Vicksburg’s soccer program went through an unusual transition in the middle of last season.

The transition brought Kristen Williams on board as the team’s new coach and she’s worked expeditiously to turn the program around. She’s eliminated swearing around her presence, fostered an environment for team building and is dedicated to whipping her team in shape for the season.

Williams is now in her first full year as the coach. At the end of last season, she set goals to get her team experience while becoming more comfortable with the game.

But the journey is still ongoing.

“I’m excited. I think last year was just horrible especially getting them after Thanksgiving when the season was already going on. I think just being able to explore my coaching genre with them, I think that’ll be better for them,” Williams said.

Now is the time when she can begin to formulate a solid boys’ soccer program at Vicksburg.

“I think having a full year is a better advantage for the players and me. Just having that fair opportunity to prove myself so to speak and for them to prove themselves as well.”

Williams has used the season’s downtime to iron out any kinks before a full rollout of her teams hits the field in the fall.

Tuesday, the Gators met with Warren Central for a friendly scrimmage. Teams played 15-minute quarters and while the scrimmage was in progress, Williams chalked up any mishaps in the game to inexperience.

Only one player on her roster has at least three years of experience. However she takes solace in the fact her players are working to better themselves.

“Skill level we’re still working. Everybody dribbles with their head down, we’re not making strong passes,” Williams said. “We lack consistency and that’s one of the things I defiantly want to work on over the summer and in our preseason.”

The Gators kick off their perspective season with a tournament in Laurel.

Of course Williams wants to win every game on the schedule, but pragmatically she wants the team to simply be better.

Last season Vicksburg allowed more than 100 goals from opponents compared to about 50 or 60 shots taken by the team all season.

“Even with the shots taken that doesn’t compensate for the amount of goals that were scored on us. So those are some things I want to improve as well,” Williams said.

Off the field, Williams wants to improve the way her players view academia.

By building a scholar program, she’s going to challenge her team to have higher than a 3.0 GPA to help attract scholarships.

“A lot of junior colleges are looking for soccer players. Even though they’re inexperienced, some of my seniors have a good shot of moving forward,” Williams said. “I’m just wanting to do more than soccer with them so they’ll see the importance of being a student-athlete first.”