With soccer starting to gain more popularity here in the U.S., more people are trying out to play for the teams in hope of gaining athletic scholarships for colleges or playing in the World Cup.

More often than not, they start playing from a young age. Speaking of which, Soccer Coaches Melianie Stinson and Micheal Pistor recently held soccer tryouts.

With playing a sport, you are often put in multiple different positions to give you experience with those positions in case something were to happen. 

“I play left wing because I do well in that position and I like that position,” sophomore Carlos Vilchis said. 

A consequence of this is the player will get a feel of each position and will tend to gravitate towards the one that they do the best in.

“I play mid-field because it’s fun and there’s a lot of action, it’s where most of the action is,” senior Jade Fuller said.

Like with most things in life, it can be hard to do mundane tasks and assignments without motivation.

“My big brother is my motivator since he plays a lot as well,” junior Khamani Cohen said.

Family and friends are some of the biggest motivators, especially in sports. 

“My family, my friends cause we all motivate each other and I just feel like it’s good to have someone there behind telling you what to do,” junior Maggie Blume said.

In sports, there tends to be a part where we have our own reasons for playing or wanting to join a sport. 

“My favorite part of playing is definitely getting to know all the different personalities of all the girls and the team building that we do outside of practice,” junior Madison Show said. 

Whether it be meeting new people or just having fun playing.

“ It’s just a fun sport to be playing in general,” junior Randy Castillo said.

Something that weeds out  the selection of players for a team is what they can contribute to the team and how they can improve the team. 

“Hopefully I can bring my supportiveness and making the team a comfortable environment for everyone,” Show said.

This can mean having good morale or being able to talk and work with teammates. 

 “I’m a good team player, I can cooperate and coordinate with the other player,” Cohen said.

Most athletes feel that they can bring something positive and helpful to a team.

 “I can bring inspiration, motivation, and I could also bring a lot of happiness cause I’m a really talkative person,” Vilchis said.

By: Connor Gaw