Weiser girls soccer team creating positive chemistry

The Lady Wolverine soccer team had a busy end to their summer. Not only did the players begin official practices the week before school started, they also hosted their second annual soccer camp.
 The camp was for fourth through eighth grade girls, and was held Wednesday through Friday morning starting on Aug. 14. Each camp participant was paired with a high school player, who provided mentorship and guidance during the drills and games.
 Varsity coach Bernie Weldon was pleased with the camp participation.
 “Everyone involved improved their soccer skills and conditioning as well,” he said.
 Beginning in the evening on Aug. 12, a total of 46 girls began trying out for positions on the teams. Thirty-one of those girls were returning players.
 Weldon said, “Along with the other coaches, I met with each player individually as we were doing tryouts. This was a great opportunity to better understand their goals and priorities for the season.”
 This year, the girls team will be doing things a little differently than they have in the past. Instead of separate practice times, varsity and junior varsity will be practicing all at one time.
 Weldon is already happy with how the season is progressing.
 “After week one of our season, what I am most excited about is the positive chemistry we are creating so far as a team,” he said.
 He continued, “Every single player is bringing a great attitude and putting out tremendous effort. Our theme for 2019 is “1+1>2” which is only possible if we work cohesively together as a team to create synergy!”
 To assist in bringing out the best in the girls, the coaching staff of Weldon, Damon Courtois and Noel Gomez has added coach Trine Lonberg.
 “We are thrilled to have coach Trine join us. She brings a tremendous amount of experience having played and coached in Europe for many years,” Weldon said.
 Weldon spoke about the upcoming season. He feels SRV Conference members Fruitland, McCall, and Payette all improved greatly last year.
 “McCall doubled in the number of players last year from the prior year, and both Fruitland and Payette are much stronger,” Weldon stated.
 The teams will also have both home and away games against Ontario and Baker.
 “Both of these Oregon teams bring a lot of soccer experience and will be excellent competition,” Weldon said .
 JV coach Gomez is also excited about the upcoming season.
 “We have a lot of experience coming back. We should have a really solid JV team,” he said.
 “They are ambitious this year, they want to learn, and I think we will have a great year,” Gomez said about the girls.
 The girls team invested the money they had raised in equipment to help with agility and conditioning. They also purchased two new practice goals since both teams will be practicing at the same time.
 Weldon also said that they were working on finding a sponsor to help replace the game field goal posts. The current posts were made in the shop class over 10 years ago.
 Additional fundraising will happen the day school starts. Team members will be selling “W” shirts.
 Weldon said, “The idea for these shirts came from one of our very supportive parents, Sally Bouvia, and the design was created by a local Weiser resident and graphic designer Chris McLaughlin.”      The shirts will be available for purchase directly from any of the players, or online at www.idahocustomdesigns.com.
 The girls begin their season play at home on Aug. 29, when they play against non-conference Ontario. The JV will begin play at 4 p.m., with varsity following 15 minutes after JV ends. They will play in the field behind the high school. The first conference game for the Lady Wolverines will be on Sept. 3 against Fruitland on their turf.