Fallbrook Boys Soccer coach readying for unpredictable season

Fallbrook Union High School boys soccer head coach Jorge Rojas admits everything is a little out of whack and the upcoming season with the Warriors starting in February will be a different one.

"Definitely extremely non-traditional," Rojas said. "COVID has presented a lot of uncertainty in a lot more areas that we anticipated and I know high school sports is one of them.

"We are being pushed back. We're sort of on the back burner to start somewhere in mid-February and it's looking like we're going all the way to May."

And there's a great deal of uncertainty in his program, as with all the others, due to the fact that three traditional seasons are being squeezed into just two.

Athletes may have to make some decisions or will be spread thin playing multiple sports and there will be a premium on game and practice locations.

"Yes, that's definitely a possibility," Rojas said. "Everybody as coaches, we're all trying to collaborate and coordinate as much as we can. I know that field usage is most likely going to be a huge conflict because we have so many outdoor sports going at the same time. We were just talking about it a few days ago. Our program traditionally tends to have at least a hundred kiddos come out to try outs. I'm certain that some of the kids are multiple sport athletes and that number is definitely going to go down. But again, going back to it, we offer three different teams under our program, which we know will be impacted ultimately because we will have to share the numbers with everybody else.

"We would be sharing (fields) with the girls soccer program, the boys lacrosse program, the girls lacrosse program. For training and for games, we actually use the upper Ivy field from the continuation high school for practice and for games for the freshmen program. But I know that that's also a JV softball field, JV softball will be going in the spring as well. Again, it's going to be interesting. It's going to be interesting on how we sort of play Tetris with fitting everybody's schedules in."

He said a lot of his players have reached out, expressing their interest in getting back as soon as they can.

"They have been keeping in touch and even letting me know that they're anxious to get back on the field," Rojas said. "A lot of the kids that have played for our local high school teams also play locally here. I know that they're not having a season in town. The club decided not to provide a season due to COVID and due to the setbacks that they were experiencing. So a lot of the kiddos have continued to just let me know, 'Coach, I just want to play.' I know that they're anxious and they're looking forward to coming back to stepping on the field."

He said the team he expected to field for this next season was going to be a little more experienced than the year before.

"We were a bit young," Rojas said. "So I was hoping to have a team with a little bit more experience. I know that I was planning on having about nine returners – that could possibly change. We also have families right now that I think are opting out of sports. That's another topic that we were discussing as coaches. There are families that genuinely feel that it's not the appropriate time for the kids to be playing sports and some of them are opting out.

"'Hey, you know, due to COVID, we just don't feel comfortable.' And that's an individual decision that we respect. At the end of the day, who shows up to tryouts is who we get to select from."

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].