WICHITA, Kan.—
Last fall, Trinity Academy soccer was winning the majority of its games, but this year is not the case. “We’ve just lost a lot of seniors who had several years of experience,” said senior Ryan Miller. “This year we are coming in too young and putting new players into a higher level of varsity.”
Trinity may be losing, but Coach Tom Nykamp knows why.
“We have the hardest schedule in 4A soccer, besides Kansas City Christian,” said Nykamp. “This was on purpose to get us ready for the playoffs.”
Assuming Trinity will do well in the playoffs, it might be a smarter tactic to allow your team to lose in the season and win in the final games.
“I think losing has taught us a lot. Despite the record, we’ve gotten better each game,” said Miller.
Most coaches would normally care about how much they are winning and losing, but the Trinity players and coaches are both on the same page.
“We don’t really care what our record is. So that is probably why we can’t easily win,” said Nykamp. “All of the teams that we played are 6A or 5A powerhouses, so in that regard we are just trying to be competitive and gain experience with a young team going into postseason.”
Even with a losing record, coaches give great support.
“Our coaches have handled everything really well by not expecting us to win every game but work at the things we need improvement on,” said Miller.
In order to keep his teams united, Nykamp likes to teach community throughout the team.
“We have meetings all the time and we have regular devotions that keep us focused not on just winning but growing as young men, and learning to respond to adversity,” said Nykamp.
Trinity’s record is 3-5 with a game against a struggling Wichita Southeast team (2-5), that has been outscored a combined 18-0, in the past three games on Tuesday.
