To start it off, the team had their home field moved Hansen park where they were previously assigned to play at Douglas park. The conditions at the field were horrible, but the team had no other choice but to play there.

“It was difficult to play on this type of surface. The conditions of the field affected the way the ball moved, preventing us from playing our game like we would at Douglas,” said senior Christian Gutierrez.

To make matters worse, the team were promised a bus for the rest of the season, but they did not get one single ride for the conference games.

“I felt that it was unfair that a school’s sport team didn’t have secure transportation in order to get to the conference games,” said senior Jonathan Velazquez.

Because of this, the coaches had to pay money out of their pockets in order to transport players to the game, which took roughly 40 minutes. Some students had to transport other players with their cars.

“I never hesitated to give our teammates rides to the games. As long as it was for the good of the team and got every player to the games,” said Velazquez.

Another issue that arose this season and other seasons before that, was the lack of funding. The team struggled to have a decent amount of equipment for practices and money for complete uniforms. This caused great problems for the team. Luckily, the soccer coach had equipment that he let the ream use However, the uniform issue was still present. In the regional semi-final against Marine Math and Science Academy, the team received two strikes from the National High school Soccer Association because not all the players had proper uniforms.

“It feels good knowing the school I attend is top in the state, but the fact that we don’t have money for uniforms brings us down. Not having money for a complete uniform sucks. This can stop us from looking good like the rest of the military schools,” said senior Jose Gonzalez.

This leads to the question on why the team has not been properly funded if Phoenix Military Academy is now a top school in the state. Only next season will tell whether things will improve for the boy soccer team.