The soccer boys will be playing on another team in Omaha for their winter soccer season. There are 14 AHS team members out for the league this year. Similarly, the boys have been practicing for a month on the field at the high school, as well as in the gym if it is too cold to play outside. Senior Ben Andersen has been playing in the league for two years. “It will help us get more team chemistry,” Andersen said about the winter team. “It helps keep us fresh, and doesn’t let us get rusty over the winter.” 

On Saturdays and Sundays at the high school, the boys run drills and work on the fundamentals of the game. This includes possession and passing drills. The team also works on goal kicks. Andersen said they mostly play “five a side. Which is basically a scrimmage.” Andersen has started varsity two years at AHS, and this is his second year in the winter soccer league. “As a team, we’ve gotten better with quick, short passes, because you’re playing in tighter spaces, where you don’t have a full-size field and you have fewer people, so it’s important to be accurate and quick with your passing,” he said.

Last year, the boys played at the Soccer House in Des Moines, but this year they are playing at the Omaha Sports Complex. “We changed places because the Soccer House wasn’t going to let us play,” Andersen said. He is looking forward to playing in the new complex. “I’m extremely excited. I’ll get to play against people that aren’t from Atlantic, on turf,” he said. 

Junior Keagen Garcia said he started league soccer last year. Garcia said he did winter soccer because “at the time I did not have any winter sports, and I wanted to be staying active and playing soccer as much as possible before the season.” Garcia has been out for soccer for two spring seasons with the high school. 

Garcia also said it was important to get practice in before the spring season. “We’ve already been going out every Saturday or Sunday and practicing and playing,” Garcia said. “We are making sure everyone gets practice and reps to make sure we’re going in there ready and prepared.”

While it is too late to join winter soccer, students can join the high school team in the spring, with head Coach Oran Perkins. “We need more people, and it’s a fun sport to do,” Andersen said.