’ lives as they continue their journey into adulthood. He said Evans and Lucas share the same values with the girls’ program that Pecore and the assistant coaches have in the boys’ program.
“The school is the center of the community. We have to invest in our facilities. By doing so it is an investment in our kids. Anytime you can get a kid to go play soccer or go to the gym, that is good,” Pecore said.
Another change for not only soccer, but the entire athletic program Pecore has noticed is the support from Newcastle Schools. The school system went without a full-time athletic director for a short time, but now has AD Todd Gooslby. Pecore said Goolsby is an administrator with a sense of purpose and who leads by “getting after us” when he disagrees with something, but providing full support otherwise.
“He’s a coach’s coach,” Pecore said.
Pecore said he feels like the soccer community in Newcastle is now united with a purpose and it is beginning to pay off.
He said it is a thing of beauty to be a student athlete playing under the lights of their football field in their hometown, but at the same time parents and a community have to be honest with themselves and realize that not every child is going to grow up and be a World Cup player. He believes that they will, however, become better women and men.
As the soccer program grows so do the accolades. In the 2022 school year, Newcastle High School had five soccer players earn college scholarships, and they had two players who were named to the All-State Soccer team.
