When you step onto the Kempsville High School soccer field, it is obvious that something is different. There’s a sense of something new, an excitement in the air.

Despite a loss of many great players from last year’s season, this year, the boy’s soccer team has a new coach and what looks like a brand new program. Coach Steven Adair is a familiar face for local soccer players he coaches U12 boys at the Virginia Rush soccer club. And now, Coach Adair is a Kempsville Chief.

Adair is an A licensed coach with over fifteen years of coaching experience, including coaching the U16 India national soccer team while training at IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida. Here at Kempsville, Adair has introduced team psychology training.

“We’re really working on our mental game, which I’ve never focused on with other teams,” senior Travis Morse said. “Coach is also trying to build our underclassmen with work on their small skills.”

The team is hoping to go 8-2 this year but has their eyes on the State tournament. They’ve worked hard in scrimmages so far, putting in a mixed bunch of players to get a look at which lineups work best. Their first official game was played April 4 at home.

Senior Sam Small hopes that they can change the team’s underdog image this year.

“It seems like even after we come off of big wins, we’re still not being ranked,” he said. He said he hopes to prove the team has matured and improved over the course of their season.