Weiser High School teams see plenty of action in summer soccer tournament

Despite the July heat, Weiser High School’s boys and girls soccer teams competed in the Meridian Invitational Soccer Tournament held July 25-27.
 While the boys team, under the direction of coach Kathy Bokides, has gone for many years, this was only the second year for the girls.
 Girls coach Bernie Weldon said, “We appreciate Coach Bokides and the boys team for leading the way. They motivated the girls team to participate for the first time last year.”
 Bokides likes going to the invitational for a variety of reasons.
 “This gives us an opportunity to play teams we’d never get to play, ever, like 4A and 5A schools. It’s great exposure to the next level,” she said.
 “I like this tourney because the timing and the level of competition,” Weldon agreed. “The quality of competition is great. Last year we were the only 3A school in the tournament competing against 4A and 5A schools, and this year we were one of only two 3A participants.”
 In the past, the tournament has been played at a local park, on all grass. In the last two years, Meridian has moved the event to the Meridian High School. They have two fields going at the same time, one on grass, and the other on turf.
 Turf is definitely a new environment for the Weiser players. Last year, the temperatures during the tournament were over 100 degrees, and the turf held the heat and radiated it up during the afternoon games. Many players commented on how their feet felt like they were on fire last year.
 Thankfully, temperatures weren’t as bad this year, with some nice cloud cover to keep the heat levels down. The returning players were commenting on how it wasn’t nearly as bad, and their feet didn’t hurt after the games like the previous year.
 The turf also lends itself to a different style of playing. The ball rolls faster and for further distances, which is something that the Weiser teams had to try to adjust for. Out of the three games the boys team played, two were on the turf. The girls team played all three of their games on the turf.
 The boys played one game on Thursday and two on Friday. The first game was against 5A school Mountain View team A, which was their varsity team. This was on turf and ended in a loss for the Weiser boys. The second game was against Rigby, a 4A school, on Friday morning. This was their only game on the grass, and was also a loss. Friday afternoon saw the boys playing against 4A Hillcrest High School, from Ammon. This was again played on the turf, and was another loss for the boys.
 Even though the boys didn’t have any wins, everyone walked away feeling positive about the tournament.
 “I think they learned each game. They learned that playing on turf is hard to deal with,” Bokides said. “I think we did better on the grass.”
 The girls started their play with 4A Century High School from Pocatello on Friday morning. That evening saw them play against the only other 3A girls team there, Sugar-Salem. The last game of the tournament was against the host team Meridian, which is a 5A school.
 While none of the games were a win for the girls either, Weldon is still proud of the team’s showing, citing their work ethic and great attitudes. “The team never quit and stayed focused until the clock ran out regardless of the score and regardless of how tired they were.”
 Weldon felt that the team building was one of the best experiences of the tournament. “When you play three games in two days, you start bonding, communicating and trusting each other more and more.”
 “The young players coming in new to our program showed a tremendous amount of tenacity and competitiveness. And our older players were great mentors who demonstrated they could be on-field leaders by encouraging and guiding without demeaning,” he commented.
 “I think this Meridian Invitational is a great teambuilding experience too. It’s one of the times the team is all together,” Bokides agreed, speaking of how there was no JV and varsity, it was only a combined team.
 Both coaches felt that they were able to use the experience to see how the teams have incorporated skills they have been working on during the summer, and get an idea of what still needs to be practiced more.
 For the boys, their first official practice is Aug. 12 at 7:30 a.m. at Memorial Park, and then again at 7:30 p.m. at the soccer complex. All paperwork, which can be found on the WHS website, must be turned in to the school office or the coach before they can practice. For it to count as one of their 10 practices, they must be at both the morning and evening session.
 The girls team will be hosting their second annual mini-camp at the high school for girls who will be in the 4th-8th grade on Aug. 14-16 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sign up at the Recreation Department in town. The fee is $25 per child, and will help pay for needed soccer equipment for the team.
 Tryouts begin at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 12 at the high school soccer fields for the girls. Athletes will be evaluated on not only soccer skills, but conditioning and perhaps most importantly AER, which is attitude, effort and respect.