The Burlington Township Storm, a local boys soccer team, was recognized for its undefeated spring season during the regular meeting of the Burlington Township Council on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
The team’s 9-0 record makes it one of just two teams in all of South Jersey soccer (around 350 teams) to go undefeated in the spring while not having been moved to a lesser flight from the previous fall. During the season, the team scored 39 goals and allowed only eight. This is the second-best goals against average of any U12 team in any flight.
“This is a group that captures the spirit and the essence of why we do recreation in this town,” said Mayor Brian Carlin as he introduced the team.
In addition to the impressive stats on the field, the team’s coaches, Todd Schrader and Sanusi Kamari, say this is a team of great character (assistant coach Bob Rowan couldn’t make it to the meeting). Schrader and Kamari recounted anecdotes from the season that spoke to this quality.
According to the coaches, when one of the team members starred in his school’s play, nearly the entire team came out to support him in the audience.
Toward the end of the season, after winning the flight championship, the coaches asked the team why they weren’t celebrating more, and they replied that they didn’t want to make the other team feel bad.
“It’s great to be great soccer players, it’s much, much, much more important to be great people,” said Schrader, addressing his team. “You guys are all on your way to that. You’ve always represented, even through adverse situations, yourselves, your parents, your team and your town with class and grace. If there’s anything I’m proud of, even if you went 0-9 , I’m proud of you for that.”
Each member of the team received a trophy and his individual contribution to the team was recounted as each name was called.
Following the ceremony, Schrader and Kamari went into more detail about what made their team so successful this season.
According to Schrader, the team added several new names to the roster in the fall, and they did well, ending with a record of 5-3 or 5-2 as he recalls. It took the team most of that season to learn to play together.
“Rather than being nine individuals on the field, we turned into one team on the field, and that was the big difference between us and our competition in the spring. We worked together as a unit, one solid team that really allowed everybody to succeed,” said Schrader.
“Our boys are really fast too, they use a lot of speed in defense and attack. That helps out a lot,” added Kamari.
The men describe their coaching style as “hands off.”
“We try to give them as much instruction as we can in practices and when it comes to games, they go out there and they play,” said Schrader. “It’s up to them, once they’re on the field, to make their own decisions.”
