Boise State club sports are not permitted to compete in the fall of 2020 due to challenges with physical distance in contact sports such as the men’s club soccer team.
Nick Lehning has been the head coach for the men’s club soccer team for two years.
“Two weeks before the semester starts, the guys will come back and we’ll go through two weeks of double sessions, primarily fitness and technical stuff in the mornings and tactical things in the afternoon,” Lehning said. “Usually leading up to the season we’ll play friendlies, like the College of Idaho, TVCC, just as many local colleges that we can get that are pretty decent.”
The men’s soccer team has not been able to practice or train together since students came back to campus for the fall semester.
Each student-athlete on the team gets their own personalized fitness and strengthening plan from their strength and fitness coach. The workouts help them individually to enhance their skills for games and increase specific muscles to help the athletes stay in shape.
Left-wing Zack Tyree feels disappointed that the team is not able to play this season, but is looking forward to the upcoming spring season.
“I was really looking forward to coming back in the summer, I know a lot of the guys over the summer were training, including myself and we were really looking forward to getting back together for preseason and just grinding as a team,” Tyree said. “It was obviously a huge let down that we weren’t able to do that, but obviously we understand the circumstances are bigger than just the game of soccer and we want to be a positive influence for our community.”
Center-back Jackson Voeller has found motivation through watching younger players grow and create a new mentality for the men’s soccer team.
Photo by Mackenzie Hudson | The Arbiter
“I get to be the senior because I only have one more year left, but I get to watch all the younger guys come through and just create the winning mentality and try to be a better group for our community,” Voeller said. “The team itself is the biggest motivation because we stay in contact constantly and try to get individual training sessions.”
Lehning believes that the team has a mentorship mentality, giving more responsibility to the upperclassmen to help the younger individuals on the team.
“I’ve given a lot of responsibility to the upperclassmen, even having the few grad students we have on the team, on shepherding the younger players and making sure they get involved in little ways, like when the guys go out to get dinner together, or if they come to my house to watch a game,” Lehning said.
Lehning thanks the Boise State community for continuing to support them despite difficult times.
Boise State University’s Public Health Officer and medical advisors are working with representatives from club sports to determine if and how they can continue team activities in the fall and spring.
“The biggest thing for us that has driven our progress forward has been the kind of support that we’ve gotten from the campus community over the last year,” Lehning said. “Really what we need in terms of keeping our guys energized and motivated to keep going is support from the community and the student-body.”
