This time last year, the people involved with the new U-10 travel team scattered to find enough players just to be able to field a team. One year later, that same group was forced with the same situation. And just like last season, their hard work gave them a successful result.

The Island Trees Sharks, a boys U-11 travel team, have had many struggles in a variety of ways over the past year. Needing a minimum of ten players just to start the team (last summer), they could only come up with nine in this age group. It wasn't until the very last day, when Ryan Goepfert came to the rescue, that the Sharks officially had a team. As hard a fight as it was in creating the team, there were even tougher times ahead. The boys did not see a win throughout the entire fall season, including nine league games and five tournament games. Most of the losses were a bit lopsided. But the amazing part about this group of kids was their ability to work harder and harder and stay positive throughout this tough time, which made their coaches very proud and optimistic, themselves.

The winter season saw the boys' hard work finally pay off. They won their first games in the Island Trees Indoor Tournament. In the Oceanside Tournament, the boys got their first taste of competition and success with a semifinal appearance after going 3-1 in the preliminary round. Next was the beginning of the outdoor season, in which these guys continued to ride their momentum. They opened their season with a convincing 4-1 victory over Port Washington, creating a sense of excitement within the team. They ended the season with a 4-5 record, which was an unbelievable improvement from day one. But most importantly, these boys, coaches, and parents created a tremendous team bond, which was strong enough to rise themselves over all the adversity that existed in keeping this group together for next year. The character developed in that alone for these 11 year-olds will make the existence of this team an automatic success.

As for the future of the Sharks, they will be head coached by Bryan Marksteiner. On top of the work he will put into this team, Bryan is an 18-year-old who is headed to SUNY Farmingdale where he will play soccer and baseball. TJ Fabis is an assistant coach who will unfortunately be away for most of the season at Quinnipiac University. A division one school, TJ will attempt to play lacrosse and possibly soccer while attending. These two youngsters put in an enormous amount of time, during their senior year to work with these kids. It paid off, because a huge part of the team's improvement was the way the players fell in love with their enthusiasm and energy. Also assisting Bryan will be Tim Connelly, Fran Kaiser, and Ray Due, all three (along with all the parents) put a lot of work into the team. As for the team itself, it is looking pretty good. Although they will miss Nick Alavanja and Andrew Malkiel, two tremendous leaders who were good enough to be pulled up to the higher age group, the rest of the boys will step up. Returning to the team will be leading scorer Brandon Cassar, center fullback Justin Manning, tenacious fullbacks Richie Kaiser and Teddy Rouskas, strong forward Sean Faughnan, and two players who have done an excellent job in giving up their field time to be the team's goalies, Ted Connelly and Stephen Schmidt. Bolstering this team to a higher level will be the addition of newcomers Dan Connelly, Thomas Diognardi, Nick Jennings, Michael Munch, and Thomas Nickel. The very late addition of these five players, along with the hours of work put in by everyone else in finding enough players, has allowed this team to continue. The reflection of their hard work and success may not be seen by their game results. It is the fact that they are playing at all that makes it a victory for them.