Just hours after the first practice of the season, the University of Illinois Springfield women’s soccer players got down to business in a manner that is surprising.
The team’s first community service project of the year coincided with the very first day of practice. After a morning session, the Prairie Stars sorted medical supplies destined for developing countries at a local mission less than three weeks ago.
“A lot of teams on Day One are all about soccer,” UIS coach Molly Grisham said. “This adds to our soccer. It was two hours of team bonding and helping our community. My feeling was either we can sit around the dorms complaining that our legs are sore or we can be together, complain together and help people who have a far greater need than our sore legs.”
Spending time getting to know each other has been imperative for the Stars.
They have a new coach in Grisham, a 1992 Chatham Glenwood High School graduate who oversaw the program at NCAA Division II Wayne State College in Nebraska the past four years. Grisham, who went 20-45-9 at Wayne State, replaces Pete Kowall, who left the Prairie Stars to become an assistant coach for Indiana State.
The team was featured by The State Journal-Register on September 6, 2013.
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