There were the four different kinds of sit-ups and three different
ways to do push-ups that Joshua Such made his soccer team do most
days. Grueling conditioning drills that, at first, had the Decatur
United 16-under team definitely not loving its first-year coach -
though Such sometimes did the drills with them. "And if they got in
trouble, they had to do more,"
Such said, "but we pretty much did
that every day."
The Decatur United coach, with his
maniacal conditioning, turned his players
around in one season, from a team with potential to a team ranked
third in the state by the end of the year.
The Decatur United coach, who wasn't
even supposed to be living in Alabama, much less coaching a youth
soccer team, found a weird thing on the team's way through a season.
His players' respect.
"I knew we had the talent, but I didn't think we could put it
together like we did," Such said "I was surprised at some of the teams
they beat.
"They were, too."
Undefeated season
Such, who had planned to move to New York to continue pursuing a
modeling and acting career, helped the United find its way to an
undefeated regular season and its first tournament victory - in the
Tuscaloosa Summer Sizzler tournament.
Such, 21, is a former goalie and 1999 graduate of Austin High,
whose only previous coaching experience was as a volunteer assistant
with the Black Bears in the spring of 2001.
In the summer of 2001, though, he found himself as a head coach
trying to keep his team relaxed with laid-back techniques that ended
when the games started.
"The guys don't even call me Coach. I don't consider myself a
coach," Such said.
"We'd always mess around and stuff, but when the game came
around, I expected them to act like young adults. "We had our fun, but
we had to get our work done, too."
Such, a Calhoun Community College student who has 3.0 GPA, had
planned to in to New York last summer, but didn't have enough money to
make the move.
When he had the time the United needed a coach and he was it.
Such played soccer in college for a year at Emory and Henry College in
Virginia before a knee injury brought him home. Such said he hopes to
try to play for UAH soon and doesn't have definite plans to coach
again - though that could change.
"The main thing for me was to have respect for the players and
for them to have respect for me," Such said. "If they didn't show it
to me, they didn't get it in return."
Such is also a commercial fashion model and actor who has done
work at department stores in Atlanta and a framing studio in
Huntsville. The physical regimen of modeling necessitates that he
also stay in shape, which is why he joined his team in all those
sit-ups and push-ups many days of the week.
He got into modeling when one of his friends got him involved -
an unexpected twist that mirrored the start of his coaching career
with the United. "I was one of those kids in high school that dated
only one or two people," said Such, who is engaged to Kristi Sims.
The couple plan to marry June 24.
"I wasn't a big person on campus. I never thought I'd be able
to do it," Such said before jolting "I wasn't one of the cutest guys
in high school, but now a lot of people want to date me."
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