Despite having no season planned out yet, BGSU men’s soccer team is still preparing for their season.
Back in August, the MAC decided to push back fall sports until the 2021 spring semester. Outside of football, there are no set plans for when fall sports can come back.
This decision did upset the team, but BGSU Men’s Soccer Head Coach Eric Nichols has stayed optimistic during this period.
“It’s not ideal because the season means so much to us, but it could definitely be worse,” Nichols said.
Even though the games have been cancelled, the team is still allowed to practice. This is where the team is taking full advantage of this break.
“We are using this opportunity to move forward. We’re definitely fighting nerves to just be biding our time and waiting until the spring to where we get to play games. We are intentionally using this period to get better,” Nichols said.
The coaches are currently focused on improving as a team and have not let the uncertainty of this situation affect them, a sentiment which has been shared with the team.
“The main message right now is focus on what we can control and not let things we can’t control enter into our daily world more than it has to. We can’t control that we don’t have games, we can’t control a lot of things that are going on with the virus, what we can control is how we train and how we approach every day and be grateful for the opportunities we have every day,” Nichols said.
With the unknowns that surround the soccer season, team morale could be at an all time low. It could be easy for the players to take this break lightly and not commit to the coach’s message. Coach Nichols has not seen this from his players.
“We couldn’t ask for a better mentality in terms of training. It’d be easy for them to come to training and kind of just go through the motions and we absolutely have not seen that at all. They have come with a great mentality and great professional attitude about getting better every day, using every practice to just get better and we really are,” he said.
The seniors on the team have played a huge role in having the team buy into the message.
“First of all, they could be feeling sorry for themselves, and they are not. Rather, they are setting the tone on using this time to really get better,” Nichols said.
Last year, the men’s soccer team made it to the MAC tournament finals. While the team has kept a focus on the present, there are some things that the team can look back on from last season.
“This has been a bigger break than ever before, but you’re always drawing on the season before. Also, that team is always different so you have a new team now. I think we definitely learned some good lessons last year about some of the things it takes to be successful and hopefully those are being woven into our fabric moving forward,” Nichols said.
There is no certainty as to when men’s soccer will make their return. But when that time comes, Nichols will have his team ready for action.
