Youth Soccer playing this Spring

 

May 5, 2021



A special short season of soccer will be held for Big Sandy’s young athletes running from the last week of April into May. The local soccer season typically takes place place in the fall, with practices and games against teams from neighboring towns. Last fall, the season was cancelled due to the Covid lockdowns. The decision to hold a short make-up season for students was made after the league organizer, Rachel Baumgarn, began receiving requests for soccer from area students. “It’s mainly because I had a bunch of kids ask me, because we had to cancel it last year. I had a bunch of kids who wanted to do it.” The season will differ from the regular fall season in that it will be shorter and without weekly games. “We’re throwing in a spring season because all the kids wanted one. So it’s just for fun. We’re not playing anyone. We’ll just practice two days a week for a month. Just kinda for fun.”

The issue of running only practices, without games is mostly due to the lack of other teams to play against. Rachel reached out to other towns and was unable to find any that would be playing soccer in the spring. In addition, the league is facing a potential shortage of coaches. This impacted the decision as to whether or not to divide our own kids into teams and play games against each other on Saturdays. “We were going to do that, but a majority of my coaches right now are pregnant. So we were going to do it, but I don’t know if I will have enough people for one day. We might just make the last practice super fun. It’s not written in stone, but it’s not ruled out. I didn’t put it on the registration…because I don’t want to let down any of the kids.” Most of the decision regarding potential Saturday games will be based on the availability of coaches. For the most part, the league has just enough coaches to run the practices during the month. That situation may not extend into next fall, and the league may need new volunteers to help run soccer in Big Sandy. “We’re kinda short on coaches. I think I have enough for the month, and I don’t know how it will look for fall right now. I’m always in need to coaches. Volunteers are always great!” In addition to coaches, the league also regularly needs referees to help out with local games. Rachel explained that the anyone interested in helping out doesn’t need any prior experience or understanding of soccer: “Nothing… I knew nothing when I started coaching. No one ever knows anything before they start coaching.”

The registration deadline for soccer has passed, but Rachel explained that they will be accepting late registrations. “We had registration due on the 22nd, but the first practice is the 27th after school. I’m sure I’ll have people register that day.”

Practices will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There is no cost to register. Students will need shin guards, though the league has some collected for those who are unable to provide their own. In years past, the cut-off age for soccer has been 12, but for our spring season they will be raising the age to 16. “It’s going to be fairly normal. We did raise the ages, but we haven’t had anyone above elementary school register yet. We had quite a few kids who aged out last year, so they didn’t get to play on their last year. A lot of them just wanted to practice.” The maximum age will return to 12 for next fall’s season.

The season will end a week before school ends in May. Rachel plans to open registration for baseball the following week.

 
 

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