As the air grows colder here in North Forsyth, most students and staff members head home after the school day and bundle up in their warm blankets and spend the night indoors. However, during this time of year, athletes of all ages and grades begin conditioning and skills-training for the upcoming North Soccer tryouts this January. A little cold weather has nothing on these athletes, as they spend Mondays through Thursdays after school running and training in hopes of finding a place on the team this Spring.

Jared Steinberg, head coach of North’s Girls’ Varsity and Boys’ Varsity team, states that the most important goal for this season, in order to have a successful record, is the ultimate fitness and stamina of all players. “When we have to play teams like South twice and Lambert twice-  When we have these teams where any one of them can be in the state titles this year, we can’t break down and get tired and lose games we should be winning”, Steinberg states.

Coach Steinberg says that he is looking forward to a lot of things this upcoming season, most importantly, building on what they already have going strongly for each Varsity team. He states,  “The most important thing I talked about last season was a culture change- and I think that we were able to achieve that. We didn’t have half as many conflicts as we have had in previous years, and that is what allowed us to be successful.”

Conditioning and preseason can always be one of the most strenuous and difficult parts about the soccer season. Coach Steinberg states that he is focusing solely on the player’s ability to perform for a full 90 minutes. A variety of long distance, short sprints and stadiums are the kinds of drills that he will be putting into action this conditioning season up to tryouts.

Overall, the coaches of our North soccer teams are in full preparation for this spring. This winter will be full of fun and fitness for the hardworking athletes here at North Forsyth.