Dylan Reubenking/dylan@yelmonline.com
Yelm-based Prairie Soccer Club (PSC) is preparing for a fall season that could see more students participate than usual.
The club, which has served the Yelm community for nearly 40 years, has extended its fall registration deadline to July 25, one week after the Yelm Community Schools (YCS) board is scheduled to vote July 18 on the future of district athletics and use of the facility by local sports leagues.
PSC has 27 teams divided into age groups, with each team having at least two coaches. Overall, the club supports about 400 student-athletes in the Nisqually Valley area and plays against teams in the Thurston County Youth Soccer Association. The season is 12 weeks long and features eight games against clubs from Olympia, Lacey, Rochester, Tenino, Tumwater and Black Hills.
YCS does not offer a soccer program for student-athletes until middle school, while PSC has a team with student-athletes as young as 4. Following a double failing of the district's educational programs and operations levy this spring, the school board will soon be deciding how to cut sports programs to save money.
The board also discussed and expressed support for increasing facility fees for local sports leagues, including PSC, to use district fields such as Yelm Middle School, where PSC frequently holds games and practices.
“We support school programs. We're the practice field for all the kids who play soccer in middle school and high school,” PSC board chairman Michael Brackett said. “As we move forward with the levy, out-of-school clubs like PSC are going to be really important in keeping soccer going in practice when you can't play soccer at school.”
In the past, PSC has competed with other athletic programs in Yelm for field space to practice and compete in because the club does not have its own space, and in fact, some of the younger age groups competed at Rainier because PSC does not have enough space to accommodate all of the kids from Yelm.
“The biggest growth we need for PSC is field space. We're constantly competing with other sports in Yelm for what little field space there is. The city is great at getting field space, but we don't get a lot of field space from the city that we can use for soccer fields,” Brackett said. “That's the biggest obstacle to growth.”
Brackett said the PSC board intentionally decided to extend fall registration by a few weeks to allow parents time to make a decision based on the outcome of the board vote. If the board decides not to continue with fall football programs, more students will turn to clubs like PSC to compete. Registration will run through July 25 or until teams are full.
“We have players who play for their school in the fall and play for us in the spring, so if a school decides not to have a fall program, if they close enrollment, those players have nowhere to go,” he said. “The levy is going to make the next few years interesting.”
For more information about PSC and to register, visit https://yelmpsc.org/home .
