Head Coach Evan Fryer has big goals for his SMUS Senior Boys Soccer team this season. After a ninth-place finish in last year’s B.C. AA tournament, Fryer is aiming for higher in 2023.
However, after 11 years coaching soccer at the school, Fryer knows that the building blocks for success start with a solid approach.
“I often tell the players to ‘control the controllables,’” Fryer said.
“That means to focus on the parts of the game that you can control and try to forget about all of the other noise that distracts from our shared goal—such as referee decisions, opponents’ comments behind your back, etc.
“At the beginning of the season, what we can control is how we show up for training, getting fit, and working as a team to prepare for our first match,” Fryer adds.
That preparation has already started for the Blue Jags, who return eight members from the team that placed third on the Island last season. In fact, SMUS will host the first key date on its schedule this coming weekend when the ISA (Independent Schools Association) tournament takes place here, a field that includes AA Island rival Brentwood College.
“At SMUS, we always seem to have a strong defence,” Fryer said. “This year, the goal is to get forward more, and be more of an offensive powerhouse.”
Leading the way in that regard should be co-captains and returning boarding students Rayane Hmidi and Sam Bruninx. Hmidi, from Morocco, was a key member of last year’s senior team at the centre, attacking mid-position. Bruninx, from Germany, was moved mid-way through last season to striker, where he was very effective. Nick Gordon, another solid returnee, figures to lead the back line from his centre back position. Sprinkling in some rising Grade 11s from the junior team, as well as a few new boarding internationals, Fryer sees SMUS as a team on the way up.
“Our goal for this season is definitely to get to the Island championship final and push for the top four in the province,’’ says Fryer, whose Jags won the B.C. title in 2016, and finished second in 2017.
