"I've enjoyed myself and it's been fun, but it's been pretty frustrating too," Childs said. "There's a lot of teaching we've had to do."
Eisenhower fielded a younger team in 2011 with 17 of its 28 players being freshmen or sophomores. With all the underclassmen, Childs faced many challenges and one of them was having undersized players.
"Some of the talent is pretty young, so they're kind of small," he said. "We didn't have very many big, experienced seniors."
The Tigers also didn't have a chance to bulk up or get stronger prior to the season because parts of the first-year school were still being built.
"We couldn't get in the weight room this summer because it wasn't finished," Childs said.
Despite a 2-16 record, Childs felt the Tigers made a lot of progress since the beginning of the year. He's looking forward to 2012, especially since his team will be able to lift weights in the offseason.
"This spring and next summer we'll get these guys in the weight room and get them a little stronger," Childs said. "Next year they'll do better."
Eisenhower will have nearly the whole team back next season as this year's squad included only four seniors. Two of those seniors -- Cody Hosford and Chris Schmidt -- had never played soccer before.
Something to build off from 2011 is that Eisenhower earned a playoff win. The Tigers beat Valley Center 3-2 in the preliminary round of regionals before falling to Kapaun Mount Carmel, which finished third at the Class 5A state tournament.
Eisenhower picked up its other victory in the seventh-place game of the Goddard/Campus Tournament, defeating Arkansas City 4-1 and avenging a one-point loss to the Bulldogs in the season opener. Childs believed the Tigers might have had more wins if not for mental lapses, which he attributed to his players' age and them competing together for the first time.
Childs feels the overall experience that the players went through this year will help them as they continue to play soccer.
"Looking down the road it'll pay off in the future," he said.
