Soccer season: a season of shin guards, saves and – beginning this year – snow. As of this year the Sierra Foothill League has made the switch to boys and girls soccer playing in winter, as opposed to fall and spring respectively. So far, the change has been fairly challenging.

“Obviously, the weather is colder and some days are rainy so some of our practices either get cancelled or are in the small gym. Also, boys soccer got moved to the winter so it is hard to manage practices for six teams when we only have one field,” noted junior Megan Lie.

Junior Abe Horillo agreed, claiming, “We do get to use the turf because football isn’t using it at that time. So we do get nicer facilities, but it’s just so cold.”

Because soccer is an outdoor sport, weather is just as crucial to the game as the game itself. The rainier, cooler weather makes for more difficult playing on the field. Additionally, having twice as many teams fighting for one field adds one more obstacle for these players. In this situation, players are faced with either a soggy field or a small gymnasium when it comes to practicing for their games.

However, the challenge goes beyond the physical aspect. Luckily, the transition did not cause much conflict for boys. However for girls, with this shift in season girls in both basketball and soccer had to make an ultimate decision: which sport would they be playing this winter, and which sport would they have to quit?

For junior Sydney O’Rourke, basketball was the natural choice.

“I have a travel soccer team that I play on…it would have been a different transition from JV to varsity [in soccer] while in basketball, I already knew I was going to be a captain and a starter,” Sydney explained.

Still, another factor was her teammates.

“I was better friends with the girls on the basketball team. Yeah, I feel very confident in my decision,” she stated.

On the other hand, junior Ayla Harris’s natural choice was soccer, not only for the potential scholarships or for the sake of her friends on the team, but for her own personal circumstances.

“I think soccer is my number one sport, and I know the people on the soccer team more, and I also want to get a scholarship in college for soccer. It was hard to pick because I got surgery on my ankle so I haven’t been able to play and won’t be able to for the next two months, but I don’t regret it because I’d rather watch soccer than basketball,” explained Ayla.

Meanwhile, the choice for junior Megan Lie was not so easy.

“Since I’m a goalkeeper for soccer, my position cannot be easily replaced by someone else, so that is the main reason why I chose soccer over basketball,” Megan confessed. “I feel both confident and regretful. I knew that I would be helping out my soccer teammates because being a goalkeeper is tough and not everyone can be one. However, I knew I would never play basketball again…so I was pretty sad about that.”

Though each of these athletes made their decisions with seemingly different rationale, they all have one trait in common: devotion to their team, and this lesson in selflessness is important even beyond the scope of athletics. As such, though in life circumstances may change and you may be faced with a difficult decision, you must remember to be a team player, and do what is best for both yourself and others.