On Tuesday, May 14, 2024, the seniors of the Waterloo West boys soccer team stepped on the pitch for their last high school regular season game. Through all the highs and lows these boys have battled throughout the years, they have also learned a lot of life lessons. “Soccer has taught me to work harder and nothing in life comes easy, during my junior year I didn’t play a lot of minutes but I was able to work hard during the off-season and got closer to where I wanted to be,” said Emrah Ahmetasevic, who has become a huge part of the team this season. 

Though the regular season did not go how the team would have liked, they were also able to conquer and play through a lot of diversity by beating Iowa City High School for the first time in over 17 years in a thrilling overtime match. Even though you have to somewhat be individually good to play the sport of soccer, you also have to be a good teammate and opponent, these guys have learned it all throughout their high school career and will carry it on outside of soccer. “Teamwork, being there for your teammates, and collaborating are some of the things I have learned and will use outside of soccer,” said senior Isaac Kelgbeh.

Being in a soccer program for 4 years comes with a lot of highs and lows and with those lows comes serious challenges and breakdowns from teammates which can take a toll on others. The guys have come to realize it’s all mental and it’s not as serious as you think and hope that the upcoming guys should just live in the moment and enjoy it as long as they can. “I think everyone should focus on the mentality and that it’s not as serious as you think, there’s more games ahead of you depending on the grade you’re in so you just have to be relaxed and get aggressive for the next game,” said senior Charlie Rowenhorst.

Going into the real world to further your career or whatever you plan in life can be challenging at times, but 2022 grad and West High alumni Armin Dedic has seen it all and has nothing but great advice for our Wahawk seniors. “Living on my own for two years has taught me to appreciate everything I have/had, you have to appreciate your parents, siblings, loved ones, etc. You have reached the stage where you have to go about things yourself and that can come with rough times and when rough times hit you have to be strong. As cliche as this sounds, you must believe in yourself because that is the first step to achieving anything in this world. Be your authentic self there’s a lot of bad things going on in this world right now and you do not need to add on to it,” he said.

Most people have loved the sport from a young age and others have grown to love and appreciate it just as much as others within a very short period of time. Dino Skrgic joined the team in his freshman year just as something to do after school and to be around his friends, not knowing how much his love and passion would grow for the sport that everyone around him seemed to love for their whole life. “Freshman year I started playing to see what it’s like after the first year I had so much fun and started to play it more over the summer which helped me love and understand the sport a lot. Now even if I have a day that I don’t feel like going to practice I still end up going because I have fun every time and enjoy being around guys that have grown to be like brothers to me,” said Skrgic.

Though there are a lot of seniors leaving, there is still a lot of talent left in the future of West High soccer; coach Penning still has high hopes for the upcoming squad and underclassmen. “These guys were a great group of guys, man, they worked hard and led by example on and off the field, but with them leaving, I think there’s plenty of talent left you know, we got a bunch of underclassmen that are starting so yeah I think there’s a lot of potential for the next few years,” Penning shared. As the boys approach the playoff/substate and potentially play the last game of their high school career on Monday, May 20, 2024, coach Penning wishes them a great farewell and the best of luck on the next chapter of their lives. “Take the effort that you put into soccer and do it with whatever you do for the rest of your life, keep working hard, and good things will happen for you, most importantly keep playing the sport of soccer you have grown to love since you were a baby, in whatever capacity that is,” said Penning.

Seayea Joseph, class of 2024, signing off.