This year, a change occurred for The Emery/Weiner School boy’s soccer team: a new coach. Coach Heather Williams, the new addition, has boosted the team to a winning record and an entrance to the playoffs. 

Last year, the boy’s team had a 6-8 record, and with the loss of their previous head coach, the boy’s soccer team began to feel hopeless. However, Williams stepped into the role and led the boys to an 8-4 record this year. 

Williams confidently introduced a new coaching style and strategy of more defense and disciplined practice that has led to the overwhelming success demonstrated by the boy’s soccer players. Williams affirms, “I think the reason this year for the improvement is that they have been trusting the process. They have been more disciplined this year, and the coaching style is very different than what they had in the past.”

Avi Barrios, Varsity center back on the boy’s team, agrees with Williams as he credits her new coaching style– a ferocious integration of intensity and discipline–to the team’s winning season. Barrios, a star player, believes that much of the boy’s success this year comes from their extreme motivation and discipline. Barrios notes, “The boy’s needed to be more disciplined compared to last year, which is something that Heather really brings to the table.”

Senior Jake Massett, a key wing-back and striker on the Varsity team this year, has a unique viewpoint on the boy’s winning season. When comparing William’s coaching style to that of last year’s coach, Masset emphasizes that “She’s definitely stricter, she’s more rigorous, and she demands more effort and participation.” Masset continues, “It’s also better because this year, the team is combined into one big varsity team where we are getting the freshman involved in the culture of the team.”

The boy’s team ultimately had a great 2023 season and ended up losing to TMI (Texas Military Institute) in the first round of state. The Emery community is hoping that the boys can keep up their fierce determination going into the 2024 season. Rafa Sharpe, a key player on the squad, exclaimed, “Next year, we are going to come back and win state!”