The St. Edward’s University men’s club soccer team is about halfway through their self-proclaimed “development year,” and with nationals on the horizon, Coach Tony Ho is looking for his team to build connections.

Coach Ho, a recent St. Edward’s graduate and former player on the club soccer team, is most excited to see the development of his players this season. It has been about  18 months since the team has been able to practice and compete due to COVID-19, making much of the team newcomers. 

The team is full of fresh players, with only six returning players out of 30. Ho says that the players face challenges connecting because, for most of them, this is their first time playing together. 

“Four weeks ago it was very bad, they just didn’t know each other and there was no culture,” Ho said. 

However, as the weeks have gone by, things have improved and the team has learned how to play together.

“I’m very excited about developing the culture and building a foundation for the next couple of years,” Ho said. 

A big part of playing a team sport like soccer is chemistry. The chemistry between the players and the coaches is a critical part of playing cohesively and winning games. Ho discusses the importance of t “soccer IQ,” referring to a player’s intelligence level relating to soccer. This represents how well they can identify and understand what decisions to make,as well as a general awareness of playing the game. Ho explains how players with higher soccer IQs help newer players a lot because they better understand the game. 

Prior knowledge of the game is not necessary but aids in developing a player. Ho explains that he is looking for committed players who he can help improve in this year of development this season. 

Ho explains that players were not committed to the team in past seasons and would often not pay dues for expenses like jerseys. This season, he has looked for players who are willing to fully commit to the team. To him, this means paying dues and “showing up for each other.” 

This year, the team will be attending nationals in late November. The team was selected by a raffle where teams that did not qualify by game record could still take part. Ho is hoping that the team will do well.

“My goal is by the time we go to nationals, our game plan has developed,” Ho said. “When we play at nationals to take the top of that bracket, we’ve never done well at nationals, the guys have a lot of potential.”

The team has not won a game this season, Ho noted that “we don’t know how to play our style yet.” Oct. 9, 2021, they have an away game against the University of Houston. 

RecWell streams all of the home games on the SEU RecWell Facebook page.