Bill+and+Sams+McKendree+Blog

Bill Puckett and Sam James both accepted a 4 year soccer scholarship at McKendree College, Illinios. Arriving on Saturday 4th, and preseason starting almost immediately, stay up to date with their experiences in their blog.

Great work guys, tell us about the games but also the fun stuff like $9 for food and cultural things. Still waiting for a pic! And all the americanism! I spoke with your Dad!!

Hi its Dad, with major help from Kristian. This is awesome! Whey to go Bill!

Week 8 - 13
First of all sorry for not updating in a while so we will jus run you a quick recap of our experiences that have stood out for us. We'll start off with match reports and then on to our social activites outside of school.

The following are the results since our last update:

23rd September, Home vs Culver Stockton 7-0 (W) 30th September, Home vs Harris-Stowe State Uni 3-1 (W) 3rd October, Home vs Missouri Baptist Uni 1-0 (W 4th October, Home vs Greenville College 8-0 (W) 6th October, Away vs Central Methodist Uni 0-5 (W) 9th October, Away vs Columbia 1-2 (W) after ET 12th October, Home vs Hannibal-LaGrange College 2-0 (W) 18th October, Away vs University Illinios of Springfield 1-2 (W) after ET 20th October, Away vs Williams Woods Uni 0-4 (W) 22th October, Away vs Lindenwood Uni 1-1 after ET 24th October, Home vs University of Missouri-STL 2-0

During these games Bill Scored a further 4 goals with no assists, scoring twice against Greenville and one against Central Methodist and Williams Woods, putting his tally to 14 in 18 games with 1 assist. Sam had scored once against Williams Woods and has assisted 4 goals in 4 games against Culver Stockton, Harris-Stowe, Greenville and Central Methodist putting Sam's tally to 2 goals and 6 assists.

http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Team/IndividualStats.aspx?association=10&sg=MSO&sea=NAIMSO_2007&team=2621 here is a link where you can look at all the Mckendree players stats, goals assists shots on goal, shots on target etc, and they compare to other teams and players in our conference.

Outside of school we have been involved in many parties, usually after big games or birthday parties. We have to keep to our 48 hour rule before games though, no drinking 48 hours before a match!

Since our last update, we went to watch one of our friends high school homecoming American Football match at Wesclin High School, his team won convincingly and was a good experience, seeing how many people turned up to a high school football match, im pretty sure over 500 friends, family and jus local supporters were there to watch 16 and 17 year olds play a game of American Football! In the same week another freshman Soccer player, Brennan invited us with his family to sit in a suite at the St. Louis Cardinals Stadium to watch them play Housten Astros. This was a great evening out, free food and drink, and a great game of baseball, where the cardinals beat housten 7-4. Brennan, has also invited us and a few other international freshman round his house a few times for a bbq with his family and also to watch his younger brother play for his high school soccer team. His family are very welcoming and cook great food!! :) they have helped us out alot and just been very nice company, we have been invited round there for Thanks Giving too which is just around the corner. During most other spare free time is usually just hanging out in the student lounge area where we play pool or table tennis or we go to the mall, and we have been to the movies aswell. We also had a nice visit from both of our parents, Bill had his parents and older brother came out on Thursday 11th October for a week, however, Sam wasnt expecting anyone from his family to come out, but it was at the Home game against Hannibal, where his mum turned up as a suprise for him, and his face when he saw his mum was priceless! This was a great week for us both seeing the people we missed the most has made our time out here easier, and I'm sure it has done them too! Also during the week they were out, Bill's dad took one of the training sessions, which was great fun, and I'm sure the lads and the Tim and Donny enjoyed it too! We are both glad we have chosen to stay in the dorms in our first year, as we have made many friends and it is a great place to hang out. We have had many laughs and jokes around the place, and we have set up a darts tournament in our room, involving people from, the A.Football team, Baseball and people who are here academically! So this has been a good choice and the lads here are a great laugh.

Week 5, 6 and 7
Alot to catch up on, we've been extremely busy with training, playing and class/homework. Also along the way Bill's laptop broke and we have just found it hard to find time and get to a computer!

We left off from before the the Missouri Valley match, which unfortunatly we lost 1-0. We totally outplayed them all game but as soon as we got into the final third we fell apart and we couldnt finish 1 out of 15 shots on goal. It wasn't until the 75th minute we got punished by a long ball and their striker slotted it past our keeper. Alot was learned that game, our talent is not always reliable in games, the hard work ethic needs to be high and consistent throughout the game which is what will win us matches. The next day we had our first team meeting where we discussed where we to improve and also to discuss the positives throughout the team.

The following we travelled we travelled up on Friday 7th September to play another mini tournament on Saturday and Sunday. The game on Saturday against Marian College got cancelled due to bad weather. This alowed us to rest at the hotel and get our minds set for the next day. We played Brescia University and beat them 3-0. This was a much better team performance where everyone who came into the match worked hard and got the result we needed to get the confidence back up. Staying at the hotel for the first time was a great experience. We went to TGI Friday's both nights and we were aloud up $9. We then had to be in our rooms by half 10 and lights out at 11. It was a good environment where players were bringing playstations and havin group tiger woods tournamnets or playing poker so there were alot of team bonding over the weekend.

After a week of rest and training hard, we set ourselves for a busy weekend consisting of 3 games in 3 days 15th, 16th and the 17th September. The first game was yet another away game where we stayed in a hotel in Kansas City. This was yet another experience where we travelled up with the girls aswell. As soon as we arrived at the hotel everyone put on their swimming trunks and jumped in the hot tub! This was very relaxing after the 5 hour journey and also just good fun. We stayed there until we had to be in our rooms and then held another poker session. Sam came out on top winning the cash prize. Game day. Everyone had a good night and we had just watched the girls beat Ottawa 3-0 so we were ready to do the same. We had a good start taking an early 1-0 lead, this was soon followed by our first red card of the season. Freshman forward from Canada got sent off for decent towards himself. This was an eye opener to all of us to what referrees are like over here. We doubled our lead before the half. In the second half the next goal was key, and this was a real test for our work ethic. As it happened we changed our formation to 3-4-2 from 4-4-1, and this was when Sam got his first opportunity in a more advanced position playing wide right. We got another early which set us off. Bill came on in the end of the 2nd half and linked up with Sam in two occasions to finish the game off at 5-0. Many people commented how well we worked well together and we just laughed and said we've been doing it for years!

Second game, first home game, yet another great experience. Bill started his first due to Max's sending off, however it wasn't the best first half. after 25 minutes we found ourselves at the wrong end of a 3-0 scorline against Benedictine College who have a perfect record so far. We started very slow and found oursleves in a similar situation to the Missouri Valley game, where the work rate was non existant. Exept the mountain this time was alot higher to climb. We managed to pull one back before the half ended. We recieved a motivational half time talk and again changed our formation to what we thought would get us something out of the game. Sam didnt the first half but started the second half again at right mid, and his directions were to just attack at the full back. This suited Sam's style of play so much more. We came out in the 2nd half as a 3-4-3 instead of a 4-4-2. Everyone agreed that has been our best formation as it was very flexible across the midfield and forwards. Our work rate was second to non all around the team, however we still had nothing to show for it until the 70th minute including a missed penalty. This was when Gareth Batchelor pulled one back from a flick on header from long throw. This gave us a lifeline and with 20 minutes to go we had a game in OUR hands. Minutes later Bill got brought down from yet another long throw, and another penalty was given. A change of penalty taker, Gareth stepped up and slotted home his 2nd and the equaliser. Everyone now is buzzing and we new there is now only one team in it. in the 80th minute a misjudgment from their last defender put Bill one on one with the keeper and he smashed in the winning goal, getting bundled by the rest of the team including the players on the bench in the corner. This is a feeling and memory we will both remember for a long long time! 4-3 Bearcats hooorraaah!

After the game against Benedictine, everyones confidence is high, which we took into the game away to William's Baptist. We new from previous years that this team were not going to be at our level yet we still have to beat the team put infront of us. Bill started the scoring early into the game with a near post header. We then went on to beat them 7-0 with Sam playing right mid and right back and gaining 2 assists. This was a good end result to finish off a successful weekend. It is now the 21st September and our next game is on Sunday the 23rd against Culver-Stockton College home at 3pm. We have a weeks rest to get our minds set for the weekend.

Outside of football, We have been invited to watch the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team in a suite with free food and drink throughout the game. Also there is a high school derby American Football game which we have also been invited to go and watch. We will give you the details on how these matches end up.

Still no camera....still no pictures......were working on it Kristian!!! oh yea Donny..........YANK!

Week 5 Wednesday 5th September
user:samjames ||
 * [[image:PuckettPOY.jpg width="220" height="300" align="left"]] || Just a brief note today, and thought we would let you know how our first two games of the season went on Saturday and Sunday. Firstly we played MacMurray College on the Saturday 3rd September, which we beat 22-0. It was probably the most one sided match ever. Bill managed to score 6 with one assist, and Sam scored one with 4 assists. They score players with points from how the statistics, a goal 2 points and an assist 1 point. Bill broke the school records with 13 points in a single game and also got then AMC player of the week. We played at the same venue both days, however against different teams, the second game was against Westminster College, which we beat 2-1, a little bit of a closer game, but we still deserved to win. We travelled up to the games both days, it was about a 2hr drive, but over here thats considered close so we did not stay over night. Although after both games the College would pay for food for all of the players around $9. We have a game today away at Missouri Valley University so we are just getting some breakfast in and getting ready to leave.

Week 2,3 and 4 Thursday 30th August
Firstly we would like to appologise for not keeping you updated for the past few weeks. Our plan was to write a little bit each weekend, bus as it happened the past two weekends we have been really busy, as this weekend will be.

During the 2nd week, we started our pre season which consisted of training twice a week. This continued from pre pre season, however Bill got injured on the first day on the 2nd session. Sam continued to train throughout the pre season, and in total the team played 3 games, winning all three. Sam started all three games at right back, gaining one assist and not conceding while on the pitch. The first was on the 18th August against the Alumni (ex Mckendree soccer players) and won 5-1. The second game was against Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) on the 21st August and won 3-2 and Sam getting one assist. Our last game was on the 22nd August against Washington University, winning 2-1. In between games, we were training twice a day. Bill continued to get treatment, after straining ligaments anround his toe and bruising the joint for two weeks and started up training on Monday 27th August, and has been in full training since. Our first game of the season is on Saturday 1st against Macurray College and on Sunday against Westminster College.

On the academic side, we had to attend the NSO (new student orientation) weekend which lasted from 7:30am - 12:00 midnight from the Thursday 16th August - Sunday 19th August, which is why we were unable to update our wiki space, and the previous weekend we had two matches as we do this weekend. Our classes started on Monday 27th August and Sam is majoring in Marketing, and Bill is majoring in Physical Education. We both have to attend general education classes such as; Maths, English, Speech, Science, History, and some sort of arts. However with it being in the football season, we can only take so much so we can spread it out over the 4 years-8 semesters. We are both still trying to get the hang of the grading system and GPA's and all that malarky!

The social aspects of college over the past two weeks, we have started to form little groups and we have mixed with both boys and girls team which includes a Canadian, Indian, Italian, German and quite a few Yanks. However they all seem very friendly and they will all help out each other, especially the Americans who all have cars and always offer lifts to the supermarket etc. We all enjoy the same environments too, parties, football, cinema, hanging out etc.

Week 1 Saturday 11th August
Our first week here has mostly consisted of training and then hangin out by the pool! Not a bad start to our new life. We arrived in St. Louis last Saturday, and we had to wait at the airport for another freshman arriving from germany. When we left the airport the 3 of us had to stay at one of the players houses, as our dorms and appartments were not ready. This was a good experience as we could see how the older students and we were also able to make friends with new people.

Our training the first week was fitness based, and in heats of around 36 degrees C which wasn't something we were used too. During the week we have completed numerous speed drills, laps of the picth suicides of the lenght of the pitch, but we always finish with some sort of game, whether its 2v2 8v8 or an 11v11. At the start of the week we struggled with the heat, but as the days went on we got used to it, but its still something that hits you when you step out of the car!! Usually when we have finished training we go straight back to the campus and jump into the outside pool, which feels so good.

Once we have finished soaking up the sun, we usually meet up with some of the other lads at the digs, and chill out, they make us food as we are still not allowed into the cafeteria. We also have a few pro evo tournaments, and have a laugh. When it gets a bit later we go out for a meal as big group, so its good that they all stick together on and off the pitch. Although not all of our days consist of chillin by the pool and hanging out with the lads as we moved into our dorms on Thursday and since then we have had to do the shopping to decorate and to supply ourselves with food and drink. We have also had to do our own washing which was an interesting experience!! (our Mum's will be so proud!)

We will keep you updated with next weeks adventures, and will get some pictures asap, although its hard without a camera! 1188331039