Faircloth takes reins at Lakewood

Change is coming for the Lakewood boys soccer program as former head coach Jay Faircloth has been reappointed to the position of head coach. Three seasons have passed since Faircloth stepped aside and the road the Leopards took wasn’t exactly a smooth one. In addition to going winless in the spring, Lakewood finished with a sub-.500 record the previous two seasons as the Leopards struggled to establish an identity.

Faircloth is looking to change all that.

With a clean slate laid out before him, the returning coach acknowledges that he wants to transform the way the team operates – both on and off the field.

“Off the field, our athletes have to be good in the classroom,” Faircloth said. “They are going to be better academically and better competitively.”

He went on to say that conditioning is the most critical area he and his team are focusing on right now.

“Conditioning is a big thing for us and we’re going to be working hard on adding more and more of that as we progress,” he noted. “Soccer is an 80-minute nonstop game and we’ve got to be able to run. I take pride in knowing that no team will outwork us and that’s going to be something we strive for again.”

But, Faircloth is already facing some uncertainty before the season can even get going.

“I was excited but hesitant all at the same time about the possibility to coach again,” he said. “Are the kids going to be interested? Are they scared of COVID? Who can can I call to generate interest?” – those are all questions Faircloth said he asked himself. “We’ve got some potential for the future but we’ve got to get some more bodies on the team. Right now we have about nine or 10 players coming out so my biggest fear is lack of bodies. There’s hope that we pick up some players once school gets started but we start playing competitively before that even happens.”

Faircloth says that while he’s not going to guarantee winning results, he is going to guarantee a change in the teams level of change.

“I’m not promising any kind of success but we are going to be a lot more competitive and be better than we have been.”

Faircloth admits that getting back into the saddle definitely requires a learning curve, but with the help of some previous mentors, he’s taking it day by day and is pushing forward.

“I’ve learned a lot from Brad. I consider him a mentor. He, and Jonathan Jacobs at Hobbton and Eddie Maldonado at Rosewood are all mentors to me,” Faircloth admitted. “I coached for seven years but I feel like I’m learning to walk again. I’ve been gone for three years and am coming in to a completely new team. These are kids I’ve taught in the classroom but this is the first time I’ve coached them and it’s a learning process for all of us. But, they are going to get 110% from me every day and I expect the same from them.”

The Leopards will officially kick their season off on Monday, Aug. 16 at Midway.