WW-P South soccer coach still going strong
By: Bob Nuse
When Brian Welsh completed his 20th season as a head boys’ soccer coach a year ago, he wasn’t quite sure if he’d be back for a 21st season.
"My wife, Beth, and I had one of the best summers," said Welsh, the head coach at West Windsor-Plainsboro High South. "It was very relaxing and low key. I spent a lot of time reading. At the time I thought it was going to be hard to come back. But that first day of practice on the 19th, I could feel it all coming back to me.
"It was in my thoughts all summer, but it didn’t burn in my heart. But then the 19th came and I got recharged."
And that means Welsh will indeed be back for another year at the helm of the Pirates’ boys’ soccer team. He had reasons not to come back, the foremost being that he wanted to watch his own children play high school sports. But in the end, he couldn’t stay away from the players or the sport he loves.
"Soccer is a great collective experience," Welsh said. "It’s a player-centered sport. And even though it is not considered to be a major market sport in this country, it’s a sport a lot of people have a passion for."
Welsh has as much passion for the sport as anyone, and he has the same kind of passion for his teaching. He has been teaching politics and government at WW-P South as long as he’s been coaching. Like many other successful coach/educators, he is able to see the correlation between the two.
"I see my love of government and politics as similar to my love of soccer," he said. "If you love your sport and you see an opportunity to teach young people, it’s a great way to teach additional lessons.
You hope that as a coach, you are able to teach them things they can use later in life. It’s the same kind of thing you do in the classroom."
In his 20 years as a head coach, Welsh has always found a way to motivate himself and his players. Whether it’s molding together a group of different players, or rising to the challenge of winning a championship, there is always some sort of motivation.
"I have found that what has gotten me going these last two years is the split of the schools," Welsh said. "That gave me a challenge in that you could take people away and the remaining components could still be competitive. Now the question is, can you take all the personalities that you have and mold them all together."
For the past 20 years, Welsh has been one of the best at doing just that. And as he found out after a very relaxing summer, the passion is still there for him to continue doing it for years to come.