If the Morgan Academy girls’ soccer team makes the playoffs this year, the Senators may look back on a couple of days this week as part of the reason why.

Morgan head coach Winston Williams brought in friend and colleague Kendall Reyes, who has an extensive background in soccer, to run a mini-camp Monday and Tuesday for the team. Reyes has previously served as a head coach at the University of South Carolina Upstate, Newberry College and also played in college at Francis Marion University in South Carolina. He and Williams are now a part of Soccer Vision Global.

On Monday, Reyes went back to the basics in an effort to get Morgan ready for the upcoming season.

“We will take them through a series of exercises for me to initially assess their ability, dribbling, shooting, passing — those specific things that are fundamental to be able to play the game. Before we even get to tactics, we have got to be able to see what players can do with the ball,” Reyes said.

The Senators started with the basics of controlling the ball Monday and being able to use both feet, instead of just one dominant foot. Morgan’s first game is Feb. 7, so there’s only a few more weeks to prepare before the season starts. The team is also going to take part in the school’s alumni game Saturday in one way or another, Williams said. If there aren’t enough alumni players to take part, Williams said the girls team will have a scrimmage.

“My goal for these two days is when I leave here, they have a real fundamental understanding of how to self-teach,” Reyes said. “It’s like learning how to do a math problem and you have a formula. I’m going to teach the formula to execute technique. Once they understand the formula, they can continue to reinforce and build on what I leave them with.”

Williams said he felt it was important to bring in someone who has a well-rounded background in soccer, so that the team could learn proper techniques and refine their skills.

He’s hoping Reyes can help a young team, with five players who have never played before, make the playoffs. The team does return Jordan Harrison, the team’s leading goal scorer, but there’s a lot of other places for growth — including in roster size.

Williams said the team also only has 14 players, so he’s hoping to pick up at least four more.

“Our goal is to make the playoffs,” Williams said. “I think eight make the playoffs, but you don’t want to make it No. 8. Then, you’ve got to play No. 1. If we can get in a little to the middle, it can give us some breathing room.”