Success follows coach
About four months ago, during a visit to a Cape Coral Beef O’ Brady’s restaurant, Ida Baker High School varsity boys’ soccer coach Mick Whitewood noticed several of the motivational posters hanging on the wall.
There was one, in particular, with the phrase “Success” that caught his attention. He looked at it a few times and sure enough the athlete in the poster was Whitewood.
“There were all these sports figured and I walked past this poster and did a double take. It was freaky,” he said.
The photo of Whitewood, diving to make a save from his goalkeeper position, was taken around 1992-93 when he played semi-pro soccer for the Cape Cod Crusaders.
Whitewood said he remembered the game was in Rochester, N.Y. He incorporated the “Success” theme into his summer soccer camp.
Coach Whitewood’s Success Soccer Clinic is being held this week at Ida Baker.
The camp, which runs through Friday, is small in numbers with five boys and seven girls, ages 6-12. Whitewood said he wanted to work closely with each player.
“The one-on-one is good for trying to influence them and teach them the right things before they get taught the wrong things,” he said.
This is the first year Whitewood has directed a soccer clinic. He guided the Bulldogs to their first winning season in high school soccer last year.
The camp is broken up into two outdoor sessions, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2-4 p.m. The players go in the classroom and review some materials from 12-2 p.m.
“The age level is really important,” he said. “It’s an age where they’re like sponges. They’re just getting into the game and it’s a make or break time, to either really enjoy soccer for the rest of their lives or shy away from it.”
Whitewood was born in London and signed professionally with Arsenal F.C. of the Premier League when he was 14. He worked his way up through the youth system and the reserves, and played two games with Arsenal in 1991.
He’s coached in the United States for the past 18 years, including stints in Boston, Cape Cod and northwest New York. In addition to guiding the program at Baker, Whitewood is an assistant coach at Webber University.
As far as the poster, Whitewood said he contacted his father in England and tried to get in touch with his former agent. The poster with Whitewood ranks as the top seller using the “Success” phrase on a web site called oldposters.com
When we signed his first professional contract, though, Whitewood said he signed a waiver which allowed for pictures to be taken of him and used for various purposes. It’s therefore unclear whether he will receive compensation.
Regardless, he was surprised to discover the one while playing for Cape Cod about 16-17 years ago.
“It wasn’t uncommon to be in the newspaper and on television (in England),” he said, “but when I saw it here I was like ‘oh my god how did they get that picture.'”