Patriots have successfully journeyed through soccer tryouts and are now gearing up for the season. With intense training sessions and rigorous drills, determined athletes demonstrated their skills and teamwork to impress the coaches. This year’s tryouts have higher expectations for their athletes, reflecting the team’s previous achievements. Now, with tryouts behind them, the Patriots are eager to kick off the new season.During soccer tryouts, athletes practiced many drills and conditioning exercises as well as competed in many scrimmages trying as the coaches analyzed every individual’s skills as well as how well they work as a teammate. Thanks to how far the team made it last year, the girls winning 15 games and the boys with a streak of 15 games won, tryouts were reported to be a lot more rigorous.
“Last year, it was easy to make [the team] but now this year they changed it up. Since we made it to the finals and stuff, the coach said he wants to have a better team than last year,” Cesar Tecolpa, 12, said.
Tryouts, held Friday, Nov. 8 through Saturday, Nov. 15 with the boys are described by participants to typically be a suspenseful week, not knowing when or if they’ll get cut. Though the stress is difficult to cope with, players still have a motivation and a determination to get on the team. Tryouts is not only something that newcomers are anxious about but returners as well.
“Even though I have already been on the team and am now captain it still feels like I have to prove myself when I am out on the field. It is also hard sometimes because I feel like I have to sort of set an example and make sure we all work together,” Natanael Lopez, 12, said.
So far, the girls soccer team has successfully snagged the win at every game they’ve played so far.
“This year our coaches are working well with us to help us reach our full potential. I feel like the coaches, like Coach Brenda, support me when I am trying to improve with my defensive skills and trying to be more conditioned. I feel like that’s something that I really had to show when trying out and I am still working on,” Andrea Gaspar, 11, said.
Starting off strong, the girls varsity soccer has also continued to show the same level of intensity and effort. Their tryouts were held from Monday, Nov. 10 all week until Friday, Nov. 14. Players have pushed themselves through tryouts and are now doing this during games. They have been doing different workouts and training to be able to play more and get more consistent.
Hard work is expected by the coaches when players are trying to prove themselves whether it be newcomers, returners, or even captains. Students say this year’s boy’s and girl’s varsity soccer teams have both had a great start to the season, putting full effort during practice and working tougher as a team. As the season progresses both teams hope to make it far.
