In many ways, soccer can be addicting: the smell of fresh-cut grass, the feeling a player gets after scoring a goal, or from making a save. When lives become busier, some die-hard players are forced to hang up their cleats. Now, with the forming of club soccer, no one has to leave the sport that they adore. “Time is a big issue,” said senior Shepherd Lashley. “I’m a tour guide, a WQFS DJ, (I) work in the library, and on top of all that, I’m taking 17 credit hours.”
The possible stress from playing soccer can also cause players to stop playing.
“In high school I was playing on three different teams: club, varsity, and with the Olympic Development Program (ODP),” said senior Thomas Wotherspoon. “I was playing soccer all year long and by senior year I was burnt out.”
After playing the sport for twelve years, Wotherspoon took his senior year of high school off and found it difficult to return to playing soccer competitively when he came to college.
Wotherspoon and Lashley are only two of a growing number of students who face the dilemma of loving a sport they cannot commit to. In an attempt to cater to these athletes, Randy Doss and Aaron Fetrow asked Ryan Huber, 08,’ to spearhead a new soccer league at Guilford.
“Club soccer is for people who want something more serious than just playing games one night a week,” said Huber. “It’s not as serious as varsity but is still a lot of fun. The guys get a chance to play around and not have to worry about messing up and having their playing time affected by not playing well.”
Senior Seth Congdon is excited to start playing again after spending four years away from the field.
“I took off senior year of high school and got out of shape, so I didn’t try out for the varsity team freshman year,” said Congdon. “I didn’t want to play because I knew I wouldn’t get enough playing time.”
“Fitness is the biggest difference (between the club and varsity teams),” said Lashley. “We’re 99 percent heart and one percent fitness.”
The team of 15 members showed their heart last Sunday playing their first game against Danville Community College, which Guilford won 10-4.
“We dominated. It was so much fun to play competitively against people we don’t know and with refs,” said Lashley. “It was a really exciting first game and the first time I’ve played competitively in years.”
Club soccer holds practices Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 until dark next to the recreational field. Huber hopes to hold both home and away games on Sundays.
“It’s been hard to start up since it wasn’t publicized very well, so lots of people don’t know about it yet, and we’ve only been able to have three practices,” said Wotherspoon. “But it will only get better as it continues.”
“As coach, I’ve been trying to get in touch with as many community colleges and club teams as possible to play games,” said Huber. “So far we have just been playing (during practices) but if we can get some more people to come out we’ll start working on some different drills.”
Most of the all-male team played either club or varsity soccer in high school, but anyone who is interested is welcome to join – including girls.
“It’s still in the infancy stages,” said Lashley “This year’s a trial run. If it’s successful it might one day be on the scale of rugby or frisbee, but that’s yet to be determined.