The BILA Wave

By Le Tian Feng

In the past three weeks, the Wingate soccer team had a start that was not the most wanted by the team but they were able to make some good progress recently. Losing the first two matches, they lost by a score of 0-2 and 3-1 respectively but these loses serve as a source of motivation for their first win of the season being 3-1. Their losses were due to a restructure of the team as key players left the team due to graduation and a lack of physical training that made their current players out of shape. But you know the saying “the more you try, the better the result is gonna be,” that is exactly what the team used to be able to secure their first win. 

But to be able to be consistent and be able to win you must minimize the problems inside the team structure. That is not the case with this team, Genor, the goalkeeper of the Wingate soccer team, has provided some insight of the inner problem from the team: “the team have no chemistry meaning that they don’t understand each other, they need to learn in order to adapt to each other’s needs.” Lack of chemistry in the long run might be a problem for a soccer team, they need to know what to do for each other like knowing when to cover other positions when the other is unavailable. “Although this can be solved by practicing with each other more.” Genor added, “…like knowing when to pass as Edison[teammate] is making the run to receive the pass.” Practicing is what makes a team better, not just trying to improve yourself which is also essential but practicing with the team is far more efficient in the sense that it builds connection. 

As previously mentioned in the beginning, the team lost some key players which led to  Odolphe, a defender on the Wingate soccer team that participated last season, to argue that their losses weigh heavily on two graduate students from last year, Bernardo and Angel, who were key players for the team.

The coach is one of the most important players on a soccer team as they are the one that plans how the players are gonna play and who is gonna play, which can be compared to a tactician. Coaches are like the players, they are human that can make mistakes; not all the coaches have the best knowledge on the sport, which is not an exception to the soccer team but it is part of a coach’s life to solve their flaws and be able to do the best of his capability to help the team improve. Genor was asked about his first impression on the coach, “the coach is alright…but sometimes he makes mistakes like putting players out of position such as putting a defender to play as a striker.” It is normal that players give these kinds of opinions to a coach but in the defense of the coach, inexperience is something that is solved as the season progresses, not all of the coaches start as world class coaches. 

Aside from the team prospect, the physical aspect is another key factor for any athlete. “Soccer is a cardiovascular sport…the players use their heart and lungs a lot,” said Mr. Corrado, P.E teacher of BILA. “They need to build endurance, soccer players have to run a lot for two straight 45 minutes.” If you want to be in shape you have to understand that you have to build your body full of endurance to be able to play for long periods of time, otherwise you won’t be able to do much. For the Wingate soccer team, this is a problem but since it is the start of the season there is a lot of improvement that can be made. 

There are always problems within a soccer team, but one has to stay positive on what they can achieve in a match. As long as the line between fun and competitiveness exists, you can expect positive outcomes that can create a positive expectation from the spectators that are watching the games. Soccer is a sport, the path is never straightforward, struggles are gonna come but success is also part of it.