Supporting kids and local soccer programs

There was a lot of soccer in my life last week. On Monday I went to Plains to watch the Clark Fork girls play Columbia Falls. The Clark Fork teams consist of young men and women from throughout the region and is considered a club sport because it hasn’t been approved by any Sanders County school boards.

Then on Saturday I watched kids from age 3 to 12 play various games in Thompson Falls for a full day of fun. There were teams from throughout the county. Plains, Thompson Falls, Hot Springs and Trout Creek competed, as well as Superior. There were what seemed like hundreds of kids and family members involved in the day.

Also last week, I started watching the new season of “Welcome to Wrexham,” which details the journey of actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who bought a professional soccer team in England.

Soccer is becoming a big part of life in America. Soccer programs are relatively new to Sanders County, but I’m always impressed with how many kids participate and how much they improve through the years.

I don’t know much about soccer, and I guess I get why some people may not like soccer. It is fascinating to watch a team run around with no plays, hoping that the ball might meet the net. Watching a U-6 team with shorts down to their ankles run for the ball might just be the cutest thing ever. The U-12 teams were just as exciting, though after years of coaching and playing, they were much more coordinated and precise than the younger players. And the Babe Ruth baseball field in Thompson Falls has turned out to be a great venue for soccer teams.

Soccer is so physical. The Clark Fork girls ran so hard during their game, just their endurance was impressive. And as someone with not much coordination (I once broke a bone in my foot by stepping off a porch and not watching where I was going), I’m in awe at the ball handling skills by kids of all ages.

The Clark Fork Soccer Alliance has approached both Thompson Falls and Plains school boards about making soccer a school sanctioned sport and the team would be a co-op between the schools, just as other schools do for softball, wrestling and other sports. Plains School Board turned down the idea, with one of the reasons being that soccer was already successful as a club, as well as budget concerns, and so the Thompson Falls School Board never acted on the idea.

The infrastructure is already in place and the soccer programs seem to be booming with great support from parents, volunteers and sponsors. However, the Clark Fork U18 soccer team is consistently beating teams by 6-8 goals because they mostly play junior varsity teams instead of varsity. They aren’t able to play varsity games because other teams who are playing for official school sports only get a certain number of games each year and some aren’t willing to give up a varsity game to play a club team.

Especially in small towns, kids deserve every opportunity we can give them. Soccer is growing and has proven to be a popular sport in Sanders County. More people should encourage these kids, and the programs.

— Annie Wooden