I think we just need to wait a little longer to see more schools joins (probably a couple of years). You need a few less kids to come out for a soccer team than a football team. Those smaller schools can field a football team and they will find enough kids to fill out a soccer team too. If these schools polled their students and asked how many would try out for a soccer team I think they would find enough to start, they would only need 18 to field a good team and 30 or more to field both jv and varsity. Soccer is the fastest growing sport in the US and the world's most popular sport. I don't think it will ever replace football in the US but most of the kids I coach say that baseball is boring and track has little appeal to them. I feel part of the resistance that soccer is having in the state is because schools have ADs who have no idea about soccer and don't push it because it would be out of their comfort zone. It took years to change the soccer regionals to more than a one day event yet they want to change it back. We would never ask other sports to do this but some reason the high school sport with the longest time played is expected to play several games in one day. What is basketball 32 minutes a game yet they have 3 days for regionals, soccer is 80 minutes a game but the power that be expect them to play another 80 minutes with an hour or so break. But then again how many times do we actually do what is best for our students? So we just need to be patient to see more schools join. When these 3A schools see their rivals still doing well in track and their soccer team is getting statewide press they will want to involve more kids.

I believe the real reason smaller schools don't push soccer is the impact it will have on the existing programs. If you have followed these blogs at all, you will recall a blogger from Jackson pointing out how difficult it is for them to be competitive on a consistent basis because of all the offerings they have. If you only have 200 kids, you can't offer the choices of a 4A school, and be competitive. So a school has to decide which is better for their programs; offer a cafeteria plan and be mediocre at best, or limit the selection and utilize your athletes. It is about quality, not quantity. I know some will say that you need to give the kids the choice, because it is about the kids. That is a load of crap. In the classrooms in small schools they can't offer the same courses as 4A schools, unless you are willing to take the course via WIN video or some type of distance learning class. I guess with todays technology, we could set up XBOX in all schools and have our sports compete that way. Hey that is a good idea!

I feel it would be very hard for a 1A or 2A school to put together a team for soccer. In the fall most of our kids are out for volleyball & football. We have a very few kids in golf and have not had a cross country team for several years. Just don't have the numbers. In the spring we have a decent track team & small golf team. There would be some kids go out for soccer, but probably not enough. Our coaches and instructors have to work together to let the kids participate in activities. Our music department does most of it's activities in the spring when more kids are available. In bigger schools the kids probably are not or cannot be involved in overlapping activities. In a small school we try to make that happen. Adding another sport to the mix would put a drane on the budget, coaches, kids & time. The coop idea might work. Like a Crook County Soccer team with Hulett, Sundance & Moorcroft. Then you get into bus time & expenses for practicing, a field, coaches & what classification do they fall under? You have a 1A, 2A & 3A school. Anyway, just my thoughts.

The only budget concerns soccer brings to the table are uniforms, soccer balls, and travel. Heck, when I played high school futball we had uniforms that had been in service for 4 years. The only limiting factor to having a soccer team is the student population of the school, and even then, I found that persuading kids to leave track for soccer was easy enough (not that I think this is an answer)... "hey, instead of running aimlessly around a track, you could run around a field with a ball and have some sort of objective other than just crossing a line; and coming up with unique soccer goal celebrations is reason enough to play!" All funny aside, in all reality, you aren't going to have a quality soccer team, or a team at all, unless the high school's community has a youth soccer program in effect that can build skills and endurance and attract attention to the sport.

Hulett,Sundance, and Moorecroft competing as a co-op my goodness just think of how rough the practice would be lol The way they compete against each other when they face each other in the other sports and you think they could play together lol lol
All joking aside I beleve soccer would pull to many kids from the other sports.Hulett and Sundance already combine in golf.Unless there is a way that small schools can allow the kids to play more than one sport a season we won't be able to have the luxery of offering anymore sports than the ones we aready have

1AFAN - You have a great idea. Dual participation is allowed in So.Dak I believe. Track athletes also being able to participate in Soccer and Golf, or any combination. I think that idea has a ton of merit.

Being at a school that offers every activity that is sanctioned by the WHSAA, I have found that after some time to "let the dust settle", each of the programs can exist and in some cases flourish. All of them may not be of championship caliber, but it gives many students a chance to be a part of team and learn those life lessons that come from being in that situation. I have always felt that the goal of high school athletics is to provide a good experience for the student, so that when he is visiting with his/her friends at the class reunions, they can say that they enjoyed the experience and learned some things that helped them through events in later life. Of course those thoughts may have contributed to my being let go from a coaching position that didn't produce enough W's. That still hasn't changed my thoughts on the subject, however. The more students that have an opportunity to learn through activities, the better.

Kevin - That is fine for 4A schools, but most of the schools in the state don't have the student population to offer everything. The same experiences you talk about can be gotten from a high school that only offers 3 sports for the year. But you will always have those students that choose not to participate no matter what.

HS Sports Fan,

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that every school offer every activity. It would be next to impossible because of enrollment or budgets for every school to do that. What I was trying to say is that at a large school, not everyone has an opportunity to participate in the "traditional sports". I know this, because I was one who was cut from the basketball team when in high school. I think I may have benefited from an experience in another sport if it were offered. I hope that I didn't sound like I was advocating that every school should offer every sanctioned sport. That was not the intent. I am just in favor that as many students as possible be able to reap the benefits of being on a high school team.

There is a bigger picture here than having a high school program and budget- in order to have a truly competitive program you can not wait until Frosh year to start, there has to be a feeder program which begins at the youth level. Smaller schools can be competitive with larger schools as proven by Buffalo boys and girls and Worland boys with a proven youth program in place. In Worland for example it has taken years to build the boys program - many of this years team have played together competitively for 8-10 years and because of lack of youth #'s, ability to field girls youth teams and lack of knowledgable girls youth coaches the girls program has struggled and lagged behind. Note that lack of participants is not always the only issue - as with any youth program, the better and more knowledgable coaches are the better the program. In smaller towns finding several people with a solid understanding of the game of soccer is sometimes a challenge. I'm rambling here but what I'm trying to say is that you can not start a successful soccer program at the high school level, it begins years earlier and many of our smaller towns do not have the participants or resources to do that.

Soccer Mom, you are right about the feeder programs. We have a great summer rec program with basketball, volleyball & baseball. They do get a little soccer thrown in. We also have an elementary program for basketball and volleyball. When this year's seniors were in grade school they wanted to play football. There wasn't anything available, so some parents got together with Moorcroft and a team was formed. We travelled back and forth for practices and games were in Gillette on Saturdays. It was an opportunity that we had to make happen. If something were to come about in soccer I think it would have to work similiar to that, at least in the beginning. Our kids get so little exposure to soccer that it really isn't at the top of their list like the more popular sports are. As soccer becomes a force in Wyoming that may change.

I almost wish that soccer had remained one classification winning a class 3a title this year will mean about the same or less as winning a regional title last year. There are people who will say it makes more sense competitively to have two classes but I disagree. Programs like Lander and Buffalo have consistently been contenders, and in recent years Worland and Cody have also been strong programs. These teams have been able to play with and beat all of the teams in the new 4a. Last year Lander beat Rock Springs East Riverton twice, Sheridan, Evanston and Star Valley from 4a and lost to Sheridan by a goal at regionals. This past weekend They beat two 4a teams by 11 goals. It was a mistake to separate soccer it cheapens championships in both divisions.

Also it isn't that important to have a youth program Lander has had multiple all state players who played rec league until junior high. That said it certainly doesn't hurt to have those programs in place

I followed travel league soccer for 7 years with 2 children, quitting 3 yrs ago when my youngest entered HS and we always played Lander - I don't know the status of their traveling program currently but they have fielded some strong teams in the past. I never said that you could not have all state caliber players without a youth program - I said that in order to have a truly competitive program you can't have kids touch the ball for the first time as Frosh. Worland & Powell's girls programs have both struggled to be competitive as teams over the last few years but have consistently put a couple girls on the all conference & all state teams - the right athlete could start as a frosh and end their career as an all stater but it would be tough to win a state championship with a team of kids who had never played until HS.

I believe that students should have the opportunity to take part in any sport that they so desire. However, from first hand experience and from observations when adding sports all sports tend to suffer, because of the lack of competitiveness. What keeps kids going out for sports is winnning, because winning is fun. Its hard to find a sport that has high number of athletes and is losing at the same time, for at least a period time. Of course number can go up, but they usually don't stay there for very long if not winning. Most kids want to be part of a winning team. I know we as coaches try not to teach winning is everything, but it sure helps.

Track Guy,

I take it that you are speaking of track and field when a sport like soccer is added. 15 years ago, I would have agreed with you, but now, in 4A at least, every school offers soccer and I am finally at peace with that. The soccer teams are a school sponsored and WHSAA sanctioned sport and represent the school, unlike the proliferation of club sport teams. I also realize that not all 3A school are in this situation, but it is getting closer to that all the time. I remember going to football clinics in Colorado and listen to the coaches there complain about losing athletes to soccer. I imagine it all depends on the size of the school and what state you live ins as to your feelings on this.

I’m all for allowing more kids the opportunity to compete. But the simple fact is the more sports you add the more diluted the athletic pool becomes. The largest schools can still compete (at least within Wyoming), but the smaller schools will not be able to compete at even an average level at multiple sports concurrently. Basketball and wrestling co-exist because a very low percentage of their stereotypical athletes overlap. But those sports are being diluted by other new winter sports like hockey, indoor T&F, skiing, … Now the overlap is larger within the sports like T&F and soccer. You can see the effects soccer has had upon 4A T&F. The percentage of T&F athletes from soccer schools that qualify for the Wyoming Classic Meet (which was The Meet of Champions) has dropped considerably since the start of sanctioned soccer. So what has the T&F coaches done to counter the T&F decline within state, we now have now added Indoor T&F (even though we only have 2 facilities within the state to put on an indoor meet, and no other adjoining state has sanctioned indoor T&F). I will admit Indoor T&F has been a major influence to the number of (outdoor) T&F records that have been broken over the past 2 years (and above average weather conditions both years). Then as more summer soccer programs are formed, then sports like baseball will be the next sport to feel the popularity of soccer. I don’t agree with 1AFAN about the SD rule that allows an athlete to compete in multiple sports concurrently. I know I wouldn’t be happy if I practiced everyday and had to share playing time with someone who practiced only half the time, but was a better athlete than myself.

Tmillerwyo
I promise that skiing has little or no affect on Basketball and wrestling, it's been around since the 80's and is only offered by six schools, very few of those athletes would be out for wrestling and not many for Basketball, Hockey I think is similar and is not a WHSAA sport anyway so it's beyond control.
I haven't been alive long enough to know about the decline of 4a at the meet of champions but Soccer has been around for a long time now at 4a schools so that isn't going to change.
Also Wyoming is, as far as I know, the only state where soccer is a spring sport. most places it is in the fall. I don't think that would work here because of football. most schools wouldn't have the numbers to support both programs. A track program can exist with 15 athletes, that isn't true of football and soccer, soccer needs at least 25 to compete and football probably more than that.

Sorry for rambling on there

After all the Newcastle comments on all of these blogs, I am suprised that they have not made their presence known. When it first came in in Newc., there was a large controversy and many people against it. Mostly based on the idea that it will kill the track program and they would lose all of the athletes. At the time, athletes could run varsity track and play club soccer BOTH. When soccer came in, they had to choose and there were "unsurprising results". Most of the solid girl athletes went to soccer and a track program that was in the top three many years in a row at state faced the last couple of seasons where they had under 10 athletes total out for track. I am not trying to start a fight, or a controversy.....just wanted to point out the fact that a smaller school doesn't have enough athletes to have both a successful track and soccer program.
PS - the Dogie girls soccer team is really pretty good....but the track team is still struggling with numbers!

NOT a soccer mom,

You make some interesting points regarding soccer in Newcastle, however, some of facts are a little off. If you read the Newcastle paper this week and the spring sports previews that were included, the girls and boys track participant numbers are both higher than the soccer participant numbers. The girls soccer program struggled with numbers last year and very rarely could field enough players to have a full JV game. This year the Newc boys soccer numbers are only 17 and there is no way that they can play both a JV and V contest on the same day and stay within the state rules. I am sure when Powell or Cody or Jackson travel to Newc to play a game and a half they will not be very happy. In the same paper, it was reported that track numbers are 22 for girls and 23 for boys-now these teams may not be world beaters but the girls team returns 7 state qualifiers and one state champion. The boys team will be strong in the distance events and should have an impact at the state meet.

Not a soccer mom and track fan,

When did it stop being about the kids and being happy about the fact that these kids are out for a sport and off the street? I think the big problem in Newcastle isn't about taking numbers from a program, its about the administration and the fact that they don't like change... Don't take this away from those kids who don't like running around a track!

However, to go back on my comment somewhat, it seems that things ARE getting better and that more people are getting used to it. That is a good, positive thing.

Not a soccer mom, track fan, and Get over it - I get the feeling you are all from Newcastle as you seem to be very knowledgeable about what has happened in Newcastle since soccer was introduced to the high school programs there.
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May I offer my perspective? - THanks - Newcastle doesn't now and certainly didn't then have the numbers to offer a competitive soccer program. In the 3 years of the program (I believe the last 2 at varsity level) have they been able to field a competitive team? In year 1 - as a JV program using Juniors and seniors they couldn't compete with 3A levels schools JV teams. Last year as a varsity, did they win a game? This year they have already lost to newcomer Torrington (boys). And while all this is happening the track numbers are increasing? Proof that a kids would rather participate in an individual sport and have marginal success rather than be a part of a poor team program like soccer?
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What really happened when soccer was approved in Newcastle is that the school board had a couple of PRO soccer members that were also members of the club program, and also some very sympathic board members that struggled to make a good decision with so many kids in the board room.
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The result of the decision? Proposals to add high school golf and middle school swimming. Golf failed to be approved, but swimming was added to the program at the middle school with around 10 participants for boys and girls in grades 6, 7, 8. Is that good?

OH - What are the numbers in the Newcastle club program? Last I heard they were dropping and they were having difficulty getting qualified people to coach at the introductory level. Good people stepping in to be adults supervisors while high school kids coach? Adding the program at the high school level and not having qualified or interested coaches in the schools caused those individuals that had always been involved at the club level to have to step up and take the HS program. To me that is biting the hand that feeds you.

Good point Soccer Fan (Not). I was at that same board meeting and you hit it right on the head. Even the coaches that they now have at the school are not school employees, and have taken away from those possible "club" coaches. What happens when this group of kids and parents and "soccer mom" board members all graduate and move on? Then where is the backing behind the soccer program? Without the backing.....then I bet Jackson, Lander, and other west side schools will be really excited to come play possibly 1 varsity game against a 1/2 varsity 1/2 JV level team. Are you sure this was what was best for kids? Or was it for a group of select kids and their moms that wanted what was best for their babies?

Get Over It- It is a very good thing that these kids are off the street and becoming involved in something positive. It is a good thing, however, that Torrington has over 40 kids out for soccer and are unable to play a full JV game due to Newcastle's lack of boys out for the sport. How are they helping the other schools programs-after all isn't that what JV games are for?

Knowing all the coaches in the Newcastle program, I believe they will continue to coach even after their kids are gone. The boys coaches don't have kids in the program and I truly believe their hearts are in the right spot. However, that doesn't change how I feel about how soccer was added in Newcastle. It had more to do with Board members having an agenda for soccer and other board members falling victim to an emotional situation.
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I agree that whenever you can get kids off the street and involved it is a good thing, but the kids in the Newcastle Soccer program were already off the streets and they were involved in track and as was stated earlier, they also played club soccer.

G.D. Commie Kickball causing such a ruckas!!! I say we scrap the whole sport throughout the state and make sure each school has a golf program...

Whoa JA-You're gonna stir up a pot of nasty with that comment. I'm a fan of a 2A East school that will probably never have soccer but we have two outstanding golf teams, and our track teams are consistently strong. Part of this comes from having an excellent course to play/practice on all season and summer. Our track is like many others across the state, in VERY POOR condition and needing redone or needs one built. Add in rodeo and that dilutes the pool even more.
if it were my call we'd dump soccer, T&F and spring golf and add BASEBALL/FASTPITCH SOFTBALL. if you've never seen these at the hs level than go to Rapid City or Ft Collins for a weekend this spring and you'll be surpised how "boring" these two sports are. Wyoming is probably last in the US in interest/participation and another Tom Browning or Mike Lansing might never happen-just look at the mess in Casper with their Legion program.
Soccer mom hit it right-you just don't decide to have soccer, there has to be grassroots interest from when the kids are at the grade school ages. this is for all sports-look at rodeo, Wyoming ranch kids are riding horses before they're out of diapers.

11-0 - WOW! Is Newcastle still playing JV Soccer?

TO JA:

What really needs to happen is and yes i know a thousand posts of hate are gonna rain down on me, but basketball season should be made shorter. There is a lot of talk about equality and letting everyone have a chance at sports well let us give soccer a chance if your against it then leave us alone. The reason so many smaller schools can't start a soccer team or anything else is because they are so driven to play basketball by coaches and teachers and everyone else that doesnt know a single thing about soccer. Especially at my high school so many coaches complain that oh soccer isnt a sport well why dont you all open your eyes!! We are like the newcastle soccer team of the world. . . Somebody said its no fun unless you are winning well you have to start somewhere.

Newcastle Lady Soccer has already proved themselves as having enough numbers and being able to provide a competitive team. Though their in-season record didn't necessarily prove it, their performance at State this weekend certainly did. Holding Worland 0-0 after OT AND going into a shoot out, which Newcastle only lost because of one unlucky shot on their part.
THEN, beating Powell. And THEN beating Lander to be consolation champions! All of which these schools have had soccer programs, and this is only Newcastle's second year at the varsity level.

dgfan - kudos to the lady dogie soccer team. They have been playing together for a long time and yes in only their second year at the varsity level they represented themselves well. My concern is where do they go from here? They are losing their best players and from what i can see their feeder program is drying up as well. If you look back at the history of the club program, they competed well until this group of girls went through. They simply don't have the numbers to compete with anyone at the 3A level anymore.
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Will their coaches be back next year since their children are graduating? This question isn't meant as a knock, as they have devoted countless hours to the kids and program. I just don't feel the community supports the program in the way it needs to for it to be sustained.