Friday, July 31, 2009

High School Success = Coaching Success

If you are a follower of Quincy Blue Devil Soccer, you will likely remember what many consider to be the best team ever. In 1995, the QHS boy's soccer team was an impressive 25-3-1 and finished 4th in the state of Illinois. That team scored 160 goals that year and one of the major components from that team was all-stater Donivan Bradshaw. In 3 years as a varsity player, Bradshaw was all-conference 3 times, All-State in 1995 and finished his career with 87 goals and 45 assists, good enough for 2nd place all time among scorers at QHS. His three year varsity record was 61-6-7. In 1994, he was a major component to a team that was undefeated during the regular season, scoring 108 goals and allowing just 7.

Donivan continued his playing career at Division 1 University of Tulsa as a 4-Year Starting Forward, where he was a 2-time Offensive Player of the Year. He earned All Conference Western Athletic Conference honors 3 years and was 2-time Mid-West All American in 97 & 98. He ranks 5th on TU’s Career goals list with 37 and 6th on the career scoring chart with 84 points.

Fast Forward 14 years from his high school playing days and you see Donivan coaching soccer at Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, OK. You see a young man who laces up the boots and regularly gets involved with the players and leads by example. In January of 2007, he took over a program that had just come off winning a state championship and had big shoes to fill. Not only has he filled those shoes, but he has added to the legacy of Bishop Kelley Soccer.

This past Spring, Donivan led Bishop Kelley to their 3rd State Championship with a 17-1 record and was named by the NSCAA as the Oklahoma coach of the Year, a very prestigious honor. In 2008, they finished 2nd in the state with a 16-2 record. Overall, Donovan has a 44-8 record as a coach.

It is easy to see that hard work on the field as a player translates into success in the future. Congratulations Donivan!!!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The First Post

Quincy Blue Devil Soccer is going high tech. We already have a website www.qhssoccer.org and we also have a facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quincy-IL/Quincy-Blue-Devil-Soccer/105665054311 and now we will have our own blogging site.

You can check this site daily for updates on QHS Blue Devils soccer. We will share insights from practices and games as well as having discussions with players and quotes from players. We will also have interesting facts from alumni and interviews.

The 2009 season promises to be an exciting one. Practice officially starts on August 12th, but check back daily until that time as we will have something new for all of you to read in anticipation of the upcoming season.

This is an informative site that is not in any way, shape, or form officially supported by Quincy High School or the Quincy Public Schools. It is a site devoted to sharing information. The information posted on this blog will be 100% truthful and the opinion of the author. If you don't like what we write, don't read it.