Giver soccer consideration

It’s great that both Plains and Thompson Falls School Districts made baseball happen for boys from Noxon to Hot Springs! It’s a great game and the options for high school boys to play otherwise are expensive, require lengthy drives and they have to make the Legion cut. Both school boards approved the addition and then subsequently worked out coop agreements with Hot Springs and Noxon schools respectively to make it happen. The kids win when things come together.

It’s my hope both school boards give soccer in this valley the same consideration. Just like the boys of summer, kids who play soccer at the high school age ranges in Sanders County want very badly to play MHSA Varsity games.

Our girls high school aged team (U19) is set to complete three seasons with only one loss against JV squads from predominantly Class A schools. That one loss came to a team that hadn’t been beaten in three seasons either. Our girls’ goal differential for this year is +66 so far, meaning they’ve scored 66 more goals than all of their opponents this year. This is pretty consistent from the last two years. They’ve accomplished this all while playing down a player for half of some matches (to even the playing field for their opponents), they’ve switched positions they normally play (defenders are attackers, and vice-versa), they’ve made rules about how many touches they have to have before they can attempt to score goals. You get the point - they’re good.

These girls and their male counterparts (44 of them this fall) are every bit deserving of high school sanctioned activity as their counterparts who enjoy football, volleyball, cross country, basketball, wrestling and so on…. The feeder program that is Clark Fork Soccer Alliance has hundreds of kids currently, from ages 4-18, learning and loving the game of soccer, so it’s not going away any time soon.

Why is it so important to them? These kids want to represent their schools and be recognized for the hard work and dedication they put into their sport. They want: a shot at a district or divisional title match - maybe a state run; an opportunity to earn All-Conference honors; a varsity letter; school celebrations of their victories; to be included in pep rallies; some of them have aspirations of playing at the collegiate level and know they will never be seen by a scout in the fall playing JV teams. (Players have gone on to compete at the next level from Sanders County but it usually means trying out as a walk-on, and there’s no scholarship money). They want what their peers have, and peer recognition is important at these ages.

We hope any of you out there who are in support of this idea will reach out to your respective school boards to voice your support. Our kids need it.

Sincerely,

Erika Lawyer, Plains

CFSA Girls U19 Manager