New coaches bring experience

Although teams are yet to be formed, a solid foundation was recently laid for the new Coupeville High School boys and girls soccer programs.

New Jersey native and new Coupeville resident Melissa Martenak will coach the boys, while Kim Sherman, also new to the area, was hired to coach the girls.

“I’m excited to help the program out,” Martenak said.

A former Division I soccer player at Loyola College of Maryland and ex semi-pro player, Martenak was surprised to see there was no soccer at Coupeville when she arrived to teach in November.

“Where I come from it’s just a huge thing,” she said. “It’s like the Meca.”

Martenak hasn’t coached high school soccer before, but is confident that it will be an easy adjustment to make.

“I’ve been coached so well, I hope there’s a lot of things I can bring to the program that I’ve learned,” she said. “It’s going to be East Coast meets West Coast.”

After meeting with potential players for the first time last week, it looks like soccer could be an overwhelming success in its first year at CHS.

“We had 40 boys turn out for an optional meeting,” Martenak said.

Sherman, who moved to Coupeville last August, also brings a vast amount of experience to the girls program.

She coached 4A equivalent high school soccer for four years in Southern California, another part of the country where people eat, breathe and sleep soccer.

“It was just odd to come to a high school and not have a soccer program,” she said.

It appears soccer will also be popular among girls at CHS, as about 25 came to the first meeting and even more have approached Sherman since.

“We have a lot of players from soccer backgrounds, but it’s really hard to determine how competitive we’re going to be,” Sherman said.

A consensus both coaches arrived at, is the new program will be a lot more inviting to local players, who would previously have had to make a trip to Oak Harbor High School to play soccer.

“A lot of kids who would have been intimidated about trying out for Oak Harbor and played as younger kids will feel a lot more comfortable about coming out for this team because it’s 1A and they know a lot of other kids playing,” Sherman said.

Martenak agreed.

“They’ll get a lot of playing time and be able to take over more of leadership roles,” she said.

The new soccer program, completely funded by parents and the Friends of Kettles Park, is hosting Soccer Fest, a fund-raiser, at 1 p.m., today, May 15 at the intersection of Ebey and Terry roads. The money raised will go to purchase soccer equipment. A variety of soccer events will take place, including three-on-three mini soccer games and shoot the goalie.

Because the field conditions won’t be ready for use in the fall, both soccer teams will use the Mickey Clark Field for games.

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