Behind the Bench: Andy Cameron

Entering his eighth season with the Varsity Reds women’s soccer program, Andy Cameron is this week’s featured coach in Behind the Bench.

With 24 years of experience coaching, coupled with varsity experience with UPEI, Cameron brings knowledge of the game the Reds program needs as it continues to build. He discusses his time with the program thus far, as well as some coaching techniques.

Brunswickan: What do you look for in a player when deciding on your roster?

Andy Cameron: Obviously there is basic technical ability, athletic ability, technical awareness, and then there is the attitude and commitment to develop a winning program.

B: What experience do you have as a soccer player yourself? Where did you play and for how long?

AC: I grew up in PEI playing soccer. I played at the university there for five seasons in the early ’80s. Then I went on to train with the national Olympic team.

B: What is your fondest memory as a V-Red coach?

AC: I think the first season I coached we made the playoffs by scoring a goal in the last minute of the last game of the season and then had to wait for a result to make the playoffs. That was a pretty exciting time. Scoring the goal in the last minute gave us a tie and then waiting for the result was a pretty tense time until it came in.

B: Prior to a game what do you do to get your players prepared for the matchup?

AC: I think it is more about the preparation leading up to the game. The week of practice before hopefully means you do not need to do a whole lot just prior to the game. Hopefully you have done the work during the week and then it is just up to the players to get themselves ready. We just make a few technically adjustments based on your opponents and then away we go.

B: Going into a season do you set a goal for yourself as a coach?

AC: You set the goal to make the playoffs and compete when you get there. Other than that you are looking at developing players. That’s the job of a coach. At the end of each season you reflect on the season and as long as you have developed the program and moved the yardstick then you know you have to be relatively pleased with yourself. Coaches are pretty hard on themselves and set a pretty high standard.

B: How do you gauge the success of your season aside from the wins and losses?

AC: I think you can play a perfect game and lose, so it’s about measuring the performance of the group of players and individual players and getting the quality of play over the season. If you beat yourself up over wins and losses over time, you aren’t going to stay in the business. We gauge your development by the commitment that you get from your players and the quality of play.

B: Do you follow your players and ensure they are doing great off the field aside from on the field?

AC: Yes, certainly they are here for school and soccer. I am very lucky that in the women’s soccer program for the most part the students are very strong students. For the most part they are above average. We monitor marks the best we can.