For the first time since the program was founded, Chuck Register won't be coaching the Helias boys soccer team.
This fall, it will be Michael Metzger roaming the sideline, and with the new leader comes a new style of play. The new-look Crusaders will open the season at 5 p.m. today at the 179 Soccer Park against the Camdenton Lakers.
"I think that at this point, the players have bought in to what we're trying to do, which is essentially change the culture of soccer at Helias," Metzger said. "It's going to be a process that's going to take awhile. Hopefully you can kind of tell during our first game, but it's going to happen in baby steps."
The first-time head coach said the change will be obvious.
"Helias has always been a very direct style of play," he said. "It was just go forward, forward, forward all the time. If that meant get it up the field quickly and kick it up there to a target player, that's what they did.
"Now we're trying to bring in a way of playing that is more of a relaxed kind of style, a possession-based style, a wait-for-the-right-opportunity kind of offense."
Metzger said he's drawing from his roots for this style.
"I'd like to play attractive soccer with a purpose," he said. "That's the way I grew up playing. I'm from Quincy, Ill., and they've had successful programs over there. And that's not to say Helias hasn't had success, because it has, but the way that myself and my coaching staff look at the game is in that (aforementioned) kind of context."
Metzger said the team has been working on one other important facet of the game.
"The amount of conditioning we're having the players do this season is a huge change," he said. "... To play this game, you have to be fit. The amount of fitness you have could be the deciding factor if you're in an overtime game."
Stressing often the idea of this being "a process," Metzger said there's bound to be some growing pains.
"Where we're at right now is probably where we should be in the process," he said. "All we can do is keep moving forward and keep training hard. Each day we're going to get better, so whether it comes in the middle of the season, in the postseason, hopefully we get to where we need to be to be successful in the postseason."
The Crusaders will have to be flexible when it comes to the lineup.
"A lot of players are playing in new positions, so they're out of their comfort zone," Metzger said. "So that's going to take some time. But like we tell the players, there's a method to the madness. As a staff, we feel like these players can excel in these positions. It's going to take time and the players will have to get used to it, but it's coming along, it really is."
Metzger was reluctant to discuss who would make up the starting lineup, but did say team chemistry is very good among the 21 who will see time on the varsity.
"With the system that we're going to play and depending on the teams we play, we might have different guys come in and do different things," he said.
Metzger added Helias has a very young team.
"We have a lot of sophomores on the team this year and a lot of people are fighting for spots," he said. "They realize that, which is why they've been going as hard as they can in practice."
The team may look a bit smaller than usual tonight, as several of the players who will swing between the varsity and JV will be at the Rock Bridge JV Tournament being held today and Saturday.