Tess Bazil is Back into Play

Tess Bazil, an 8th grade midfield has returned to playing on the Women’s Varsity Soccer team after a three week injury break. Her first game back was Thursday, October 4th, against Mound. As the coaches said her name, for her to warm up and head out onto the field, the bench of teammates all cheered.

At the beginning of the season, Bazil got shin splints, and after continuous play on her injured leg it turned into a stress fracture. She was put into a walking boot and could not practice or play. In spite of her injury, Bazil kept a positive attitude on the bench for her three week rest period, cheering on her teammates.

Bazil grew up playing soccer with her brothers since she was very young. Her two older brothers, Jamie, a sophomore, and Sam, a senior are both on the Varsity men’s soccer team.

“Sam and Jamie have always played soccer with me growing up, and we pushed each other to do better. I give Jamie crap though, because I made varsity as an 8th grader and he made it as a freshman,” Bazil said.

The rules for 8th graders being on varsity is that they need to be on the starting varsity line up. If they aren’t, there is no team for them to play on and they will have to wait for next year to tryout again. Bazil’s family all told her that she could make varsity and encouraged her to tryout. Bazil was the only 8th grader to tryout this year, making her the youngest player at tryouts. The last 8th grader to do this was Claire Bash, back in 2011.

“To make varsity as an 8th grader, the 8th grader must be considered an impact player. To me, this is a player that will start or that will go into the game and make a difference. Tess’s ball distribution and ball skills put her at the varsity level. During tryouts she stood out to all coaches/evaluators,” varsity coach, Erin Murray said.

“My two biggest accomplishments are making the varsity team and also being invited to play at a national soccer camp,” Bazil said.

At the national soccer camp, one player from each state gets invited from each age group, to an annual camp called PDP ID2 Camp. Players are selected based on their soccer abilities and skills, attitude, and commitment to the sport. So this year, Bazil traveled to North Carolina where the event was being held.

There were people from all over the country at this camp. Tess said one of her favorite part about playing soccer is the competition and meeting all the new people from different teams along the way.

“My personal goal for soccer is to be the very best I can be and to never be satisfied with where I am at with my soccer skills,” Bazil said.

The team is 10-2-1 after their regular season games. The team was ranked first seed in their section, which means they get to play at home for all of their games. The girls will be continuing to state after winning against Monticello in overtime.