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09/01/2016 12:00 AMRob McConville has been at the center of one of the shoreline’s most successful soccer programs as both a player and a coach. Starting this fall, Rob will try to parlay that experience into some prosperity on the pitch at Westbrook.
Rob was a forward/defensive back who played at Daniel Hand High School in Madison from 1996 to 1999, earning All-SCC and All-State honors. After helping Hand share the Class L state crown in 1997 and then return to the final two years later, Rob came back to the Tigers as an assistant coach in 2009 and helped them have several great seasons, including a 2010 campaign that saw Hand win the SCC championship. Now, Rob has moved over to the girls’ soccer circuit as the new head coach at Westbrook.
“About two years ago, I really wanted to try and develop a program as a head coach. I saw the Westbrook job opened up and I met with the hiring committee. It was a good meeting and we were on the same page with similar ideas for the team,” says Rob, who lives in Madison. “I was then offered the job and I met with the girls’ team at the end of last year to talk to them about goals for this season. It just seemed a like a good fit for both sides with wanting to field a competitive team.”
Owning more than two decades of experience on the soccer field, Rob emphasizes the importance of bringing your A-game to every contest, as well the benefits of proper preparation in practice.
“My approach is through discipline and consistency on the field and it starts at practice with establishing short-term goals and building from that,” Rob says. “Coaching is also about how student-athletes can apply lessons they’ve learned from sports to things later in their lives. I try to speak to experience as a player and talk to them about being well-rounded students in the classroom and the community.”
Westbrook Athletic Director Teg Cosgriff says that Rob was the ideal choice to become the new leader of the Knights and help carry them to that next plateau.
“Rob is a great hire for our girls’ soccer program. He has a strong passion and IQ for the game of soccer that was ingrained at an early age though his family,” says Cosgriff. “He has extensive playing and coaching knowledge at the high school level and his perspective and disposition provides a great fit for our girls and program. Rob is the right person to lead, build, and grow our girls’ soccer program in Westbrook.”
Rob believes that one of the best things about high school soccer is how stats can be thrown out the window because, quite often, the victor is the team that wants it more on that particular day.
“It’s nice to be able to put everyone together and see what that group can accomplish. It’s also a place for them to do some goal setting,” says Rob. “At the high school level of soccer, a lot of it is about heart, desire, and effort. It’s a matter of combining those to reach that next level. I get a lot of satisfaction out of the evolution of a season with them putting in effort daily and seeing what hard work can achieve.”
Rob felt tremendous pride while competing for such a prestigious program at Hand and he wants the Knights to experience those same feelings as they try to establish themselves as a perennial contender.
“The history of Hand in all of its sports is deep with a lot of passion. I try to impart that to my players as coach. I want to bring that same sense of pride and success here,” says Rob. “The girls have been working hard over the summer towards what they want to achieve. I want to see them define their roles on the team because I feel everyone must play to their roles to be successful. We want to field a competitive, postseason program.”