By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Last week during Millington Central High School registration, new soccer coach William Carter took a break from the USA Stadium Field to help parents get their students ready for the 2016-17 school year.
William Carter has been around good coaching for a while. He benefited from solid instruction as a student/athlete at Indiana’s Northview High School. Then as an undergrad on the campus of Indiana University, he became a fan of legendary Hoosier Basketball coach Bobby Knight. Carter sharpen his leadership skills in the military before becoming a teacher. Now entering his 10th year in education, Carter joins the staff of Millington Central High School and has taken over the Trojan Soccer programs. “I’m excited to be here at Millington Central High School,” he said. “My regular nine to five job is teaching U.S. History. I’ll have seven different sessions of U.S. History. I’ll be working mostly with juniors. My extracurricular activities, I will be the girls’ and boys’ soccer coach.” This summer the Lady Trojans have been working with Carter preparing for the start of the 2016 campaign. Millington will call USA Stadium home and before the first week of school, the roster featured 17 players. “They said the ladies’ team is in a rebuilding year,” Carter noted. “They said a lot of the seniors started last year including the goalie. They said probably the two best players in the field graduated. There are a lot of big gaps in there. “But I will say I’ve seen a lot of talent,” he continued. “We have a lot of new girls playing this year that have never played in the past as for as Millington Central High School. We do have some pretty good looking prospects to say the least.” Key departures from the 2015 team are goalie Hollie Stokes and key defender Jacey Thompson as part of seven seniors. With a mixture of experience and talented newcomers, Carter is working on conditioning, a stronger mental approach and building cohesion. “Daily basis that I will like to see leading up to the season we’re really working hard to improve our first touches and conditioning,” he said. “I’ve heard from the past, the weakness was been the first touches getting the ball down the field. We’ve been really working hard on that. “I hope people see when they see a Coach Carter coached team, they see a team out there that wants to win the right way,” he added. “I told the girls from day one, ‘I rather lose every game with integrity, dignity and pride then to cheat to win a game.’ I want to see some good sportsmanship with the girls and later on in the spring with the boys too.” From Knight to all his coaches, Carter said he learned that corps. values are the keys to success in the real world and athletics. “I think the most important thing is to remember they are students first and they are athletes second,” he said. “First thing we’ll focus on is how they are handling things in school. Second thing because I am a U.S. History teacher and spent some time in the military how are they as a citizen. Are they a good person. Then we’ll work on the playing side of it.” Carter is used to working as a team from his years in the service and being a part of teaching staffs like Craigmont High School in Memphis. Currently he is the Battery Commander at the Covington National Guard Unit with 98 individuals. So the 15-year Millington resident said he is ready for the unique challenge of leading teenage girls and boys soccer players.
“It’s a different kind of challenge because it is a different type of battlefield out there,” he concluded. “I’m just trying to get these ladies and later on in the spring, these young men, to the best they can for themselves. To take pride in what they can do and what they can learn just to make themselves better overall people.”
