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KALKASKA - Speed kills ... and in a couple of different ways.

It's lethal on both offense and defense, regardless of the sport, and every coach craves possessing it.

Girls soccer coaches are proud members of that club. The more speed they can have on their team, the better they feel. And it's understandable.

Without speed, the forwards aren't able to beat the defense down the field to finish off an attack and score, while the defense can't keep up and prevent a tally.

That's the challenge facing Kalkaska girls soccer coach Andy Urquhart as the Blazers prepare for the 2008 season in the Lake Michigan Conference.

Finding speed.

It's the one thing, other than height, a coach can do little about. You can't draw it up on the chalkboard, or locate it on the stat sheet.

Either players are born with it, or they're not.

Kalkaska doesn't have mind boggling speed, the kind that can spin the opposition's head around like a top.

So the Blazers hope to offset this shortcoming by using their heads, rather than their feet to fool the defense and finesse their way to the goal.

Urquhart has devised a practice exercise to achieve this goal, having his players jog around the gymnasium -until they can get outside on the field -with the last player in line taking off and running between her teammates.

In this way, the girls learn good footwork and how to change directions in a confined space, mimicking the technique they might use to shake a defender.

The Blazers spent the first week of training practicing in the Birch Street Elementary School gym, and this week they were moving to the high school cafeteria area.

Urquhart has been impressed with the Blazers' eagerness to work.

"We started practice Tuesday, and they were winded and tired," he said. "But, it's changing. Just a couple of days, and it's really different."

Kalkaska had 18 players working out last Friday, with two others participating in a play and one was in vacation in Florida. All told, the Blazers could have 21 players on the varsity.

It gives Urquhart more flexibility in utilizing his bench to spell the starters, and keep fresh legs out on the field with soccer being a game of constant action.

The Blazers have 5 seniors, 4 juniors and 10 or 11 underclassmen ranging from freshmen to sophomores. It's a good mix.

Although they weren't major contenders for the league title last year, Urquhart sees definite possibilities for the Blazers to move up in the standings this season.

"We're good, but we lost a lot (of games) that we should have won," Urquhart said. "A lot where we didn't give it our all, didn't push it until the last couple of minutes, and then we lost it.

"Then we lost a couple in overtime. Hopefully, this year we can work on our conditioning because we have a lot of time before the games actually start."

Sometimes, Urquhart thinks he might have too big of a heart and takes it easier on the girls than he should as he tries to build their stamina.

When he sees them dragging, he tends to slow the pace down and give them more frequent rests.

But it's a delicate balance he must attain between working the players hard and overdoing it.

"I need to realize when they're running around for 80 minutes (in a game), I won't feel so bad (about conditioning work)," Urquhart said.

"You got to have that last push. So, I'd rather feel a little bad now (about driving his charges so hard) than feel bad later (in the games)."

The Blazers have a lot of desire, which Urquhart appreciates the most right now.

What the Blazers need is more speed.

Kalkaska will have a senior goalkeeper, and that will be a plus on defense.

"Our midfield is empty ... it's going to be all new right now," Urquhart said. "We have good defense. I don't know. Hopefully, our forwards and midfields can pull through.

"There's a lot of young people, and that's good. It's a new team. We can work with that."

In the conference, threats are expected to come from Charlevoix and Elk Rapids.

Urquhart says you can toss a coin to determine where the others will shake out in the end.

"It should be an interesting season," Urquhart said.