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Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Vol. 64, Issue No. 34
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Tippecanoe Valley fields inaugural girls soccer team
FULTON COUNTY
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• FAIR
Whatever it is you want to build, you have to start somewhere. Tippecanoe Valley girls soccer coach Mark Gordon completely understands that fact and is fully committed to begin laying the groundwork during the program’s first-ever season. Girls at the school have had the opportunity to play the game at the high school level for the past several years. However, that opportunity was as part of a coed squad, which played a schedule filled with boys teams from the Three Rivers Conference and other schools across northern Indiana. While the opportunity to put on the shin guards, lace up the boots and put on the uniform certainly provided an opportunity and honor for those trailblazing Viking ladies, the reality is that it didn’t provide many real chances for athletic success on the pitch. Gordon is no stranger to soccer and even the Tippecanoe Valley program. He has been involved in the game for more than 30 years, as a referee, referee assignor for high school games and a coach at various levels, including in recreational leagues, competitive travel programs and at the high school level. In fact, he was instrumental in launching the aforementioned coed program at Valley, where he led the team for four years before resigning prior to the 2018 season. The game runs in his family, as his daughter, Chantal Rensberger, is the head coach of the girls team at Rochester High School. Last year, Gordon spent his one-and-only season as the head coach of the Culver Community High School boys team, which he admitted was just not the right fit for him. When he began the Tippecanoe Valley program in 2014, Gordon had a goal to give the school’s girls the chance to have their own team
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&$37$,1 2) 7+( 9,.,1* 6+,3 ³ Tippecanoe Valley girls soccer head coach Mark Gordon supervises his team in warm-ups prior to a game against Rochester, which is coached by his daughter, Chantal Rensberger. Photo by Keith Knepp. within four years. While the timeline for his plan took a little longer than he anticipated, Gordon is thrilled to see it come to fruition in 2021 and to be in the role of leading its lid-lifting season. A resident of Rochester, Gordon learned earlier this year that Valley was ready to field a girls team for the 2021 fall season. Unbeknownst to his wife, he submitted an application to coach the program. Personnel had changed since he was involved with the program, including a new superintendent, principal and athletic director. He admittedly didn’t have the connections he once had, so he had to let his extensive resumé plead his case. On the day he was approved by the school board, Gordon came home from work and got dressed up
to attend the meeting. On his way out the door, he explained to his wife where he was going and added, “Oh, yeah, I’m going to be named the girls soccer coach.” Gordon knows he and the team have tremendous challenges before them. Only a handful of the 14 girls on the roster have any soccer experience. Some of the players came in lacking the basic terminologies of the game, which are essential for practices and teaching the fundamentals of play. Former Valley coed player Alyssa Brito is serving as Gordon’s assistant coach. Her younger sister, Jessica, is a junior on this year’s squad and is anticipated to be one of its better players. “We have to work on technical skills before we can work on tactical skills,” admitted Gordon. “Before
each game I ask the girls to work on three things they want to improve upon. They need to realize what they can do to become better.” The girls on the team have been tasked with recruiting their schoolmates to give the game a shot, whether they be athletes in other sports who might want to try something new or even nonathletes who want to participate and learn the game. Gordon knows that wins will be tough to come by and understands that he’ll have to celebrate small victories as they come. “Sometimes parents don’t see what the coaches see,” he concluded. “We want the girls to compete and appreciate what went right and understand what we need to do to improve.”
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