Page 50 February 2015 ARCADIA SPORTS By Nicholas Smith Being a new coach for a high school sports team isn’t always about simply building a winning team. Sometimes it’s about changing the entire culture of a program. This is what Michael Van Ess is attempting to do. head coach of Arcadia High School’s boys soccer team. A former soccer player while growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the 28-year-old Van Ess ended up attending Iowa State on a running scholarship. He attended graduate school at ASU and then moved to Arcadia as a teacher’s assistant. teaches anatomy and biology. when I got here,” said Van Ess. “I also coached JV boys soccer until this season, when there was an opening as head coach for varsity.” Van Ess had an uphill climb after getting the nod as the new head coach. He took the reigns of a program that was in disarray. The team had won two games the entire previous season and according to Van Ess, didn’t even have uniforms when the season started. “We were really one of the worst teams in the state for division 2, and it was getting worse every season,” said Van Ess. “We had a huge portion of the team who was lost last season after grade checks. A lot needed to be changed.” Uphill climb for new varsity soccer coach at Arcadia High The stated goal for the future, according to Van Ess, was to rebuild the program into something that would make the students, parents and school proud. Win or lose, Van Ess wanted boys soccer at Arcadia High School to be respectable. “I want to instill into the players that you deserve respect for being part of this program,” said Van Ess. “This needs to be a place where people talk about the soccer program in high regard.” Change is taking place faster than one might expect. Van Ess has placed a huge emphasis on grades and one can clearly see the difference it is making already. This year, at grade check time, only one player didn’t make the required grade standard, according to Van Ess. Another big difference for the team has being in top physical shape is one of the most important changes he is trying to implement into the program. Speed and the need for players to be able to run a lot meshes well with Van Ess’ running background. “I saw something where the average !"# $% said Van Ess. “And that’s stop and go the whole time, which is really rigorous. So if you’re at a three game tournament, you &# couple days. If you can’t run that distance, you’re going to be in trouble.” Van Ess’ commitment to turning around the program has produced real results already. The team won two out of three games at a tournament in early December, already equaling their entire win total from the previous season. “We’ve come from a raw group of kids with no discipline into a program where the boys are going to be disappointed if they don’t make the playoffs,” said Van Ess. “We’ve really made progress.” Even more important, a sense of pride has been restored to the boys soccer team. According to Van Ess, players are now walking around school with their heads held high, proud to be part of Arcadia soccer, and are inviting people to come watch their games. Van Ess noted that the entire team has made huge contributions to the program and spoke about the team’s two captains in particular: Ben Hall and Rudy Escutia. Hall, a senior, is a center defender and Escutia, a junior, is an “They’re model players, both on and off $% ' ( really helped me a lot as a new coach this season.” Eventually, Van Ess hopes that Arcadia can win the state championship for boys soccer. His short-term goals are to make the playoffs and turn Arcadia soccer into a respectable program. It appears that he may be able to check that second goal off the list. When asked what the best part about coaching is, Van Ess replied, “Seeing the kids grow along with the program. I hope they get the same things out of soccer that I did in high school: being proud of something and making lifelong memories and friends.” Coach Michael Van Ess was promoted from the Jr. Varsity to Varsity soccer team. PLAY COMPETITIVE. PLAY LOCAL. PLAY BALL. (But if you haven’t registered by now it may be too late.) REGISTER for the 2015 Spring BASEBALL and SOFTBALL Season – Boys & Girls Ages 4-14 Tryouts and drafts for the upper divisions are complete and teams are beginning to practice. 2015 Spring Season Runs Early March through End of May Check our website to see if there are any openings left for the upcoming season. Find out more at ArcadiaLittleLeague.com
Page 51 February 2015 ARCADIA SPORTS By Nicholas Smith Ives Machiz had a unique path to becoming the head girls basketball coach at Arcadia High School. He never played college basketball and was never even an assistant on the college team. Although his journey was unconventional, Machiz feels fortunate. “I got to grow up with my players,” he said. “It was like we were learning the game together.” Machiz became involved with coaching basketball when his son was 5 years old. He helped coach YMCA teams. But the ball truly started rolling on his coaching career when his daughter began to play. “My daughter ended up becoming a really good player,” he said. “So we formed a club team called the Phonemes when she was 10 and I started coaching the team.” As the years passed, both the girls and Machiz grew in their knowledge of the game. ended up working as an assistant with 11 to 12 different coaches along the way, so I really got a great chance to pick up things I like and notice things that I dislike.” When the Arcadia high school girls varsity position opened, Machiz applied and got the job. Although the team has accomplished a lot since Machiz took over eight seasons ago, there is still one goal that they have yet By Tina Tombs I often am asked this question during my coaching sessions: “How long should I practice and what should I practice?” Here are some guidelines to improving your practice sessions on the range and short game area. Spend 75 percent of all your range practice time on the short game. Shoot lower scores by improving the short game • Spend 25 percent putting. • Spend 25 percent on the short game. • Spend 25 percent using wedges. • Spend 25 percent on the long game. Use half of this time on the tee ball club (using a driver, 3-wood hybrid, 7-iron, pitching wedge) and the rest of the time spent on full swings on the ground. I hope this helps structure your practice to lower your scores in the 2015 season! Be your best! Hit them high and let How long should I practice? Tina was recently selected as The LPGA 2014 Central Section Teacher of the Year and LPGA 2014 National Teacher of the Year. You can contact her at tina@tinatombsgolf.com or visit her website at tinatombsgolf.com. Coach’s unconventional path to meet. They want to win a state championship. “We still haven’t made it to the big arena,” said Machiz. “We missed state last year for and it was tough on us to watch teams continue to play that we thought we were better than. The seniors are hungry to get to Glendale this year.” Machiz says that he likes where this year’s team is at, saying that this is a special group of girls. He spoke about the leadership from Andrea Guilea and Jalicia Williams, two seniors who have played on the varsity team for four and two years respectively. “Those girls are the absolute leaders on this team,” he said. The coach also talked about Brice Nixon, who is only a freshman. Machiz believes there are great things in store for Nixon. “She has a chance to be a really special player,” said Machiz. “She’s already good and she’s only going to get better.” The team is currently 15-4 and 8-1 in power point games, which count toward the playoffs. Whether the team wins state or not, Machiz is happy to have a home at Arcadia. “I’ve been fortunate and lucky to get to coach a great group of girls over the years,” he said. “Arcadia has such a great campus atmosphere. We let our game do the talking at Arcadia and we want to handle ourselves with professionalism.” Coach Ives Machiz Follow us on Adventures in Lifelong Learning Classes, lectures, speakers, travel and adventures for people ဉင 3-Day Seminar Aydin Aygun February 24, 25, 26, 2015 6-8 p.m. ဇဉ Call Now 480-991-6424 ext. 165 ! " # # ! 6947 East McDonald Drive Paradise Valley AZ 85253 """# #