Lexi Brayman, a sixth-grader at Lawn Avenue School, was an important part of the inaugural girls’ soccer team’s successful first season. Photo by Caitlin Downing After having a co-ed soccer team for years, Lawn Avenue School switched gears this year and had separate boys’ and girls’ teams for the first time in the school’s history.

At the end of the 2008 school year, head co-ed coach Tom Carney took a one-year leave of absence from the school and left a temporary vacancy in the coaching position. Sean McAdam filled the position last year, but with the return of Carney to the position this year, it was the perfect time to make the shift to dual soccer teams.

Carney took the helm of the boys’ team and McAdam is coaching the girls.

“The girls are so directed during practice, but it is a little different dynamic than having the boys on the team with them. They talk a lot more during practice,” McAdam said.

Most of the teams in the R.I. Principal’s Committee on Athletics, the middle-school equivalent of the R.I. Interscholastic League, have separate boys’ and girls’ teams. Jamestown was one of the few remaining schools with a co-ed team.

The make-up of the girls’ team this year was a mix of experienced competitive players and players with little or no experience.

“I do most of my instructing during practices,” McAdam said. “When you are playing a game with no timeouts, it makes it a little more difficult to teach them during the game.”

The coach said he does talk to the players on the sidelines, and as they come on and off the field, about the flow of the game and ways they can improve their playing.

“This is a foundation year for the team. It is a work in progress,” he said. “Their great strength is that they are learning so much this year, they are going to be a much better team next year.”

The team has three girls that played on the co-ed team last season: Emily Kallfelz, Raeshelle DeValerio, and Emma Vogel.

“Emily is a natural athlete. She would be successful at anything athletic that she chooses to do,” McAdam said. “It has been an adjustment for her this year playing without the boys and she is only a seventh grader, so she is only going to continue to get better.”

Eighth-grader Holly Bobola did not play with the school team last year, but has emerged as one of the team leaders this year.

“She is ridiculously fast. She comes from a great soccer family and I have no doubt she will be successful at the high school level next year,” McAdam said.

On defense, McAdam said Rebecca Small has stepped up to fill the role admirably.

“She is an excellent defender. Another player with great natural ability,” he said.

Lexi Brayman and Jessy Primiano are two sixth graders that the coach sees as the future of the team.

“They, along with Emily, are the hardest workers on the team,” he said. “For Jess and Lexi being the youngest players on the team, they are the most vocal, which is great.”

Brayman’s strength is her “incredible first touch” and Primiano is an aggressive and technically strong player, McAdam said.

“Jess and Lexi aren’t afraid to make mistakes and learn from them,” he said. “In the long run, that is what middle-school soccer is all about – preparing for high school play by learning from their mistakes now.”

Overall, the team has made a lot of progress this year and Mc- Adam said he is looking forward to taking what they have learned and moving to the next level next season.