The high school soccer season is not far away, and a handful of Hamilton County girls teams are already in tournament mode.
Carmel is hosting the DeWayne Akin Summer Soccer Showcase this week at the Greyhounds’ practice fields near 126th Street and River Road. Teams from all across the state are participating in the event, along with three other county schools: Noblesville, Fishers and Guerin Catholic. Games continue today.
The tournament is a good opportunity for teams to get a look at their players in game situations, something that’s important as the first official IHSAA practice draws near. Practices begin on Aug. 5.
“It’s so vital,” said Carmel coach Frank Dixon. “I don’t know how we did it before we had this. We’ll have 100 kids out at tryouts and you don’t know what they’re like in game situations. You can see the technical ability in training, but this is the real deal. There’s pressure on them and they have to make decisions.”
The coaches agreed that a tournament like this is a good way for them to evaluate the athletes on their team.
“It’s just a good opportunity to get everybody a chance to get on the field and play,” said Noblesville coach Mike Brady. “We’ve been practicing and training and games are different, seeing how they work hard all summer. We like coming out here and watching all the girls get a chance to compete, which is what we saw from the team that played this first game this afternoon.”
“We want to get to know our players coming into tryouts so we can put them in spots to evaluate them properly,” said Fishers coach Ben Beasley. “It’s hard. You have tryouts for a couple days. You want to make sure every kid has an opportunity to show their best.”
“Frank Dixon and Carmel High School do a brilliant job every summer bringing in some really great programs throughout the entire state of Indiana to come compete in a couple days of friendlies and let all the players, the programs and the coaches have an opportunity to see where things are at at this particular point of the year,” said GC coach Jonathan McClure.
Carmel’s Anna Michaels was one of the Greyhound players on the field during Friday’s action at the DeWayne Akin Summer Soccer Showcase. The tournament continues today at Carmel’s practice fields at 126th Street and River Road. (Richie Hall)