Have you ever had to try really hard for something and fail? In almost every sport, someone gets cut from playing varsity. However, contrary to years in the past, freshmen have made varsity teams at West this year. Despite their success, some freshmen varsity players feel they must perform perfectly while being on an upper level team. 

     “I feel pressured because I don’t want to mess up on varsity,” Freshman varsity soccer player Kristin

Krug said. 

     For other freshman varsity soccer players the beginning of the season was the hardest. 

     “When I first started, I was really nervous…I didn’t know how to cope with it and it ruined my game,” Tony Arellano, a freshman varsity soccer player said.

     People questioned why Head Coach Brian Mehl had allowed a freshman on the varsity team. “A [freshman on varsity] that is physically big enough at the positions which would limit risk for injury being such a young football player…[They also must have the ability] to adapt to varsity football compared to eighth grade football,” Mehl said. “The physicality is completely different with every level you advance up. The speed and tempo gets faster.”

     People love sports for their competitive nature, the contact, or even the thrill. 

     “Having passion is my favorite part about soccer. When I see other people have passion it makes me happy,” Arellano said.

     “My favorite part [about soccer] would definitely be the community and my teammates, we don’t have any drama and we love and support each other,” Krug said. Continuing to play the sport these athletes love can be a challenge, and varsity makes it harder, often many athletes have to come up with ways to combat this.

     Krug stays caught up in school to limit extra stress. “Get good grades, just keep trying and never give up, because one day it will pay off. Even if you’re not very good, you just keep working,” she said. 

     For Arellano, it’s all about the work ethic. “Play with confidence, like in practice. Just play your game cause it’s practice and try new things, and when there isn’t practice…you need to put in hard work when no one is watching,” he said.