Summer conditioning is a routine hassle coaches and teams deal with.

It’s the time when students take vacations with their families or fulfill prior commitments with travel teams.

With a little less than a month before the St. Aloysius Lady Flashes begin the defense of their MAIS Division III girls’ soccer championship, coach Scott Mathis hasn’t seen all 30 of his players on the field at the same time this summer. Mathis ran practice with 16 players last week at Strickland Field in Bovina.

“Half are coming, half are out of town,” he said. “You can’t very well tell them you can’t go on vacation; you can’t do this or you can’t do that. You just have to take what you can get and hope your starting 11 will show up.”

The second bullet point of Mathis’ summer struggle list is the addition of nine new players, with a third of those being novices. He understands students’ desire to be a part of a winning team, as they were the only St. Al sport to capture a state championship in the 2015-16 school year.

But it’s been difficult for Mathis to instruct the newcomers on fundamentals while also coaching the experienced players.

Mathis runs practice three days a week in the evening this summer. The team — in addition to St. Al’s and Vicksburg High’s boys’ teams — will participate in the Leon Powell High School Soccer Technical Camp at Strickland Field this week. The camp is designed to polish fundamental skills under the tutelage of championship caliber coaches.

As Mathis views his players during practices, he sees them returning with the confidence that won them a state championship last year.

“I try to tell these girls I can only do so much. I can teach you this and I can teach you that but I can only do so much,” Mathis said. “I can’t teach somebody to love the game and want to play it and give it their all while they’re out there. That’s something they have to do on their own.”

Once Mathis sees certain players step up and show they want to be a part of his starting 11, only then will he begin to chisel this mold of clay into the image of a defending champion. He isn’t above starting a seventh-grader over a senior if the former shows more dedication and drive.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s open for everybody. If you want the position come on,” Mathis said. “I have to start the best 11 that I have, that’s willing to go out there and give it their all.”

Mathis knows he could shape this talented group of players into a better team than last year’s, but it’s up to the players to make use of their skills.

And to do so quickly as the first half of the schedule comes loaded with competition.

The Flashes’ first two games come against Manchester and Hartfield Academies at home and away, respectively. Hartfield matched up with the Flashes in the championship game last year and returns the same lineup this season.

The forwards have given Mathis a shimmer of positivity and he has seen his ninth graders step up, but the biggest doubt he has is the lack of a solid keeper.

“I don’t have a keeper. I’m basically taking someone brand new and putting them at keeper,” Mathis said. “My biggest loss is that.”