El Dorado’s girls’ soccer team enjoyed a successful season, going 15-2 and winning the 5A South crown. But a 6-0 loss to powerful Searcy in the semifinals of the 5A State Tournament showed there’s still a gap between Lady Wildcats’ soccer and the state’s reigning champion.
Coach Neville Matthews was asked one question. What would it take to get El Dorado’s program to the elite level in the state?
The question turned into an interview lasting more than 30 minutes.
“When I first came here and Derrill (Smith) hired me. That’s the kind of level they were seeking,” Matthews said.
While schools north of Little Rock were eager to spread soccer into the southern part of the state, there was skepticism.
“They said it would be watered down, wouldn’t be enough kids, no leagues down here to get a program of that caliber,” said Matthews.
“When I came in I sat around and I watched what they were doing. Coming from Texas, we had a good club system. So what I did, I started my own club. Myself and Dusty Love, we started a club. I said in order for us to get to that level, to become competitive, we have to start a club. I started a club called Lady Swift. It stayed around for maybe 9 or 10 years. We would travel and play different leagues. We’d play the Bryant’s and the teams up north. They were way better than we were but I knew in my heart we wouldn’t play anyone that tough in our conference. As the years went by, we started getting better. We started winning tournaments. We were doing good.
“But we had kids stop coming in. They didn’t want to do so much soccer. I found myself giving up all of my summertime with my family to do club (soccer). And I was scraping for players because they had family plans, this and that. It got watered down so I went away from it. I think that’s what is needed, a good club feeder system. But you’ve got to have that commitment. I’ve got maybe four or five kids who go out of town to play club ball. When the kids come back who didn’t play the club system stuff. I’ve got to blend to bring the talent from one level to that level.”
Matthews summed up the difference between programs such as Searcy and Siloam Springs and, not just El Dorado but all of girls’ soccer south of Little Rock.
“We’ve got a lot of kids who like soccer. When you’ve got a team like Searcy and Siloam Springs, they’re all close to the Oklahoma border so they play in the league up there. They’ve got soccer players. We’ve got kids who like soccer with the exception of four or five kids who can play to that level,” he explained.
“I think the Boys & Girls Club program could be a good feeder program. But, again you’ve got parent coaches. A lot of the parent coaches in the Boys & Girls Club program have never played in their life. They’re just managing and mentoring. We need people to do clinics, have more soccer clinics and stuff like that.”
A major handicap for El Dorado is basic geography. Soccer isn’t a big deal in South Arkansas. The teams in the northern part of the state strengthen themselves by competing against other good teams in their area.
Matthews talked about the level of soccer in Oklahoma, across the border from Siloam Springs. Searcy coach Larry Stamps said one of his team’s losses came against a team from Oklahoma.
Matthews said those teams have no need to drive to El Dorado for a game. They also have no need to schedule El Dorado when there’s plenty of competition closer to home.
“We can schedule harder games so we’ve seen tough teams when we get to that level. Then again, with the season so tight, when you call to play these teams, they’ve already got their schedule,” he said. “You take a team like Searcy, their schedule is full. They’re doing the same thing I want to do, find a tougher team to play. Look at it this way, would they want to play El Dorado and beat them 6-0 and get nothing out of it or go play Siloam Springs or a team further north? We might get beat but we’ll get a lot more out of it.”
Matthews continually stressed playing on travel club teams. He admitted, not every family can afford that.
“I’ve got kids on a travel team. It costs about maybe $3,000, $3,500 to play on a travel team. Some of the kids can’t afford that. That’s a disadvantage. When I first got here, I identified that right off the bat.”
A child can take a basketball in their backyard by themselves and improve their skills. Matthews was asked if that’s possible in soccer.
“Yes,” he said. “For example, in soccer you can pass against a wall and work on your possession and tracking skills. You can do that. You can keep your stamina up. You can do that type of stuff. It’s a lot of stuff you can do. Some of these kids, after they get off, like now in the summer, they’re done.”
In comparing El Dorado’s girls to those of Searcy, from an athletic standpoint, there wasn’t a six-goal difference. The difference looked to be fundamental soccer skills.
“I see some quality instruction at the Boys & Girls Club level. I think that would help it. There’s some talk about introducing it into the middle school. That could alleviate some of the issues,” Matthews said.
“They have to have a solid program at the Boys & Girls level to get a lot of interest, introduce it into the middle school like they’re talking about. Maybe they could get some of the fundamentals down. And, if you have the interest to have a good club system to have maybe two or three teams - two boys teams, two girls teams - U16, U14 and you travel.
“We need to have a good Boys & Girls program, not just a dad out there or a mom out there coaching their kid and the kid starts every game - good, bad or indifferent. And then they come to me and I have to make that adjustment and fix all the bad habits. It takes some time. I think we can get there. It’s not going to be tomorrow.
“In my situation, I’ve got to teach a kid how to kick the ball, how to pass the ball. Once you get to the varsity high school level, we should just be working on tactical, strategic stuff. It shouldn’t be the fundamentals.”
Other southern schools have ramped up their soccer programs. Matthews said Hot Springs Lakeside, Hot Springs and Lake Hamilton have 8th grade programs that play separate from the Arkansas Activities Association.
Even if El Dorado wanted to do something similar, what other equally-sized soccer schools are in the area?
“I’ve got some ideas,” Matthews said. “But, like you calling me and asking me what I think, I don’t get that. The people who could make the difference like the parents or whatever, they don’t come to me and say, what do you think? I would love for a parent to say the same thing you just said to me, ‘What do you think?’ Nobody asks. So I talk to my coach and we do the best we can with what we have to work with.”
Matthews led the Lady Wildcats to the state championship game in 2010 where they lost, ironically enough, to Searcy. He believes the program can get to that elite level consistently.
“I believe it’s repetition. I’d say 90 percent of the Searcy team is on a travel team. So they’re going to be playing with good competition on a high level,” he said. “Our kids are very competitive but that’ll only take you so much. I’ll say it again, you’ve got a Searcy kid that’s looking to go to the ninth grade right now, I guarantee they’ve got at least three or four years of club soccer under their belt. We don’t have that.”
To be fair, the 6-0 final score might’ve been misleading. The Lady Wildcats had two scoring opportunities early that just missed with an unfortunate own goal sandwiched between.
From El Dorado’s perspective, it was just one of those days.
“I felt if we could’ve kept it close until halftime, maybe 1-0 or 2-0, I thought we could’ve outlasted them. I really did,” said Matthews, who noted some of the Lady Lions struggling in the heat.
With just two seniors on this year’s team, the Lady Wildcats could get another shot against the state’s elite sooner than later.
“We’ve got a good core. But the core I’ve got with those juniors, I’ve got five players I’d put up against anybody. But, it’s the other guys and their skill level. I have to find where the weaknesses are and the strong points and have them complement each other - where the kid is weak, I’ve got to have a kid that’s strong in that area to complement that kid to fill that void,” said Matthews.
“I have good chemistry coming back. We could contend from where we left off this year. Could we beat a team like Searcy? Most definitely. I think we could. I really think we could beat a team like that.”
Do the girls think that?
“Yeah, they think that.”
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Matthews grew up playing soccer in his native Trinidad & Tobago. The soccer skills he learned didn’t come from camps but from playing the game.
“It’s like a way of life. You can’t just go to practice and then go home. You have to go to practice, take what you get in practice, nurture it and then perfect it,” he said. “You have to run and work on your foot skills. When I played growing up, a lot of the stuff I have to teach these kids, no one taught me that. I watched, learned because we played constantly. Soccer, where I’m from, is like pick-up basketball here.”
While the US will probably never be considered a soccer-crazed nation, the sport continues to grow. There’s even been growth in South Arkansas.
“It can get there. When I first came to the US, I couldn’t get a soccer game because no one played,” said Matthews. “And when you could find a team to play, they played like they were playing rugby. I mean it was tough for me to play soccer when I was in the military. Finally, I got transferred to Europe. I was stationed in Germany and then … played on the Army team and it was awesome.”
Matthews again brought up the grass roots level. For soccer to really gain a solid foothold in the area, it has to be taught properly at a younger age.
“The best place for it to start is at the Boys & Girls Club. And, I’m guilty of that, too. I haven’t gotten involved with the Boys & Girls Club much because the main reason (is) you’ve got to let Dad coach and … just from observation you go in there and you want to put something into play and he’s the coach and his daughter is there or his son is there and there are two more kids who are better …
“At that level, if you can just get them headed in the right direction, teach them the fundamentals, every summer you do a camp at the Boys & Girls Club or every spring you do a camp, teach them the fundamentals and then get it started at Barton and teach them some more. And then when we they get to the high school, give them some more because some of the things I have to teach them, I shouldn’t be teaching at that level.
“Let me put it to you this way, the people that do an honest assessment of what I have to work with and what we have in the area, they’ll understand. The ones that just sit there and want results without looking at the dynamics and all that stuff, they’ll say that. I think with what we had to work with, I thought we did pretty good. We did pretty good.”