The spring of '92 began with the new middle school soccer rules. The format was instituted with the idea of giving all players some playing time by establishing a fifth quarter (post game) for any player who had not played in the primary contest. This new segment of middle school soccer was a positive idea to this coach dad as it allowed every player who practiced to get some earned playing time. Coincidentally, having coached rec football and other rec sports, this coach saw and understood the obvious need for playing time for all team members on the middle school team.....and I had initially tried to make an effort to use most players.....even before the advent of the new middle school rules.

The initial '92 spring season saw the difference in level of play as we opened with twenty eighth graders and 7-8 seventh graders. What I eventually recognized (and knew beforehand..!!!) was the tremendous potential of talent that this team possessed. These young men wound up the first season with an impressive 11-1 record...actually being upset by a lower place team on that team's home field. This first year middle school coach learned an important lesson that almost any team...on a given day or home field...can beat another team; this coach dad learned also never to take a certain team for granted.

At the end of this new middle school season, I met with the team (as I usually do) and challenged the older players to do their best and stick in sports (hopefully soccer). Point of interest: I always followed my players through high school sports (hopefully soccer) and kept track of their progress. In their senior year of high school, the high school soccer team went to double overtime...double shoot-out...and lost the state championship. This coach, and coincidentally a dad of a starting sophomore and starting senior, will never
forget that of the twenty eighth graders I had coached five years previously....only eight former eighth grade players were seniors on that high school "almost state champion"......makes you think...doesn't it???