Soccer players endure frigid weather
By: Sidney Pelton
Website Editor
Last year Women’s soccer at Buhach Colony was a spring sport starting at the end of February. California Interscholastic Federation's official season for the sport of soccer is winter, with the exception of the entire Sac-Joaquin section who had soccer as a spring sport until the 2016-2017 year. Women’s soccer becoming a winter sport was proposed at the Central California Conference about four years ago but was put into action this year.
Website Editor
Last year Women’s soccer at Buhach Colony was a spring sport starting at the end of February. California Interscholastic Federation's official season for the sport of soccer is winter, with the exception of the entire Sac-Joaquin section who had soccer as a spring sport until the 2016-2017 year. Women’s soccer becoming a winter sport was proposed at the Central California Conference about four years ago but was put into action this year.
Jv soccer player Grace Gouvia smiles as all of her teammates hide from the weather under blankets
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One of the advantages of girls soccer being a winter sport is that it gives girls the opportunity to participate in track, and other spring sports. Most of soccer players are good runners because it is needed for the sport so track is a good opportunity for them to keep in shape and possibly earn scholarships. Because the Sac-Joaquin section was one of the few areas with Women’s soccer left as a spring sport there has never been regional championships or state championships because not enough sections had the sport in the winter. But now that there is more sections switching the girls season to winter there is a chance that eventually these championships could be arranged. These could give more opportunities to the players because they will play in bigger final games at further away places to draw college coaches out and it will give them a bigger chance to be scouted. Due to the many all-weather turf fields that the schools spent a lot of money on, there is always a
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place to play if there is bad weather and it helps to utilize the facilities to their full extent. All of these upsides may seem good to students and faculty not participating in soccer but many of the players feel that these reasons are irrelevant. Many girls were able to juggle all, soccer, track, and competitive soccer last year but now that the sport has been moved to winter none of these upsides seem to help them.
Although with the many upsides to moving the sports season there is also many downsides, due to the new seasons some new rules have been included to those sections switching into winter. Players used to be able to play both school soccer and competitive soccer because of the non-interfering seasons, but now that school soccer for girls has been changed to a winter sport girls can not play in winter league with their competitive teams. They can practice with their competitive teams but not play in any games with them during season. Buhach coach, Alfonso Garcia states, “I think it is good, the drawback is just the weather.” He also mentioned that the facilities are limited and with four teams trying to schedule games on the same day can be sort of a hazard especially with the weather making dirt fields, like Buhachs, unsafe for play. The further use of all-weather fields was stated as one of the perks of moving the sport in the Central California Conference but it has proven difficult because 4 teams have to struggle to schedule games now that they share the season.
Although with the many upsides to moving the sports season there is also many downsides, due to the new seasons some new rules have been included to those sections switching into winter. Players used to be able to play both school soccer and competitive soccer because of the non-interfering seasons, but now that school soccer for girls has been changed to a winter sport girls can not play in winter league with their competitive teams. They can practice with their competitive teams but not play in any games with them during season. Buhach coach, Alfonso Garcia states, “I think it is good, the drawback is just the weather.” He also mentioned that the facilities are limited and with four teams trying to schedule games on the same day can be sort of a hazard especially with the weather making dirt fields, like Buhachs, unsafe for play. The further use of all-weather fields was stated as one of the perks of moving the sport in the Central California Conference but it has proven difficult because 4 teams have to struggle to schedule games now that they share the season.