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Interview with Barrett Knepp, new MC girls coach

Barrett Knepp, a long time coach in the Mifflin County Soccer Club and coach in the Mifflin County junior high school system, recently sat down and did an interview with Kenny Varner about the future of Mifflin County soccer, his traveling team the Kixie Chix and other soccer issues. This interview was held previous to Knepp’s hiring as the Mifflin County girls high school soccer coach.
HS: How long have you been coaching?
BK: I’ve been coaching for seven years or eight years now. I started in the Rec League program and then I started a travel team when these girls I have (Kixie Chix) now we’re seven and eight years old and now they are 13 so. Most of the group is still together.
HS: What does your season consist of? Do participate all year round?
BK: This team in particular we do a spring and fall travel and then we do indoor in the winter.
HS: You’ve seem to be doing well against all kinds of different competition.
BK: Yes, they have won some pretty big tournaments. The won the Lititz Showcase here last summer. We won the Hershey Cup the year before. Those are big tournaments that draw a lot of teams from all over so they did well in those. We put them in the Premiere League the last two years. The first year we were in there we didn’t win a game. They went undefeated this year. It shows the growth that they had.”
HS: Is there any particular player or players that stand out on the team or is it mostly a total team effort on the field?
BK: Its really a group effort. They’ve been together. They are all key pieces. There is absolute nobody that I can do without on the team. They work well together as a unit.
HS: That should fair well for the future of the girls soccer program as well, right?
BK: It is. Not only with this team but with the teams coming up through. There are pieces all around them as well. We have a good program coming up through, I think.
HS: Seems like every year the soccer club gets bigger and bigger and its becoming more popular, is that true?
BK: Yes, there has been a lot of effort put into it and I think we are getting there. There has been a lot of people who have got it to this point. It’s definitely growing. It’s a good thing to see.
HS: when will your team start up again?
BK: Well, most of the Girls I have now will be heading into junior high. A little more than half of them will be going into junior high. They will begin play in the spring. The other half, I am trying to get together a team so they continue to play.
HS: where do you see the future of the Mifflin County girls soccer program in five years?
BK: I hope that in 3-to-5 years that they are competing. The division they are playing in is brutal. But I would like to see them go at least .500 in their league play where right now they were scratching just to get a few wins. I think the wins are coming and to be a top two or three team is pheasable in the next few years.
HS: Every year, I see relentless effort and a “never-say-die” attitude from the varsity girls despite maybe coming up short. But they seem to stay in it to the very end.
BK: Yes, that’s one thing our girls have right now. We’ve had games that got away from them but even at the end they are not afraid to still get in there like it’s a close game and they battle to the end. You just have to appreciate that.
HS: Larely it seems like the light is getting brighter when it comes to the high school girls program.
BK: Oh yes definitely. To get some wins at the varsity level against some big opponents, they had been missing that for awhile. This year they made that First stepping stone with the postseason game. Now they have a places to build on and then you drop down to the junior high level and they win games late in the season. In the beginning of the season it was a struggle but by the end of the season they would beat teams that earlier beat them pretty handily. Things are looking up.

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