For many, if not most, athletes, the season never really stops.
And for his Ignacio Lady Bobcat soccer team, head coach Oscar Cosio helped kick-start 2014 with a two-day skills camp Aug. 7 and 8 on the IHS Football Practice Field. On hand to help were current Fort Lewis College seniors Amanda Raso and Therese Romero.
Themselves ready to improve upon the Skyhawks’ 13-4-3 overall, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament-qualifying 2012, the FLC goalkeeper and midfielder had the chance to work closely with the 12-15 campers willing to take a few hours out of their own summer vacations.
A former 5A Aurora Smoky Hill standout and the Fort’s regular in net during its NCAA Division II “Sweet Sixteen” team in ’11, Raso and Romero — who prepped at 5A Albuquerque [N.M.] Sandia, helping the Lady Matadors to a state title in 2008 before also graduating in ’10 — had extra aid from 2013 IHS grads Angel Paul and Nicole Williams.
The midweek event was the first under Cosio’s watch, and one of Fort Lewis’ last interactions of the sort prior to celebrating the 20th anniversary of women’s soccer at the school with an exhibition date Aug. 19 against NCAA Division I Air Force in Taos, N.M.