The soccer fields that line the edge of Hollister’s Veteran’s
Memorial Park are teeming with activity these days as the teams
that make up the Hollister Tremors Youth Soccer club get prepared
for the upcoming fall season.
The soccer fields that line the edge of Hollister’s Veteran’s Memorial Park are teeming with activity these days as the teams that make up the Hollister Tremors Youth Soccer club get prepared for the upcoming fall season.
One of those teams, the 10U Tremors, has something to prove this season. After wrapping up their last campaign with a 4-4-1 record, the Tremors are hoping that all-around improvement, coupled with a wave of incoming defensive talent, will bring about a big difference in where the team ends up in the standings at the end of the season.
“I think we’re going to have a good squad this season,” said Tremors head coach David Stanton, now in his sixth year of coaching soccer. “I’m actually very comfortable with the team as a whole, where as defense used to be kind of a weak point for us.”
The Tremors picked up defensive standout R.J. Collins through tryouts to play midfield, bolstering a unit led by goalkeeper David Stanton.
Offensively, the Tremors are in pretty good shape with Luis Fausto and Brian Ocampo, both of whom sport a lot of speed and solid ball-handling skills, taking the majority of the team’s shots on goal.
“We’ve been implementing a lot of new drills into practice this season,” Stanton said. “Also, all of our players attended soccer camp this offseason. The league hired a company to come in and put on a camp and the kids got a lot out of it.”
While improving record-wise is top priority for this year’s Tremors team, coach Stanton and everyone involved with the organization is committed to making sure that the kids are having fun on the field.
“We were 4-4-1 last season and I played all of my players in every game,” Stanton said. “So I really don’t look at it like a must-win situation all the time. And, league-wide, everybody stresses that the kids are here to have a good time playing soccer.
Of course, this is Hollister and there’s nothing we love more than beating our neighbors in Gilroy at sports. Luckily, the Tremors will square off against Gilroy squads this season for bragging rights.
And, in those games, the intensity gets turned up a notch or two.
“Those are usually really good games,” said coach Stanton. “And we typically do everything in our power to win those games.”
