EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – Student-athletes play sports for various reasons. Building a tight-knit brotherhood is one of them. Certainly, that is the case for junior Ethan Edwards. Edwards enjoys the chemistry and common goal of competing for championships he and his teammates on the Excelsior Springs varsity boys soccer team have. Now in his 10th year of playing soccer overall, he is in his third year with the Tigers. As an athlete and a soccer fan, Edwards enjoys watching defender Virgil Van Dijk of the Liverpool Football Club, the defending FIFA Club World Cup and English Premier League champions. He looks up to Van Dijk, he said, because Van Dijk is a humble, hard-working athlete. When not playing soccer for the Tigers, Edwards is a part of the Excelsior Springs golf team. He also is a Link Leader and a part of the Student Council. His favorite subject in school is science, although he enjoys various aspects of all his subjects. “I have had several great teachers here in the ESSD,”…