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12/25/2018 11:00 PMTrey Doktorski knew that soccer was the sport for him when he first stepped on the field during his grade school years. Several years later, Trey has seen his passion for the pitch pay off as member of the Hand boys’ soccer squad.
Trey recently completed his career as a center midfielder with the Tigers. During the recent season, the senior earned All-SCC Housatonic Division honors, as well as Hand’s Most Outstanding Player Award, while helping his club win the Class L state title for the third consecutive season. Trey says it was an amazing experience to compete for a team full of people who were solely focused on helping the Tigers succeed.
“I had a lot of great teammates, and they helped me play a lot better. A lot of the guys on the team have played together for a long time, so we knew each other very well,” says Trey, who posted three goals and three assists on the season. “This year was special, because we had the chance to play with a fantastic head coach in Greg Cumpstone. He had us super prepared for games.”
Trey adds that he’s sharpened his game from both a physical and mental perspective since he signed up to play soccer at Hand as a freshman.
“I think I improved physically since freshman year. I grew a lot,” Trey says. “I’ve also grown mentally. I used to get nervous and stressed out before games, but now, I am calm and focused.”
Being a midfielder, Trey had to take on the task of switching between offense and defense at a moment’s notice. It was a grueling role at times, but Trey was always ready to do whatever was necessary to assist his team.
“I like playing center midfield, because it’s a free-roaming position. You can dribble, pass, and set up plays, which is great, because I like to get assists,” says Trey. “There’s a lot involved with the position. You have to be a good defender and attacker.”
Coach Cumpstone says that Trey continued to add layers to his skillset as the 2018 campaign unfolded. Cumpstone knows that Trey’s diversity allowed the senior to be a valuable asset for Hand on all ends of the pitch.
“Trey really grew into his position and his role on the team as the season progressed. It is such an advantage to the team to have a player capable of running at opponents from a central position,” says Cumpstone. “It is rare to find this sort of player, who has the requisite vision, intelligence, passing range, and defensive attributes of a central midfielder, but also the dribbling skills of a winger, and in Trey, we had this. He really improved his impact on the games…and his statistical output also increased, as well. All of his goals and assists came in the last seven games of the season.”
While he wasn’t a captain, Trey still wanted to serve as a leader for the Tigers in his senior season. Trey went out of his way to provide guidance for his teammates across every grade.
“It was cool to be in that spot and be someone people can look up to,” Trey says. “It was great to help others when they needed help, and it was great to be that role model for them.”
Trey helped Hand post a boatload of victories and hoist a handful of banners throughout the past few years. While Trey will always cherish that success, he also appreciates how playing soccer for the Tigers helped him mature into a young man who formed an invaluable network of connections.
“It’s been great here the past four years,” says Trey. “I learned how to be more confident and courageous, and I made most of my friends through this team. I’m glad I played high school soccer at Hand.”