Like most soccer teams, student athletes at Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School had to practice inside on Wednesday because of the rain. Unlike most other teams in the area, they don't have a dedicated indoor vacility.
"This is our indoor facility," said DH-J girls head coach Shad Green, standing inside one of the school's two gymnasiums. "We make do with what we have."
"It's a very small space," said boys team manager Alexis Ramirez. "We just have to keep going. It doesn't matter how small it is... just keep going."
That's just one of the challenges for this high school located in north Fort Worth. But both the boys and girls teams made the playoffs, and the girls won in the playoffs for the first time ever.
"We made history," said goalkeeper Brisa Salinas. "It's a great feeling for all of us as a team, between the coaches and the community as well."
The leading scorer on the girls team is a freshman, and it was a good first year.
"It's been good, since I scored 30 goals," said center mid Jackie Garcia, causing Brisa to burst out laughing.
Getting players to practice is another challenge unknown to most playoff-level programs.
"We had three girls leave at 4:30 today," said coach Green.
But life sometimes gets in the way of soccer at Diamond Hill-Jarvis.
"Some of them are hungry," said boys head coach Dan Russell. "Some of them struggle to get to school, get home.
"There are some teammates that don't come because they have work or they have to babysit," explained Zandra Casillas, who plays left defense.
"I have kids who miss school because the have to go take care of their brothers and sisters during the day," Russell continued. "They have a lot of hurdles."
While there is a lot this school doesn't have, it does have a brand-new turf field. That has made a big difference this season.
"I think in the last three years, we've probably missed half the season -- or practiced half the season in the gym -- because the field was too muddy or the weather was such that we couldn't get out on the field," said coach Green.
"Last year we practiced inside -- I want to say around 30 times, we had to practice in a gym," said coach Russell, "which we're sharing with the girls soccer team because the other gym is shared by baseball and softball."
The boys team has won in the first round, six years in a row. And last year's run to the regional quarterfinals was the program's best. They've come a long way in 10 years.
"When I first got here, we only had 12 players and one team," said coach Russell. "There were games where we lost 13-0 to some schools. It's definitely turned a corner."
"We don't play soccer with our feet," said left wing Julio Macias. "We play with our hearts. And it's not a team; it's a family."
"It's not your traditional soccer environment," said coach Green, "which kind of makes success all the more rewarding."
The girls lost their second-round game on Friday, April 1, but the boys team won again to advance to the regional quarterfinals for the second year in a row.