It's not just Serpone, but the Amherst players were widely impugned. "Dirty," despicable," "outrageous" were just some of the adjectives. I'm pleased the facts finally exhausted the discussion, which is so often the case.
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Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
November 10, 2012, 09:22:30 PM
There's a saying "my mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts." At the risk of confusing the posters who have slammed Amherst, I joined the Board yesterday only to inject some facts into the discussion. This is my first and last post
Fact No. 1 -- Amherst was tied for 5th in yellow cards in the NESCAC this season; tied for 7th (with 4 other teams) in 2011; and tied for 6th in 2010. In other words, over the past 3 years, Amherst has been in the lower half of the conference in yellow cards.
Fact No. 2 -- Until Justin Serpone, there has never been a NESCAC coach that was not named Coach-of-the-Year when his team both won the league regular season (outright last year) and the league tournament.
Fact No. 3 – In Serpone's first year, he started at Amherst a "Friends of Jaclyn Foundation" program that is designed "to improve the quality of life for children with [malignant] pediatric brain tumors and their families by pairing them with college and high school athletic teams." His team "adopted" a 7 year-old boy who with a life-threatening brain tumor. Now in remission, he remains an integral part of the team. For some games, he sits in the bench and is part of team huddles. At least four other Amherst teams have now adopted a Friends of Jaclyn child, and the entire athletics department holds an annual race walk – initially organized and staffed by Serpone and his players -- that has drawn more than 1,000 people and raised over $15,000 for the Foundation. As Serpone says, "[the team's "adoptee"] gets the love and support of an entire team and my guys get the opportunity to grow as adults." No other NESCAC team participates in Friends of Jaclyn, although the program has spread to over 300 schools.
Fact No. 4 -- Amherst soccer perennially has more NESCAC All-Academic Team members than any other team. In 2011, 14 players were on the league All-Academic squad compared to 5 for Williams. Remarkably, 10 of Amherst's 14 were starters.
Fact No. 5 – Amherst soccer is the only NESCAC team to place 2 players (both starters) on the 2012 Capital One All-Academic First District Team (Division III). There are only 12 players chosen in each of 8 districts. Trinity, Tufts, and Wesleyan had a player on a District team. In 2011, Amherst had 4 players (all starters) of the 12 named to the District team, more than any other Division III school in the country.
Fact No. 6 -- Players in every sport (no matter the level) become heated in competition, and act in a way that he or she ultimately regrets. None of the Amherst slammers has ever spoken with a player a day (or even an hour) after some stupid show of emotion.
Fact No. 7 -- Deuce calls the Amherst program "despicable." What's way beyond despicable are fans who call a German keeper "Kraut" and a center back with a common Jewish surname "Jew." And it's disgusting to taunt these players with statements like "how's it feel for a Kraut and a Jew to play so close to one another?" (I was at the St. Lawrence game).
Based on the facts, it Amherst is an exemplary program for others to replicate, not revile.
Fact No. 1 -- Amherst was tied for 5th in yellow cards in the NESCAC this season; tied for 7th (with 4 other teams) in 2011; and tied for 6th in 2010. In other words, over the past 3 years, Amherst has been in the lower half of the conference in yellow cards.
Fact No. 2 -- Until Justin Serpone, there has never been a NESCAC coach that was not named Coach-of-the-Year when his team both won the league regular season (outright last year) and the league tournament.
Fact No. 3 – In Serpone's first year, he started at Amherst a "Friends of Jaclyn Foundation" program that is designed "to improve the quality of life for children with [malignant] pediatric brain tumors and their families by pairing them with college and high school athletic teams." His team "adopted" a 7 year-old boy who with a life-threatening brain tumor. Now in remission, he remains an integral part of the team. For some games, he sits in the bench and is part of team huddles. At least four other Amherst teams have now adopted a Friends of Jaclyn child, and the entire athletics department holds an annual race walk – initially organized and staffed by Serpone and his players -- that has drawn more than 1,000 people and raised over $15,000 for the Foundation. As Serpone says, "[the team's "adoptee"] gets the love and support of an entire team and my guys get the opportunity to grow as adults." No other NESCAC team participates in Friends of Jaclyn, although the program has spread to over 300 schools.
Fact No. 4 -- Amherst soccer perennially has more NESCAC All-Academic Team members than any other team. In 2011, 14 players were on the league All-Academic squad compared to 5 for Williams. Remarkably, 10 of Amherst's 14 were starters.
Fact No. 5 – Amherst soccer is the only NESCAC team to place 2 players (both starters) on the 2012 Capital One All-Academic First District Team (Division III). There are only 12 players chosen in each of 8 districts. Trinity, Tufts, and Wesleyan had a player on a District team. In 2011, Amherst had 4 players (all starters) of the 12 named to the District team, more than any other Division III school in the country.
Fact No. 6 -- Players in every sport (no matter the level) become heated in competition, and act in a way that he or she ultimately regrets. None of the Amherst slammers has ever spoken with a player a day (or even an hour) after some stupid show of emotion.
Fact No. 7 -- Deuce calls the Amherst program "despicable." What's way beyond despicable are fans who call a German keeper "Kraut" and a center back with a common Jewish surname "Jew." And it's disgusting to taunt these players with statements like "how's it feel for a Kraut and a Jew to play so close to one another?" (I was at the St. Lawrence game).
Based on the facts, it Amherst is an exemplary program for others to replicate, not revile.
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