At the flip of a switch, Matt Kovach has turned around the Thomas Worthington boys soccer program for the better. After a decline in the program over the last few years he brought the team to a district championship for the 13th time and first in 4 years.
After another losing season the previous year, the Thomas Worthington boys soccer program needed a turnaround that started with belief in the program and new head coach Matt Kovach.
“Coming into the program it seemed like the players in the program needed to believe again,” said Kovach. “I know the program had a couple of tough seasons from a won-loss perspective so we had to learn to play with the confidence and the belief that we could not only compete but win games.”
Kovach believes the pieces to success involve a sense of collective responsibility, competitiveness, and unselfishness. He also helped point out that the senior class was a great tool in helping lead with these ideas.
“Our senior class did a tremendous job of leading the program with a sense of collective responsibility.” Says Kovach “We fought together. Our team really didn’t care about who got the credit or who scored the goal. It was about competing together and that led to a great on-field chemistry. We really tried as a staff to emphasize competition at training; small games with winning and losing being emphasized. That competition with each other carried over to the preseason games and competing with other teams.”
After a successful campaign for the 2024 season, Kovach looks ahead to the future of the program, pointing out that the senior class helped lay the groundwork for the younger players on how to compete at a varsity level. His excitement is clear when he talks about seeing younger classes step into bigger roles and work with a returning junior class/players who were major contributors to the campaign.
“The future of our program is very bright,” states Kovach. “Our senior class did a great job of laying the foundation of what we want this program to be about. We have a nice group of returning players from the junior class who were major contributors this season and some players who now get to step into bigger roles with this past season’s experience under their belts.”
One year into the program Kovach already has made a statement that Thomas Worthington Men’s Soccer is back. With a winning season and a district championship under his belt in just one year, Kovach is ready to make more noise in central Ohio next year as he feels there is a lot left to prove.
“It’s going to be fun to see how next season’s group comes together. I can’t wait to get started!” Kovach emphasizes.
