Enterprise School District is excited to present a new sport this school year: soccer.
To kick off the new program, they have hired Coach Tucker Italiano as the head coach for both the boys and girls. While Coach Italiano had opportunities to coach for other schools, he fell in love with Enterprise School District and quickly accepted the position when it was offered to him.
“I had a couple of other options outside of Enterprise, but I came down here and interviewed and fell in love with the small town atmosphere, and I think the school is great,” stated Coach Italiano. “It has great administrators, and even though I haven’t taught a single class yet, I already know several of the teachers and other coaches because everyone is always there to support me.”
This is Coach Italiano’s first experience as head coach, but he has had plenty of experience with winning teams in the past.
“I went to high school at Ridgeland High School, and I played mostly baseball and soccer there. While I there, I won a state championship in both soccer and baseball. I was offered a scholarship for both sports but chose soccer. I signed to play at Holmes Community College and played there for two years. I had the option to play at Mississippi College after that but chose not to pursue it because I was ready to graduate. I was going to school for sports media at Mississippi College and was doing all the classes to be a journalist. My last semester there, I decided I didn’t really like being on the outside looking in; I liked to be on the field. That last semester, I decided that I wanted to be a teacher and coach,” recalled Coach Italiano. “I ended up contacting some people and got a job back at Ridgeland where I graduated. The past two years, I’ve been an assistant first grade teacher at the elementary. I would drive over after school ended to help coach. I was the assistant coach for the football team and assistant soccer coach for both boys and girls in grades seven through twelve. Two years ago, the boys made it to the North State Championship, and both years we won our district. Our girls won district two years ago. We made the playoffs in both sports for all three teams every year. I’ve always been on and around teams that have always won.”
He plans to make the Bulldogs another one of those winning teams, and he has already found out just how much support he has outside of the school staff.
He is confident in his team and very proud to learn that the parents in the district are excited and highly supportive of the program as well.
“I found out quickly that the parents are super supportive. As soon as the school announced I had the job, I had parents reaching out to me saying how they were excited and had been wishing they had soccer here for a long time,” expressed Coach Italiano. “I had a parent meeting for the boys and the girls, and I would say 85 to 90 percent of the families were in attendance, which is amazing. A lot of the ones who missed were just because they were out of town since the meeting was late notice.”
The outpouring of support has already done a great deal for the program and makes it easier for Coach Italiano to do what he needs to with his team. The job itself is a dream come true for the new coach since he is now able to build the program from the ground up. He has already begun to teach his students the game and has set a goal to be able to improve each and every day.
“I’ve always wanted to be able to start up a soccer program from scratch. It isn’t very often that you get the chance to start up a brand new program,” explained Coach Italiano. “We’re starting this soccer program brand new for the girls and boys, and it’s a little tougher for us because we aren’t in an area where there is recreational soccer. If they are going to play when they are growing up, they’ve had to drive to Meridian or Quitman. I’m introducing soccer to them and teaching them the basics, such as how to kick the ball, where the different positions are, and all of the most basic things that I can. You’re always teaching the basics. Even on an experienced team, if you don’t do the basics right, then you aren’t going to have a good team. You can beat a lot of teams just by being good at the basic skills. I have about 60 combined kids, girls and boys, and less than 10 of them have ever played soccer before. I’m just teaching them the whole game and trying to get them to fall in love with it. The ultimate goal is to get better every single day, and I want to have a well-disciplined team that will do well on what they do know.”
So far, all the hard work that the team has put in learning the basics over the summer has paid off. Already, they have shown vast improvement from when they first started, and Coach Italiano has made sure to put them to the test so that they can see what a real game feels like and see where they need to improve.
“We played at a tournament in Meridian a few weeks ago and did better than I thought we would. The boys and the girls both won one game, but we were slapped around a little by some of the teams who have been playing a lot longer than we have,” Coach Italiano stated with pride. “For the most part of the summer, we have gotten better with every single practice. We’re starting to communicate more on the field and are learning when to be physical because soccer is a very physical sport. I do have a lot of athletes on the team, which helps me because they do some things naturally. I have some great kids on this team. They do whatever is asked of them and do a great job at communicating.”
With it being their first year with a soccer team, they will not be allowed to advance to the playoffs; however, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to test their skills on the field this year. They want to make sure that they are prepared and go up against some great teams, and their schedule for the season reflects that.
“I have a tough schedule for this year. There are some good soccer teams in this area, and I’ve scheduled most of them,” announced Coach Italiano. “I didn’t schedule West Lauderdale this year, but I did schedule Clarkdale, and their boys just came off a state championship appearance.”
He believes that his teams will show how great they are this season, and he knows that he has the full support of the school district. In fact, he feels blessed to be a part of a district that he can see truly cares for its students and will do whatever it takes to provide what they need to succeed.
“I’ve been super blessed to be out here. We have great facilities. I have the best superintendent and principal in the state,” declared Coach Italiano. “The school has already been good to us by buying us some large metal goals to practice with and some game goals. They’ve been really awesome about purchasing anything I’ve needed because they don’t want to undersell our kids.”
Not only is Coach Italiano excited about the teams he already has, but he is excited to be able to introduce soccer to the younger generations as well and hopefully create more growth in the program over the upcoming years.
“I’m going to be teaching P.E. for the elementary and middle schools with a couple of other coaches, and I’m happy about doing that,” said Coach Italiano. “By working with the younger kids I can introduce them to soccer and some other sports and get them more interested in it.”
With a great new coach and amazing teams for both the boys and girls, Enterprise School District is sure to have a fantastic first soccer season.
