Chapter 12: Hazing The Freshmen

A couple of weeks before Labor Day, our school was holding team tryouts for the fall sports, including football and boy's soccer. Coach Neville already had several positions filled, from returning starters and reserves. Kevin Soranno, Trent Abbott and Mike Evanson were returning as seniors, and Eric Johnson, Anthony Rogers and I were returning juniors from the starting lineup of a year ago. In addition, Jorge Mendoza, a sophomore, was taking over the starting keeper duties from John Pennington, who had graduated in the spring, and there were a number of kids who had either sat on the Varsity bench, or had played as freshmen or sophomores on the JV team, who were ready to take the step up to be a starter on the Varsity team. I could tell that Coach felt really good about the team, starting out with so many returning players. Since we had won the conference title last year, and we were fielding quite a few veterans, we would be the team to beat this year. The seven of us were there first thing, the first day of tryouts, helping take the other hopefuls through their paces. We did a lot of running, so that Coach Neville and his two assistants could evaluate fitness and conditioning, and we helped run the dribbling and passing tests they were using.

There were about fifty guys who were trying out for the Junior Varsity and the Varsity teams, and we would need about twenty players for each team. The first cut, after the second day of tryouts, took the hopefuls down to forty-three. Now, Coach had to decide which players would most benefit the Varsity team, and which would play better on JV.

There was one kid in particular, a freshman named Adam Prince, who managed to really get on my nerves, in less than a week at tryouts. He dogged me at every opportunity, during every drill he could. It was almost as if he wanted me to blow up at him. But I kept my cool, and kept my distance from him whenever I could.

By the end of the week, the rosters for both teams had been set, and we could start learning each other's strengths and weaknesses on the field. The only sour note was that Adam was assigned as the nominal freshman to the Varsity team. He was good, perhaps even good enough to play on the Varsity team, but I didn't like him.

On Saturday our club team played, and Eric, Jorge, and I got another couple of hours of soccer experience. By Sunday, I had had about four straight weeks of working with the ball, and I was looking forward to a soccer-free day. I slept in late, fixed myself pancakes for breakfast, mowed the lawn, took a nap, and washed Michael's car for him (I was building up favors for when I wanted to borrow it). Mom fixed an actual sit-down family dinner, since all of us were home for a change. Jake came over after dinner, and we went out to my driveway and shot baskets for awhile before deciding that was way too much like work. We grabbed some sodas and chips and flopped down on the floor of the family room and watched the tube for the rest of the night.

Monday afternoon, the day before school was scheduled to start, Coach Neville called an early stop to practice. We all walked off the field and back to the school, where he led us into an empty classroom next to the gymnasium.

When we were all seated, he walked up to the chalkboard and quickly sketched half of a soccer field.

"Okay, boys, listen up here," he called. "Here are the starting lineups. Forward on the left, Trent Abbott. In the middle, Javier Perez. On the right, Jimmy Brooks. Midfielders will be Eric Johnson on the left, Robert Anderson in the middle, and Kevin Soranno on the right. Sweeper is Mike Evanson, defenders are Anthony Rogers on the left, Brett Oldman in the stopper position, and Sean Porter will be on the right. In goal will be keeper Jorge Mendoza."

"Coach?" came a voice from the back. Adam Prince stood up. "Can we challenge for a position?"

"After the first game, you can challenge for any position, Adam. We'll set up a two-on-two challenge ladder. The challenger will pick a teammate, and the man in the position being contested will pick a teammate, and they will play a two-on-two game. The first team to score five points will acquire the position."

"When can we start planning challenges"? The kid was persistent.

Coach sighed. "After the first game, Adam. Let's concentrate on starting the season on a winning note first, okay?" Coach still had the chalk in his hand, and now he tapped it against the desk to drive home the importance of his message. "This challenge ladder will not be used to divide this team, gentlemen. If I don't think the challenge has merit, I will not approve it. Understood, Mr. Prince?"

Adam sat back down. He didn't look the least bit admonished. "Understood, sir," he said.

Coach dropped the chalk back in the tray, anxious to get the meeting back on track. "Everybody will be expected to work hard this week," he continued. "Our first game is this Friday, against Oak Grove. They will play us hard; in fact, I don't anticipate we will have any easy games this year, but they still are one of the weaker teams in the conference, so I'm confident that we will be able to control the pace of the game. All of you know how to play soccer, but our conditioning worries me a little, so we will concentrate more on strength and wind this week, and less on practicing set plays." There was a collective groan throughout the room at that news. It meant there would be a lot of running laps around the track that circled the football field. It was boring, but necessary.

"Quiet, now, please," he admonished. "The next order of business is to elect team captains. Last year," he continued, "we had some success using two captains, a defensive captain and an offensive captain. I think we should use the same configuration this year. Any comments?"

"Yeah," piped up Eric. "Kevin can be pretty offensive, I nominate him for captain."

After the laughter died down, Coach Neville said, "That's not quite what I had in mind, but I will accept the nomination, just the same." He wrote Kevin's name down on the board. "Any other nominations?"

Jorge said, "How about Sean for defensive captain?"

Before I had a chance to react, Coach Neville said, "Okay, good," and he wrote my name down.

I stood up. "Coach? As much as I appreciate Jorge's nomination, I think that the captains should be chosen from the seniors on the team. After all, they will be the real leaders of the team, and this is their last season. Because of this, I respectfully request that my name be withdrawn, and Mike Evanson's name be placed for nomination, instead." I sat back down, not looking around.

There was the murmur of whispered comments throughout the room. Coach considered my statement for a moment before commenting.