After an undefeated season last spring, HBHA’s girls varsity soccer team is back and eager for another victorious season. Led by Coach Cody Welton, the team is continuing to grow their skills, reliance on each other, and comradery. As they kick off this season, players reflect on their experience playing for HBHA.

Welton has been coaching middle school and varsity soccer at HBHA for 15 years. While he did not play the sport growing up, both of his children played competitively at a high level. Welton shared, “I would go to their practices, and I didn’t just talk to the other parents or read a book… I watched what they were doing and what their coaches were doing and I really made an effort to take the things that…I thought would work well for HBHA and implement them in my own practices.”

Freshman Ella Perelmuter said that her favorite aspect of being on the team is getting to build connections with her teammates. Perelmuter says that one of the ways she’s able to get so close with the other players is that Coach Welton values teamwork and always enforces it during practices. 

“My favorite memory [playing soccer], was at the first practice of the season [when] Mr. Welton told us he would get us ice cream if we won our first game, because he thought we weren’t gonna win, but then we ended up winning and he gave us ice cream,” said Perelmuter.

Perelmuter said that everyone on the team tries their best, “Everybody wants to work on the team, and during practices we do a lot of teamwork … so we all know how to work as a team.”

HBHA sports teams offer a small environment in which the coaches are able to pay closer attention to individual players in order to give everyone a seemingly one-on-one coaching experience. 

Welton shares that what he loves about coaching at HBHA is being able to see kids grow and develop through the years.

Junior Sofia Levine has been playing soccer since the age of three. Levine currently plays for both KC Athletics under KC Current and HBHA’s varsity team. Levine said, “Last season I just felt like our team was so connected and gelled together especially because we went undefeated which was awesome.”

Levine said that being a part of the varsity team helped her develop leadership skills. When Levine was younger, she didn’t feel the need to act as a leader, but she knew that because she had experience playing soccer outside of school, she had the opportunity to help lead her teammates.

Levine shared that even though she has more experience playing soccer than the other members of the team, Coach Welton does not single out her abilities. Levine said, “The thing that I like is he treats me like every other person even though he knows I have a different skill set and he doesn’t make me stand out.” 

Levine appreciates that she is expected to do what everyone else does even if it is a skill that she has already mastered. Levine said, “I’m just like the team and I think that’s great.”

Similar to Perelmuter, Levine also takes pride in the size of HBHA’s team. Levine shared that unlike her friends that play for public high school teams, HBHA’s soccer team does not have a toxic environment. She said, “[That is] something really foreign to me now because I’m realizing our soccer team… [is] all super nice to each other.” 

Welton said that what he values in coaching this team is their drive to follow instructions. Whenever they are asked to do something, the girls do their best to implement it on the field. 

He further reflects that this team has helped him grow as a coach. He shared, “I have girls who are willing to take those chances and do things that I ask them to do even if they’ve never played soccer before… and I think it really helps us be a better team and helps us grow together.”