After a 1-2 finish at the annual Rebel Cup tournament, the Lehman Lobos now look at what they can improve upon this season and move forward.
The team’s Jan. 4 tournament-opening game against Austin High was the first match of the season for the Lobos. Head coach Rene Medina said the expectation of the tournament was to see what the team could bring to the table.
“We have a lot of guys who were playing JV (junior varsity) last year and some guys that were playing together for the first time, so the expectation was to just see how it was going to roll out against a team wearing the wrong color,” Medina said.
With Thursday’s game as their first of the season, it was more of a learning experience for the Lobos and for Medina.
“Our first game Thursday for the cup was pretty much the first time we rolled out the ball against another team ... It was very much an expectation of learning how we were going to react in a game situation, and as a new coach that was the first time that I got to see those guys.” Rene Medina, Lobo head coach
“Our first game Thursday for the cup was pretty much the first time we rolled out the ball against another team,” Medina said. “It was very much an expectation of learning how we were going to react in a game situation, and as a new coach that was the first time that I got to see those guys.”
This is the first season for head coach Medina, and with the Rebel Cup now over, he looks at different ways to improve.
The Lobos were given a program of philosophy to help them this season. Their philosophy is to focus on character and leadership, and creating a mindset that there is always room for improvement.
“There is always a way to kind of keep them grounded,” Medina said. “You tell them, ‘Hey as a player, and as a person, you are never as good as you could be.’”
The team went 1-2 in the tournament with losses against Austin High and Anderson. Lehman was outscored in both losses by a combined 6-2.
On Jan. 5, the Lobos rebounded for a 4-1 win over Corpus Christi Miller to earn their first victory of 2018.
There were some strengths and weaknesses that the Lobos showed in the tournament. However, the main goal was to work together and get the team to communicate their responsibilities on the field.
Medina and his team are working in each practice to focus on a specific part of the game and zero in on that.
“We are going to specifically focus on some of the aspects of the game that we saw from the cup that we still need to work on,” Medina said. “That will be one of the first practices where we say, ‘Okay, how do we improve ourselves on this.’”
