East Knox discusses soccer

HOWARD — Parents joined at least a dozen youth YMCA soccer players, dressed in uniform, and piled into the superintendent’s office at the East Knox Local Schools board meeting Wednesday night. All in attendance believed it’s time for the school district to implement a varsity soccer program.

Anita Leaning presented the board with a number of reasons the youths and community could benefit from adding soccer to Bulldog athletics. No yellow cards were thrown, and all thoughts and concerns were heard.

No. 1. Giving athletes the choice to be able to participate.

“Our kids don’t have a voice and we are here as their voice,” said Leaning. “They deserve the choice — they choose to do it every spring and fall [for the YMCA league].”

No. 2. Having the right to be a part of a team and allow the children to find where they belong. In addition, this will help build school spirit.

No. 3. Potential scholarships. There are a number of athletic scholarship opportunities available around the United States for soccer players. This opens up another avenue for youths to find a way to further their education.

No. 4. Getting a soccer team is inevitable. According to Leaning, soccer is growing at an average rate of over 8 percent a year; one-third of youths under the age of 12 in the United States play soccer. It is the most popular youth sport to play in the nation with the exception of basketball.

No. 5. Parent involvement. A soccer program gives parents the opportunity to show school spirit. A number of parents who spoke out at the meeting said they were willing to help out the development of a program in any way possible. This, in turn, would help strengthen the efforts of the East Knox Athletic Boosters.

No. 6. Soccer is an economical sport. The cost to play for youths is inexpensive.

East Knox Superintendent John Marschhausen addressed two ways soccer could eventually make its way into the school.

“The question that we need to look at when making a recommendation to the board is really, how do we start a program that will be sustainable, as well as allow for the program to build and become successful,’” he said.

One route for the school is to start by forming a junior varsity team for two years. Play reserve soccer against reserve teams, with plans that in the third year the team would move to a varsity program, and hopefully have enough youths to sustain a varsity and a JV team. This would mean playing bigger schools, including suburban Columbus programs.

The second option would be to jump right into a varsity program and schedule smaller schools. There are over 20 smaller school districts within an hour drive from Howard that have varsity soccer. That list includes Mid-Buckeye Conference teams Northridge, Johnstown and Loudonville.

“Soccer is already in East Knox. It’s just not being played at the school,” said Geoff Green.

His son, Evan, is a junior on the Mount Vernon High School soccer team. Playing soccer since his preschool days, he attended East Knox through the eighth grade. When it was time for high school, Evan made the decision to open enroll at Mount Vernon to continue his soccer career.

Evan isn’t alone. Other members of the Yellow Jackets team have transferred in order to play high school soccer.

The Greens’ youngest son is in the eighth grade, and if the Bulldogs don’t implement a soccer team, he will be forced to make the same decision his older brother did.

“He is faced with that same dilemma. If he wants to carry on play at a higher level through high school, what does he do? He doesn’t get the option,” said Green. “If it is that important to him, then it is open enrollment.”

There are around 33 youths in the East Knox school district involved with youth soccer. Depending on the number of high school athletes interested in competing on a varsity team, girls may have to compete on the boys squad. This did nothing to deter eighth-grader Halle Berry from wanting a high school soccer team. She was the lone girl on her YMCA team this spring.

“Not many girls like soccer in our grade, but I love soccer,” she said. “I’ve been playing it since preschool and I just keep getting better and better. ... If we don’t have a girls team then I’ll have to play with the boys, which won’t bother me because I’ve been doing that for along time. I just want the opportunity to play soccer.”

Marschhausen said he was pleased with the high turnout and interest at Wednesday’s meeting, and plans on proposing the idea to the board in August. The major concern is the cost of transportation to and from games, one of the issues the school board will have to address when deciding on whether or not to adopt a soccer program for the 2008 fall season. If approved, plans will be made to put a soccer field in the middle of the new track that is under construction.

“[Soccer] is bound to happen sooner or later,” said Marschhausen.