The first day of try outs was exciting...94 players were trying out...!! This coach dad was surprised and wary of taking two-three afternoons to use drills..running..and previous insights to narrow the choices to below thirty.
As it turned out the choices were plentiful and difficult; finally my choice was thirty. As it became symbolic eventually, my numbers of those who made the team yearly turned out to be twenty-two to thirty....mostly near the high twenties.
Our first game was in windy and cold (snow flurries) Robert Patterson Stadium (home) against our arch rival who competed with us almost evenly in twenty years for first. The weather and conditions typically involved wind and some extreme weather...........and, as typical of our team and our arch rival, they won the first game of the twenty years.......2 - 1.
Since we played home and away each season, we met this competitive team at a neutral field which was their home field later in the season .......A most important play set the tone for coach dad that made an impact in the following twenty years of coaching junior high/middle school soccer..!!