Ella Adams is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Basha High School for AZPreps365.com.

CHANDLER– Kicking a soccer ball and a football are two completely different things. 

Some local football players have found this out the hard way by making the transition from soccer to football. 

Basha’s kicking team of Mikey Barth and Nate Schuhrke both have a history in playing soccer. 

Their kicking journeys started out as a fun idea. Barth just went out to the field with his dad one day. Schuhrke joined because of his friends. 

Special teams coach Collin Bottrill has been at the high school level in Arizona for 26 years — 16 of those years as a special teams coach and nine years at Basha. 

“Because they both have that soccer thing together, they kind of have that bond, that kind of relationship where they understand each other really well and feed off each other and help each other,” Betterill said. 

Schuhrke continues to play soccer as a goalkeeper and is balancing a club schedule while playing football. 

“My leg has definitely gotten a lot stronger since playing football because I am using it so much, and over time it's just getting a lot more power,” Schuhrke said. 

Barth said he started playing soccer at three years old and started kicking in seventh grade. 

“I’ve gained a lot of friends, opportunities, and I get to play in front of a lot more people,” Barth said, “Some opportunities are a Division 1 scholarship and the opportunity to play and get paid.” 

Bottrill said many kickers he coached while at Chandler High School were soccer players who had just started to kick a football. 

“It’s kind of really unique because there’s some kids that come out and think it's going to be easy but it’s very difficult,” Bottrill said. 

Barth said there are differences to kicking including the contact points and the different motion of the swing.  

“Soccer is a lot more of a swiping motion, and football is always supposed to just swing straight through,” Schuhrke said. 

Bottrill said when soccer players switch “it's mostly a mental thing, and some guys can pick it up and others it's just such a different game.” 

“My brain is automatically on soccer because it is what I've been doing for so long,” Schuhrke said, “It’s like I’m almost resetting every weekend, and it’s pretty hard.” 

Bottrill said a challenge is keeping Schuhrke healthy because he is balancing soccer and  football.  

“I always give him some tips with punting and kicking,” Barth said. “One of us will watch the other one kick and be able to see something that the kicker couldn’t actually see.” 

Bottrill said Barth has been healthy all season and has done well. 

“He wants to be perfect in everything he does,” Bottrill said. “We’re chasing perfection.” 

Barth said he wants to focus on improving his consistency.   

“We are always setting goals,” Bottrill said. “Basically every week is, ‘How are we going to score points to help the team win?’” 

Schuhrke said he is playing football for fun but wants to continue to play soccer at the next level. 

Barth has committed to play at Arizona State University. 

“They’ve done great things so far and are looking to win our next championship,” Bottrill said.

Bottrill said that if he would win a championship this year it would be his 8th ring in all the years he has coached.