This spring there was something new on the fields at Star Valley Middle School and by extension the fields at Star Valley High School as middle school soccer teams became a realty for the area. SVMS Activities Director, Jake Rich, spoke with SVI about the experiences of this year’s inaugural season. It was a collaborative effort between several southwest Wyoming school districts.

“We saw a need for middle school soccer in the region and it turned into which schools wanted it and which schools didn’t,” he said. “Rock Springs, Green River, Evanston and ourselves got together and our respective school boards backed that and we hope we can continue to grow it in the future.”

From that point, the school then began gathering what was needed for the first foray into a new sport for 7th and 8th grade students.

“Uniforms, equipment, making sure you don’t forget the little details,” Rich explained. “We have some great coaches who helped with that. Wyoming is not always the friendliest in the spring but this year was great. We worked on the high school fields and they were gracious enough to let us use those. Then from uniforms all the way down to cones we got things set up.”

Coach Adam Isaacson was part of the start of SVHS soccer 22 seasons ago which began with a junior varsity campaign and spoke on the parallels of helping do the same at the middle school level.

“You’re hoping athletes will show up and then you try and build them into a program,” he answered. “We’ve had some good club programs and the Afton and Thayne youth programs have really helped. But middle school soccer has been a dream of mine for a long time. It’s been a great blessing to allow kids to play at a more competitive level and I hope we can continue doing it and getting kids involved. I think it will be a major support for the high school programs for many years.”

Fellow coach Kyle Roniger noted the excitement level that was felt through the halls after the approval by the school board.

“I remember watching the school board meeting when this was presented and you could feel the excitement and anticipation,” he recalled. “Being in the middle school and feeling the excitement and being addressed by the kids as coach was amazing. We had about 23 8th graders and about 31 7th graders show up. That’s a large amount for two grades. They were excited to have a new opportunity and represent the Warriors in a different way.”

Roniger also echoed that the game will continue to grow with the more added opportunities from the middle school program.

“The biggest gap that we saw was touches and exposure in Star Valley,” he added. “That’s the difference between us and every other school that has soccer. I told these boys that you are playing more soccer in the spring than we ever have. That’s huge and will make a gigantic difference at the high school. Putting on a Warrior uniform and having referees and going up against the schools will help add to the level of success at the high school.”

It’s also another way for young teens to maybe experience something new. As Mr. Rich emphasized, students engaged in activities, whether sports related or not, perform better in the classroom.

“We see it all the time that maybe a kid will try a sport and then say that they love it,” Rich recounted. “We’ve seen that recently with girls wrestling. Now we’re seeing it with soccer. Opening that door was great to see. The other part that’s great is there are kids who maybe would not have participated in a spring sport and they are doing this. It’s good for academics to be dialed in for the spring months and benefit from that.”