Auburn, ME - Head Women's Head Soccer Coach, Rob Rodriguez, is pleased to announce the hiring of Brunswick native, Samantha Bessett Sherwood, as assistant coach for the 2016 season.
Sam is a 2010 graduate of Brunswick High School where she won a state soccer championship in her senior year and received the Defensive MVP award from her team. She is a product of the Brunswick youth soccer program and Velocity Premier Soccer Club, where she played from fall of 2007 through spring of 2010, winning Coaches Award in 2008 as a U16 player.
In March of 2016, Sam completed the US Youth Soccer "E" License, an 18 hour coaching course that is designed in part to teach coaches how to structure a practice for various age groups, along with proper coaching methods, and it is the beginning stage of coaching licenses that all club coaches start off with.
Coach Rodriguez says of Sam, "She played for me on my Velocity Premier team for three years so we are very familiar with each other. She knows what the expectations are of our players because she had to meet those expectations herself, and I know what she brings to the field in terms of ability, work ethic, and motivation. It's a good fit from both sides and with this being her first coaching position, it allows me to continue to work with a former player who I really enjoyed coaching. As a player, Sam was very physically tough and versatile. She was a 90-minute player with a high level of fitness, who could play every position. She really excelled as a center mid due to her ability to win possession of the ball and control the middle of the field. This is the perfect time for her to step into this role because we are in the first year of a rebuilding process with this program and I really couldn't think of a better role model for these players than someone who was a very good player herself, went through a team rebuild with me at Velocity, and has the motivation and desire to seize an opportunity and make the most of it."
Sam will be involved in all aspects of coaching the women's team at CM. She will learn how to run her own practices, how to manage games, and she will be involved in every phase of the recruiting process. When asked about what she would like her coaching philosophy to be, Sam said, "I intend to provide a safe, fun, interesting, and challenging environment where players can learn and develop. I believe that players who enjoy their experience will develop faster than those who do not."
Sam lives in Brunswick with her husband, Michael Sherwood and their son Noah. When not on the soccer field she enjoys running road races and obstacle courses.
