It has to be the coaching

For the past few years, I've coached a boys soccer team with the help of my friend Gary. This was our tenth season to coach, and there have been some good ones and some not-so-good ones. One season, we had five boys on the team who had never played soccer before, out of eight total players. We didn't win a single game that season.

This past season was one of the good ones. The team (pictured here) ended the season in first place of our soccer association, which made us eligible for the CAYSA (Central Austin Youth Soccer Association) Fall Champions Tournament. There were twelve teams from the greater Austin area in our division, divided into three groups of four. The winner of each group plus the runner-up with the most points moved on to the semi-finals.

We finished group play with one win, one loss, and one tie. We didn't get enough points to move on to the semi-finals so our tournament ended after group play. Kudos go to the boys for a job well done.