How Karns City boys soccer’s Mason Sherwin turned lost season into positive motivation this year
Mason Sherwin was a day away. Now he’s making every day count.
He suffered a broken tibia during Karns City boys soccer’s second game of last season. By November, the then-junior defender was close to being cleared to return to action. The team just had to beat Redbank Valley in the District 9 championship.
Instead, he had to stand by as Karns City’s campaign came to a halt Nov. 2 in a 2-0 loss, the Gremlins’ first in the teams’ past 28 meetings.
“Towards the end, he was starting to get his rehab in and we were hoping maybe (in the) first round of the state playoffs we were going to bring him back,” Gremlins coach RJ Carson said.
“I had a day left,” said Sherwin, who’d did physical therapy with Karns City’s athletic trainer and in Chicora. “If the D-9 (title) game got pushed back one more day, I could’ve played.”
Ten graduated from that Karns City team, leaving Sherwin as one of the more veteran players on this year’s cast.
He’s embraced the role through both words and actions. Carson had taken notice of the extra time Sherwin, now a senior center back, took to get back to where he needed to be on the pitch.
“He was here all the time in the summer and spring, staying after practice, just working on first touch and stuff like that,” Carson said. “Really getting back to that soccer mindset. I really saw that drive in him.”
Sherwin was also a large influence in helping the team’s 10 newcomers — eight of whom are freshmen — get accustomed to high school soccer.
“Throughout two-a-days, he was one of our (more) fit players going through the trials,” Carson said. “He would always (finish and) go back and run with those players — really encourage the ones that are really pushing.
“Even when he’s one of the more fit players on this team, he’s always going back to help that extra mile with the kids on the team.”
Sherwin is vocal but avoids negatively zeroing in on his teammates. He sees no point in dwelling on what’s already passed.
“(With) basically three brand new starters in the back line, it’s really easy for someone to get frustrated when they’re out of place,” Carson said. “Even when goals happen — especially with a freshman goalkeeper — (Mason) is always tapping them on the shoulder saying, ‘Hey, you’re doing well. Maybe try this next time.’
“He always starts with the positive and then gets into, ‘Hey, you can work with this, too.’”
“I just don’t really want people to get down because it’s just going to be like a snowball if people get down and start moping around,” Sherwin said. “You’ve always just got to keep people up and motivated.”
The Gremlins are 2-2 to start this season. They lost to Redbank Valley on Aug. 29 at the last second. The result was the same their next time out against Clarion-Limestone.
Unsurprisingly, Sherwin remains positive. He believes the early hurdles will pay off.
“I think we have a lot of potential,” Sherwin said. “We have a few young people that are getting better and progressing. ... There’s other people that are starting to step up that are really helping us out.
“I would say that we could go pretty far in the playoffs this year. We’ve just got to figure a few things out. With time, that’ll come.”
