New Canaan High School Athletic Director Jay Egan on Thursday afternoon notified local soccer families that the head varsity soccer coach at Brien McMahon had been hired away to fill the same role for the Rams.
Rich Hickson was selected from a final pool of three candidates because he “demonstrated all qualities and attributes we had identified as important for our position.”
“These included having been a head coach in the FCIAC, understanding how to build and maintain positive team dynamics, technical and tactical instructional expertise and the willingness to be involved with our players as they come through youth soccer as well as supporting them if they are interested in pursuing college soccer opportunities. Rich checked all the boxes,” Egan said.
What follows is a letter of introduction from Hickson:
Hi all,
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as New Canaan High School’s new varsity soccer coach. I am extremely honored to have been given this opportunity and I am looking forward to getting to know our players and everything else the job entails.
I have been coaching soccer professionally in America for 10 years and during this time, have cultivated a well-rounded understanding of coaching all age groups, levels, and abilities. My experience at the high school level began in 2008 when I was fortunate enough to have been the assistant for Westhill’s girls varsity team. While I was a part of the program, the team made the state finals two years in a row, winning their first appearance and narrowly losing in their second. More recently from 2013-2015, I have been head coach of the varsity team at Brien McMahon High School. During my time with McMahon the program progressed significantly, and I leave there having put the soccer program in a far more competitive position.
As I begin my tenure at New Canaan High School I firmly believe all the pieces are in place to push the Girls’ soccer program back to the forefront of the FCIAC conference and compete deep into the CIAC tournament. There are a few important fundamentals concepts that will put us on the right course to achieve our goals.
- Preparation – We must use the off season and pre-season time effectively in order to ensure we are properly prepared on a technical, tactical and physical level.Fitness is a huge component of the high school season with the girls potentially playing two to three times per week, which is something professional players are not asked to do and they must be prepared for the stress this will put on their bodies.On a technical and tactical level it will be important that both the girls and I work hard to make certain the team goes into the season with all the necessary tools in place to be able to compete and succeed in the extremely competitive FCIAC conference.I will be looking to offer off season opportunities for all the players in the program and I will be putting an emphasis on participating in soccer during this time.With these opportunities in place it is important that the girls take advantage of them.
- Team unity – For me this is an extremely important part of any successful program and something that cannot be understated.We must make sure there isn’t any segregation within the roster.My aim will be to create a feeling of family within the team and a willingness in each player to work for one another to achieve our goals.A program I will utilize is the “big sister” program which will pair a senior player with a freshman for the fall season. This allows the incoming freshman to have someone to connect with both on and off the field who can educate them on the expectations of playing high school soccer. Sophomores and juniors will also have a “buddy”.This will go a long way to breaking down any grade boundaries that may exist and will further help to create the team family feeling.
- Finally I think it is important to be able to create a pathway and provide guidance and information for players interested in taking their soccer career to the collegiate level.Throughout my time coaching in CT I have created some excellent contacts, some of whom coach at colleges like Yale, Fairfield University, and Princeton.Having access to sources of information such as this is hugely beneficial and will enable me to be able to create this pathway.
I will be integrating myself into the New Canaan youth soccer organization this Spring as I feel it is vital to foster a connection between the youth players and the high school program. We need to get these future high school players excited about playing for the NCHS in the future and create a buzz in the community about the Girls’ soccer program.
I look forward to getting started and meeting you all. If you feel there is anything I should know coming into this role or if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best Rich Hickson