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Victor Olorunfemi thought he had just been given the perfect excuse for a player to skip summer workouts.

Kevin Pacheco, one of the captains of his Wichita West boys soccer team, had informed his new coach that he would be leaving Wichita at the end of June to spend 10 weeks at U.S. Army basic training in South Carolina.

Olorunfemi, who had only recently taken over the program, appreciated the heads-up. He figured that would be the last he would see of Pacheco until the teenager returned home.

Then Pacheco showed up for the next workout.

And the next one.

And every single one after that until it was time to leave.

What surprised Olorunfemi even more wasn’t simply that Pacheco kept showing up for the grueling two-a-day sessions. It was what he did once he got there.

“He wasn’t just there,” Olorunfemi said. “He was the one leading them.”

For a first-year coach still learning the personalities of his new team, it was an unforgettable introduction to a player he had already heard so much about.

“Honestly, I had never seen anything like it,” Olorunfemi said. “There were so many excuses built in to not have to do any of that, and he refused all of them and kept showing up. That was truly inspiring to everyone.”

Pacheco isn’t a Division I soccer prospect. His team isn’t chasing a state championship. Wichita West finished the regular season with a 3-12-1 record and enters Tuesday’s postseason opener as a heavy underdog.

But the teenager has come to represent something far more meaningful to his coach than wins, losses or individual accolades.

In a sport where success is usually measured by the scoreboard, Pacheco has reminded Olorunfemi why high school athletics matter in the first place.

“Kevin is what I want the program to look like going forward,” Olorunfemi said. “His story is what being a West High kid is all about and I can’t wait to share that with future generations of West High soccer players.”

A summer unlike any other

While most of his classmates were enjoying summer vacation, Pacheco was learning how to become a soldier.

He had enlisted in the Army National Guard through its Split Training Option, a program allowing high school students to complete basic training between their junior and senior years, return to finish high school and complete their specialized military training after graduation.

For Pacheco, that meant leaving behind his family, friends and soccer teammates for nearly three months at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina.

There were early mornings, demanding physical conditioning, weapons training, obstacle courses and long marches carrying heavy equipment.

The Army’s 10-week Basic Combat Training program is designed to test recruits physically and mentally while teaching them military discipline, survival skills and the importance of relying on others.

For Pacheco, nothing compared to the Forge.

The culminating field exercise puts recruits through exhausting marches and simulated combat scenarios, often with little sleep, to test whether they can function as a team under extreme conditions.

Pacheco recalled a particularly grueling 12-mile march with approximately 50 pounds of gear strapped to his back. It was the toughest challenge he faced during training.

When his body was exhausted, he found motivation in thinking about the people waiting for him 1,000 miles away.

“It was pretty tough, but I knew I was coming home to the people that love me and the things that I love, like soccer,” Pacheco said. “So that helped me persevere.”

For Pacheco, the decision to enlist in the Army National Guard at such a young age came down to something bigger than himself.

“I wanted to join the Army to give a better opportunity for myself and my family,” Pacheco said. “Like college, healthcare, insurance, all of those things.”

That maturity and sense of responsibility didn’t develop overnight. And when asked where his motivation comes from, Pacheco didn’t hesitate.

“I would give that credit to my parents,” Pacheco said. “They sparked that drive for me to be the best I can be. And I think that motivates me to always be thinking about helping others and cheer them on as well.”

It’s a philosophy he has carried into nearly every part of his high school experience.

Beyond soccer, Pacheco has competed in wrestling and track and field. He also serves on the leadership and community council of the Wichita Public Schools Student Board, a districtwide organization that gives students a voice in decisions affecting their schools.

Whether he’s representing classmates, competing in sports or preparing for military service, the common thread has been his willingness to take responsibility for more than himself.

A captain who leads by example

When Pacheco returned to Wichita in mid-September, the soccer season was already underway.

He had missed the opening weeks, and his teammates had already begun adjusting to a new coach. But one thing hadn’t changed: Pacheco’s love for the game.

Soccer had been part of his life since childhood, and even as his future began taking shape outside athletics, he wasn’t ready to give up one last season with the teammates who had become some of his closest friends.

“Oh man, I just love soccer,” Pacheco said. “The guys on the team are like my brothers. Like I can really say I love those guys. I know we might not have had the outcomes we wanted this season, but we have some serious grit and we all work really hard.”

There certainly haven’t been many rewards on the scoreboard.

West has lost all six of its one-goal games this season and is winless in five overtime appearances, going 0-4-1. For a team with only three victories, there have been more close calls than its record might suggest.

Through every frustrating defeat, Olorunfemi has watched Pacheco continue to encourage teammates rather than point fingers.

As a center back alongside fellow senior Adrian Rosales, Pacheco has helped anchor the Pioneers’ defense. It’s a position that suits him: organizing teammates, communicating constantly and making the unglamorous plays that rarely earn recognition.

“He’ll run through a wall to make a tackle and save the day,” Olorunfemi said. “And he’s a positive leader on top of all of that, which was awesome to see because when you’re going through a tough season, it’s really easy to get negative. But how he remained positive with himself, with teammates through all of that was just incredible.”

Perhaps the most telling part of Pacheco’s leadership is that it didn’t begin with Olorunfemi’s arrival.

He was already a team captain as a junior, an uncommon distinction for an underclassman that showed how highly his teammates regarded him.

That reputation was one of the first things Olorunfemi heard about when he arrived at West in the spring. After one summer together, the coach understood exactly why.

And he has spent much of his first season pointing to Pacheco as the example he wants others to follow.

A future already taking shape

Pacheco has plenty of ambitions waiting beyond his final high school soccer game.

After graduation, he plans to continue his Army education by training as a carpentry and masonry specialist, an occupation designated as 12W in the Army. His next destination is expected to be Gulfport, Mississippi, where soldiers learn construction skills such as building and repairing structures, working with concrete and interpreting blueprints.

But Pacheco also has his sights set on an even bigger challenge.

He’s intrigued by the possibility of attending Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where soldiers learn to parachute from military aircraft.

The opportunity isn’t guaranteed, but the thought of someday jumping out of an airplane is something Pacheco would love to experience.

For now, however, he has one more mission with Wichita West.

The No. 15-seeded Pioneers travel to face No. 2 Newton on Tuesday in the opening round of the Class 5A regional soccer playoffs.

A victory would be a major upset. A loss would end Pacheco’s high school soccer career.

Either way, he knows what this final season has meant to him. It has given him one last opportunity to compete alongside friends he considers brothers, even if the results haven’t been what they hoped.

And while Pacheco prepares for a future that could take him far beyond Wichita, his coach is making plans to ensure his influence remains at West High.

Someday, a new group of Pioneers will arrive for summer conditioning. They won’t know Pacheco or remember the team’s record in 2026.

But if Olorunfemi has his way, they’ll hear about the captain who was weeks away from leaving for Army basic training and still never missed a workout.

The player who led every sprint.

The teammate who refused to let a losing season change how he treated others.

And the teenager who understood that sometimes the most important thing you can do for a team is simply show up.

“Kevin is everything I want the program to look like going forward,” Olorunfemi said.

For a coach trying to build something lasting at Wichita West, that’s a legacy worth far more than any championship.