Hannah Kipp
Sugar Beet staff reporter
Previous varsity junior of the boys varsity soccer team, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, quit after the game against Dodge City on Sept. 27 due to personal issues with coaching, additional players followed. After the loss to Dodge at home some of the players left, but the team continued to improve on the field.
“The reason why most of us are quitting is because we had some personal problems with the coaches that made us not want to play for them or the high school anymore. I don’t like the way they coach and how they talk to the players,” Garcia said.
One player in particular, Rodrigo Oropeza, varsity midfielder, had a lot to say about how he felt about his teammates quitting so easily, “When I hear about people quitting, for me, it’s surprising, I hate to see people go, especially when some of them are my close friends, but I think it all depends on the person. If they can go through hardships, then they can go through the season, but if they can’t, then they are most likely to quit. No season is perfect and every team has their hard times,” Oropeza said.
The team adjusted and compensated well to filling in the gaps that had been left open by the absence of players after the Dodge game and have had great defensive improvement along with more ball movement on the field. Htoo Htoo, varsity senior, has been on track for breaking the school record for goals scored in one season.
“They [the players] have improved every game which is our goal. We want to be clicking by regionals. We are becoming more consistent, but still have some room for improvement. For example, finishing in the attacking third. Our defense has improved immensely. On ball movement we work on switching the point of attack quickly in training, which has led to improvements during matches,” Josue Negron, the head assistant soccer coach, said.
The boys had their breast cancer awareness game along with their senior night on Oct. 2. They played Liberal at home in pink soccer socks and the seniors walked at the beginning of the varsity game. The boys soccer seniors include Jose Betanco, Salvador Bustos, Eric Alvarez, Hein Kyaw and Htoo Htoo. This next week or so of training and games will determine if the team will succeed in regionals.
Hannah Kipp is an arts and communications sophomore. You can contact her at kipph@student.gckschools.com.
Garden City High School 