Soccer is a sport involving a lot of teamwork and skill. The girls on the soccer team’s closeness, team spirit, and work ethic help them win their games.

Most of the girls started playing soccer at a very early age [three-six], so they have years of experiences. It takes a lot to play soccer for Bingham: Mckell Jensen and Sydney Worthington said, “soccer takes a strong work ethic, and you have to be able to push yourself.” Soccer is a contact sport, so the girls have to work well together in order to avoid injuries. The girls have practice every day after school from 4-6. That is a lot of time the girls have to be together, so they have to be able to get along.

The soccer season started about a month ago and the girls went against a lot of teams. The hardest school, according to Jaida Thomas [a player on the team], was American Fort, and the easiest team was West Lake. The Varsity girls have won one of their games and the JV girls have won most of their games except for three. According to Jaida Thomas, a reason the varsity girls are having more trouble with the games could be because they’re always competing with each other.

The girl’s activities outside of practices help them improve as a team. For example, they went to a non-mandatory soccer camp over the summer to help bond and work as a team. They also have weekly team dinners where they catch up and get to know each other. Before the games, they do pre-game rituals; for example, they say a prayer and do cheers to help each other get motivated and excited. What made all the practices and the hard work worth it at the end of the day, according to Bailey Kirchen [defense] said, “It’s fun and it’s like I have a second family.”

Sports like soccer can really help people to learn skills like getting along with others, coordination, and cooperation. People also get the closeness of being on a team and a sense of family. The Bingham soccer girls show us that teamwork is an important skill that makes them a great team.