Howdy All,

Richmond Hill High School Soccer gets it!!

I want to take this opportunity to share all of the wonderful things happening in Richmond Hill High School's Soccer program. As many of the local parents, recreation department organizers, TV and Print newsmen, and co-workers at RHHS and Bryan County Schools have come to know; Coach Wright (RHHS Boys) and myself (RHHS Girls) have worked very hard over the last four years to build a high school soccer program from the ground up that incorporates many facets of the community to enhance the experience our players have to grow both academically and socially.

We agreed early in our first year coaching together that the ultimate goal of any top flight high school program was not necessarily getting kids "athletic scholarships," but rather to use our professional knowledge of enabling kids to successfully grow through the maturation process of the teenage years into active, successful, participating adults when they are ready to leave home; and to marry that knowledge with sound coaching, motivation, and continually raising the bar competitively.

We also agreed that as a visible representative of the Richmond Hill Community at large, we would focus on keeping our local peers informed of all the positive things that can happen for your children when you decide to entrust Coach Wright and myself with your young adults.

To that end, here is a partial list of the good things happening in RHHS soccer for the 2008 season:

1. RHHS boys soccer team wins the region for only the second time in school history; they have made the state tournament for the second straight year.

2. RHHS soccer will host state tournament games for the first time in three seasons beginning April 24th.

3. RHHS boys soccer attains top fifteen state ranking!

4. RHHS girls soccer finishes second in the region and garners a spot in the state tournament for a record 8th straight time.

5. RHHS girls soccer team attains double digit wins for the 7th straight year and has been ranked in the top ten for the 5th straight year.

6. RHHS girls senior Lauren Hall will meet former Georgia Coach Vince Dooley as a result of being our local nominee for the Vince Dooley High School player of the year award!

7. Coach Kollman garners his 100th win in just 8 head coaching seasons (average of 13+ per season).

8. Both the boys and girls programs have multiple senior players that have been offered, or are negotiating scholarship money to play soccer at the college level (news to come).

9. The RHHS Soccer Programs, as the culmination of your child’s high school athletic career, continues to augment the reality that participation in extra-curricular sports enhances student academic achievement. RHHS Academic/Athletic Scholarship offers as of Wednesday, April 9th:

Boys: Ben Bothello, Nic Harris, and Sean Szad - $375,550.00

Girls: Megan Guarino, Lauren Hall, Allie Mazur, and Azea Mustafa - $443,250.00

10. Of the $3,590,636.00 total scholarship dollars offered to RHHS seniors to date, 23 percent of that has been accumulated by the wonderful student athletes in RHHS Soccer. When you add in other athletic team participants, that percentage of RHHS athletes scholarship money rises to 54%. With soccer, track, and baseball still in the middle of the recruiting process, these percentages will only get higher.

*** Add to these accomplishments that in our RHHS soccer future... that both the boys and girls RHMS "C" teams won their region championships last week, and that RH Rec association soccer continues to gain record numbers of kids participating in soccer each season...

The future of Richmond Hill Soccer is growing and getting brighter all the time!!!