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From Tribune Star...(Published:
April 29, 2007 12:10 am )
Youth soccer in Vigo
moves forward
By Craig Pearson
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — While professional soccer in the
United States is far less popular than it is in the rest of the world, the sport
has become the most popular pastime for boys and girls in this country with more
than three million participants, according to U.S. Youth Soccer.
Vigo County is no exception, with more than 1,200 registered players this
spring. The Vigo County Youth Soccer Association has boasted a participation
level of approximately 1,000 children for each spring and fall for several
years.
About 70 percent of the participants in Terre Haute play in recreational
leagues, which starts at three years old for boys and girls. The remaining 30
percent is made up of competitive travel teams from U9 to U19 (9-and-under to
19-and-under) that play teams from an 80-mile radius around Indianapolis.
About 2,000 people visit the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds each Sunday from March 15
through June 15, creating a large weekly gathering of the soccer community.
That community will be moving to a new and improved home on approximately 50
acres on Springhill Drive, just west US 41.
The new home
The VCYSA has grown from only about 100 players in 1977, building on the soccer
explosion in the U.S. in the 1990s.
The league’s move to a higher quality facility is necessary, say many local
soccer coaches.
“To have your own complex, your own facilities, is a big step,” said Terre Haute
South boys soccer coach John Stephens. “We share the soccer fields at the
fairgrounds, with campers and trailers for the races [at the Terre Haute Action
Track]. It’s not unheard of to go out and pick up pop cans out on the fields.
It's a major step for the program, plus for the community.”
Stephens, who played for the VCYSA about 20 years ago, said he’s excited about
the growth potential that the new facility could bring, in addition to simply
upgrading the playing surface. Using the shared land at the fairgrounds means
the ground has many imperfections.
“It just kills you running on that pitch. You can hardly run straight. How can
you play a game and expect the ball to roll straight?” Terre Haute South girls
coach Dave Drake said. “Once they get the ground down there and get it
irrigated, that’s when I think you’ll see more of an equality in Terre Haute
with some of these other places.”
Terre Haute North boys soccer coach John Welch, a former VCYSA president, agrees
that the new facility should help soccer take a competitive step in Vigo County.
Welch’s son Joe is a junior at Terre Haute North and a member of the Terre Haute
Flyers U18 team that plays in the Central Indiana Youth Soccer League’s premier
division.
“I’m pleased with all the efforts they’re doing. The new fields will hopefully
increase skill and bring more teams into the area. It gives us the opportunity
to have tournaments, which can contribute to the economics of Terre Haute.”
It will help Terre Haute’s facilities be more level with those of its
competitors.
“I'm really excited about the new complex,” Stephens said. “I’m hoping it will
stir up more interest in soccer. It will be a nice showcase for our community
when teams travel here to complete against us. Most other cities have major
complexes like that.”
VCYSA board member David Abrams, whose tenure as president ended in November,
said this week that the VCYSA doesn’t expect to move the entire association
until next spring.
Grass was planted last August after the land was purchased from Ward Hubbard in
July. Hubbard has children playing in the VCYSA who this time next spring will
have 46 acres of playing fields compared to 17 acres available now at the Wabash
Valley Fairgrounds.
Abrams said it’s possible some of the upper level travel teams could use fields
at the new land this fall, but the committee does not want to trounce the young
grass before it’s ready for all that action.
“Everything’s in Mother Nature’s hands,” Abrams said. “We don’t want to get on
it for the sake of getting on it and ruin it. We’ve never deviated from our
plan. If we have to wait until the spring, we have to wait.”
The VCYSA officials had an artist render a layout for the fields as well as for
a concession stand. Funds are still needed to be able to complete the project.
“The first person to come up with a million dollars has naming rights,” Abrams
said.
A quality recreation experience
One of the founders of the VCYSA, Mike Aycock, is currently the director of
player development. Aycock, also the soccer coach at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, said
the biggest growth for the VCYSA came when adding the youngest levels of
competition.
In 2005, the 4U group was added, which has about 60 boys and girls
participating, registrar for the association Amy Frederick said.
The action can even be exciting for 3-year-olds. The toddlers play 3-on-3 on a
small-scale field, no score is kept and the teaching is kept to the basics.
“At that age, all you’re doing is introducing the player to the ball,” Abrams
said. “You don’t teach tactics. You say, ‘there’s the ball, go get it.’ It’s
cute at that age.”
Wendy Keith of Terre Haute signed her 5-year-old daughter Lauren up to play and
said she can witness her daughter learning important things such as teamwork.
“They have to learn to pass and work together,” Keith said.
Travel leagues aren’t available until children are nine years old, which is
mandated by the higher levels of youth soccer.
“We’ve gotten away from those high levels of competition for young children,”
Aycock said. “There’s been a movement now to make it a better experience for
small children. There’s an academy approach for the under 9s. Each club can have
coaches who coach in an academy format where it doesn’t necessarily put the best
kids against the best kids.”
“Soccer is a sport that’s fun for kids because it’s simple,” Aycock continued.
“There are 17 rules for goodness sake. It’s a simple game. It’s fun. That’s why
it’s so popular around the world.”
Improving talent level
The VCYSA reports more high school-aged kids trying out for travel teams than
ever before this spring, a welcome development for the county’s high school
coaches.
Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South compete against Indiana’s best high
school soccer programs in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference. Since
joining the MIC in 1998, boys soccer teams from North and South have combined
for a winning percentage of .212 in the MIC. Girls teams have a .176 winning
percentage.
The sheer size of the Indianapolis schools, Ben Davis being almost twice the
size of North and South, for example, is an obvious detriment. Ben Davis
produced current U.S. national team member Lauren Cheney — herself a product of
the Carmel United Soccer Club, which has 700 athletes at the travel level (U9 to
U19) alone.
The Carmel United Soccer Club has a full-time director of coaching and part-time
directors of coaching for boys and girls.
The VCYSA is currently in the process of hiring a full-time director of coaching
to complement Aycock’s work as director of player development.
Aycock also coaches a U16 girls team.
“We’re extremely lucky to have someone like Mr. Aycock,” Abrams said. “He gives
his time and expects nothing. He loves to develop the sport of soccer.”
A director of coaching would start at the recreational level to train and
recruit more coaches, Abrams said. Finding qualified coaches is a challenge that
has always faced the VCYSA.
“The only way your travel teams are going to continue to grow is to feed it from
your rec leagues,” Abrams said. “We have to spend more time and effort to
develop our rec program. We have to give coaches the necessary tools to make
this sport fun for the kids so they don’t lose interest. The director of
coaching is a key position for our organization.”
The Terre Haute South girls team had one of its most successful seasons last
fall, winning a sectional title but only winning one match in the MIC. One goal
by sophomore Allison Harper against Carmel was a rarity against Carmel in recent
years for Terre Haute teams.
South scored a school-record 86 goals in 2006, led by a strong senior class that
had came up through the ranks of the Terre Haute Flyers. Whitney Thomas scored
22 goals and Anna Pigg added nine goals. Fellow seniors Courtney Wininger and
Molly Hewitt combined for 19 assists.
That group of seniors is still playing together for coach Don Powell on a U18
team. They have a record of 2-0-1 in the Indiana Premier League.
Welch said he has 25 high school players involved in the VCYSA, which he said is
an increase in past years.
“There used to be kind of a drop-off for kids playing when they were younger,”
Welch said. “There’s still some of that but it seems to be less of a problem.”
Mike Bray and Mike Mauriello coach a girls U12 team, having coached together
since their daughters were five years old. They say they’ve seen less girls try
out for their travel team the last couple years.
Drake said he thinks players lose interest when they reach middle school, at
least partly because volleyball, track and tennis are school-sponsored sports
that kids can compete in with their classmates after school.
“It would help us to maintain girls in the soccer program if they had soccer in
middle school,” he said.
Drake and Welch said they think the quality of soccer that North and South have
produced has improved, but it has in other cities as well, especially in
Indianapolis.
Aycock agreed with that assessment.
“High school soccer has improved very much since it started being popular,”
Aycock said. “The Terre Haute teams have improved, the problem is you have to
improve faster than your competition.”
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