Clarke’s club soccer program draws interest from potential coaches

It’s time to get the ball rolling with soccer.

According to Ryan Sweeney, Clarke activities director, there are two members of the community who are interested in coaching a club soccer team for Clarke Community High School.

A meeting was scheduled this week for the interested coaches.

“The idea is to have a club this spring and see where interest level is and go from there,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney said, of the two potential coaches, one has a coaching certification, and the other is taking coaching classes.

“The intention is to have them both certified by the time the season starts. They have a passion for soccer and would like to be involved,” Sweeney said.

The soccer club teams would be open to male and female high-school students.

Practices/games

As for when club practices would start, Sweeney said soccer is a spring sport and practices would start sometime before spring break, like most other spring sports.

If there’s enough interest in club soccer, who would the club teams play against?

“We’d probably end up playing JV (junior varsity) teams in the area,” Sweeney said. “We’d have to figure that out on our own.”

If the club soccer season proves to be a success, what comes next?

If Clarke soccer does well, Sweeney said he has been recommended by the state to then start the program as a junior-varsity program for two years so the district can become more accustomed to the state’s structured environment and scheduling.

After that period of time, the next step would be for Clarke to create a varsity soccer program.

JV next year?

One of Sweeney’s goals is to have soccer become a junior-varsity sport by next year. He said the program would be evaluated on a “year-by-year basis.”

However, Sweeney did say he was nervous about club soccer, especially as it gets closer to spring.

“I have my reservations about it, but we have a lot of, especially, young interest,” Sweeney said. “I’m all for anything that gets kids involved.”

When students do ask Sweeney about club soccer, he said he replies, “It’s a work in progress.”