The soccer team was busy over the summer. The team went to a camp in Fort Hays and tournaments in Iowa, Kansas City, Wichita, and held one at home. Facing competition they’ll likely see again, they played fantastically at these tournaments, posting a record of 16-4-2. They dubbed themselves ‘camp champs’ of Fort Hays on social media.

“I think we found success just because we were playing the we know how, and the way we are coached all summer,” Senior Josh Bussman said. “Our team works well together all around, and we know how each other play.”

Their success has given the team a boost in confidence before the season. This is important for a team looking to have a winning season.

“I feel very confident, and I think we’ll do great,” Senior Ben Choi said. “All the guys are prepared and dedicated going into the season. We’re excited to go far and get the outcome we deserve, because we’ve worked hard for it.”

They’ll look to make to state this year, and compete as they did over the summer. Along with their many tournaments, they also had conditioning almost every morning at 6:30 a.m.  “[Conditioning] was intense training most days. We would start with more technical drills, and then move into drills that worked on our formation and movements,” Bussman said. “The dedication to get up every morning really pushed us.”

Competing in four tournaments over the summer and conditioning almost every day has put the players in a mindset where they believe they’ll do well. A Varsity team consisting of quite a few seniors will be sure to work well together, as they’ve been playing with each other for all of high school.

“Playing together for so long creates an almost unbreakable connection between us, and that will certainly help us on and off the field,” senior Nimrod Eshar said.