This year, varsity soccer has a few unexpected additions to the team.
There are four freshman facing the challenge of playing up a level with their upperclassmen teammates.
With low numbers of soccer players trying out, the team had to move up some of the freshmen to varsity.
“I wish that the younger kids could get more playing time and experience,” head coach Jason Pendleton said. “But we just don’t have that luxury.”
Pendleton believes that with the limited number of kids on the team, adding the freshmen offers the best chance of success.
The kids don’t play as much with the other players their age, but they get the opportunity to play with the more experienced players.
Pendleton says the freshmen contribute a lot to the team and improve their skills.
Freshman Jacob Flores is happy with the fact that he made varsity.
“It’s really fun,” he said. “And you get a lot better playing on varsity.”
Although they weren’t expecting to make varsity, the freshmen are glad they did.
Flores thinks it’s cool to be one of the youngest kids on the team. It presents more of a challenge.
Some of the freshmen think it’s awkward being on varsity because there are only a few of them.
Freshman Kevin McKinney finds it hard being on varsity, because the rest of the team is bigger than him.
“I’m happy being on varsity,” McKinney said. “I have people to look up to and to help me get better.”
Although the upperclassmen are happy to have the freshmen on the team, they still like to mess with the younger kids.
Junior Nathan Martin says that the freshmen do get picked on sometimes.
“We make fun of them [the freshmen] a little bit,” Martin said. “But we’re friends with them, so it’s out of love.”
The older players think it’s beneficial to have the younger kids playing with them.
It gives them experience for when they are upperclassmen.
“It is cool that we have freshmen on the team,” Junior Ben Daniels said. “They will for sure be great players in the future when they are seniors.”