King working to bring results to the Plymouth girl’s soccer program
PLYMOUTH – “New” Plymouth girls soccer coach Nathaniel King may be new to the Plymouth sideline but he’s hardly an unfamiliar face.
The new Lady Rockie boss had a successful stint as head coach at Culver Academy making the final four, and has a wealth of experience in the game.
Growing up in England “football” was his first love. King has played and coached professionally and his coaching experience runs the gamut from junior rec league to national and professional teams.
He takes over a Plymouth program hoping to bring new energy.
“Every coach is different and any culture shock will be with them (the players) working toward my expectations,” said King. “I come from a different level of experience in the game. I’ve worked with professionals, and national team players, through to grassroots rec league. I can say I know what it takes to be successful, to play at the next level, in college, and I see that kind of potential here.”
“But you are either part of that journey or you aren’t,” he said. “I try to be very clear and honest with the girls. I try to make a point to check in with them regularly to be very clear with what I expect and if they aren’t doing it be very honest about that. When we make the choice of varsity and JV I’ve prepared them every step of the way.”
Along with constant communication King is about attention to detail.
“You train how you want to play in the game,” he said. “For some who have never been in an environment where you show up and your every action is like your life depends on it, that can be a lot because it takes a lot of energy and you have to be in good physical shape.”
With several coaching stops along the way, King is happy to have the opportunity of planting some roots.
“You have seasons of life and my three kids and my wife, we feel settled here,” he said. “We bought a house in Plymouth and I like the challenge of going in somewhere and just helping a group of young women maximize their potential and see where it can go. I’ve had other different challenges but this one is different than them all. It’s a different dynamic.”
Part of that challenge is establishing a “Plymouth” trademark in the style of play.
“The big challenge is to establish an identity,” said King. “You think of all the great sports teams everyone can describe their style of play. High pressure, aggressive, fast, we need to create an identity.”
“I talk a lot about the four P’s, pressure, position, possession, and penetration,” he said. “When we don’t have the ball we want to hunt to get it back again as quickly as possible. When we have the ball we need to look to the furthest forward pass we can make. You have to move forward to score.”
Another challenge at any public school is to establish consistency. Does King think he can do that at Plymouth?
“We’ll find out in the games won’t we?” he said with a smile. “The games will tell you that. I think you’re always going to have a little up and down because it’s high school. It’s the four-year cycle. What I will consider consistency is that whenever I may stop coaching whoever steps in will still have those team principles, the legacy is still within the team that your captains have graduated and the next group is there with those same principles.”
“The results will come. Right now we’re focused on the process. I’m here to build a program. We are still in the construction phase.”
What will success be for the new coach in the coming season with the Lady Rockies?
“We know the record is just the glass half full,” he said. “I’m looking at the full blueprint of what we are trying to do. How close are we to playing the perfect game? Have I made the girls better people and better players?”
“I’d be a liar if I told you winning wasn’t important. It is. The most important thing is making these girls better players and people. The results will come.”
