Head Women's Soccer Coach Kerry Edwards: An Inside Look at GSW Athletics

by Talik Hill, Staff Writer

Previously a NCAA Division I at Northwestern State University and assistant coach on their women’s soccer team, Kerry Edwards is the new head women’s soccer coach at GSW. Edwards has experience as a NCAA Division II goalkeeper at Dallas Baptist University and says that she is ready to take on the challenge of the Peach Belt Conference.

Pictures provided by Kerry Edwards

What’s the recruiting process like?

“With the recruiting process it really doesn’t stop, it’s a year-round process. So we are always kinda going out. There are these big college showcases where there are a lot of teams and sometimes we have our own ID camps where we have prospective recruits come and join in on some sessions. We recruit all over the country. We’ve been to Florida this past fall, we’ve been to North & South Carolina and we’ve been to Mississippi, so we recruit kinda all over.”

How do athletes train for a season?

“Any student-athlete here at GSW, but specifically the soccer team, are given a summer work-out packet once they’ve signed on and have committed to play here. So they’ll have strength programming, cardio-conditioning, etc. that we would highly encourage them to do so that they’re fit for the season . . . Most programs, including ours, have 1 or 2 fitness tests but they’re required to get a certain standard as they come into pre-season because soccer is such a physically demanding sport. They can’t wait until they get here to get fit, they have to be doing that on their own in the summer or when we start in the fall, they’ll be playing catch-up. ”

Pictures provided by Kerry Edwards

What does the athletics department do for students on campus?

“Any event you see on campus you’re going to see athletic staff and students present at. Maybe the athletics staff set up some of those student events or helped to tear down and clean up at the end of those student events but I think they help to create an overall experience for the students. They host basketball and soccer games on campus and they create things for students to do and experience, a great example of this is the ‘Under the Lights Game’ every fall where they have food trucks and all kinds of things for the student-athletes and we have a whole fireworks show. It gives the students pride in their school and a experience. Everyone in the department helps out with home games, we’re a family here so we all pitch in for everyone’s sports and I think that its something that a lot of the coaches enjoy doing. We like to support one another, so anything that you see at the basketball games probably happened from members of the athletics department. For example, we have our teddy bear toss coming up next Wednesday where we are encouraging people to bring teddy bears to donate to the local community but all of the preparation and things like that happen from the combined effort of the members of the staff here.”

Video by Talik Hill

Watch the full interview with Coach Edwards at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ-KPFLim7E