More than a game

The Gresch family has weathered rain, sleet and gale-force winds for kicks. Withstanding the weather is old hat for the three-generation soccer family, who’ve spent the past 26 years on fields and sidelines.

“I remember once shoveling lines in the snow for a soccer game,” said Karen Gresch of Otis Orchards.

“I guess when you love something you don’t let the weather affect you much.”

The Gresches’ long, soggy soccer journey began when, as parents of two young children, they helped a group of Valley parents organize Spokane Valley Junior Soccer Association.

What began as a grassroots effort to eliminate a long drive to Joe Albi Stadium for soccer games evolved into a 300-team league with 3,000 players ages 5 to 19.

On Sunday, SVJSA will celebrate 25 years and many milestones with a tournament and party.

The association influenced several generations of parents and players, who recapped brilliant offensive maneuvers and defensive coups at dinner tables stretching from Millwood to Liberty Lake.

SVJSA’s efforts led to the formation of soccer programs at East Valley High School.

Volunteers raised money and donated labor that built a 13-field soccer complex at Plantes Ferry Park, a complex that attracts regional competitions and accommodates hundreds of games during peak season.

Last month, SVJSA scheduled 215 games at the complex and “fall is even worse because we have even more teams,” said Gus Schmach, office manager and a founding parent.

Tom and Karen Gresch were among a dozen parents who organized the league and lobbied Valley school districts to donate space on school property for soccer fields.

Their son, Tommy Gresch, now 35, helped his dad install goal posts into fields on East Valley School District property.

Diesel fuel was sprayed along fields to create lines, which were later painted or chalked onto the grass.

“I remember our first game; we always smelled like diesel,” Tommy Gresch said.

Volunteers pored through registrations and recruited parent coaches, who were initially reluctant to coach the unfamiliar sport.

With the help of instructional clinics, coaches learned the basics, but season one was brutal.

“I think the hardest part was getting coaches for the teams. I remember the first season we lost every game,” said Karen Gresch, who coached daughter Amy’s team.

Registrations doubled and tripled within a few years and soon jersey-clad players dotted nearly every Valley park and sports field.

“It grew so quickly with the youth and adult (leagues) that you couldn’t ever have enough referees,” her son added.

Over the years, the league outgrew basements and backrooms – where volunteers stored boxes of paperwork – and progressed to its own office and a half-dozen full, part-time and seasonal employees.

Computers now do what volunteers once did by hand, putting together teams and scheduling fields, games and referees.

Boys’ teams initially outnumbered girls’ by a significant margin, however, the gender gap is closing, Schmach said.

Changes throughout the years include creating mini-mod soccer, a three-on-three format designed to teach young children skills, and adding competitive divisions with select and premier teams.

After a positive experience coaching his two children on SVJSA teams, Dave Taskila, now a grandfather, coaches other people”s kids.

His own children loved soccer so much that they played through their years at Central Valley High School.

Now his 5-year-old grandson is playing mini-mod soccer for SVJSA.

“Not everyone is going to be a superstar, but it’s a game you can play all your life,” Taskila said.

As a former teacher at East Valley Junior High, Stan Davis coached school and recreational soccer.

Over the years, his children and foster children played the sport, several moving on to play at the high school level.

Davis wanted his kids to get exercise and have fun. They walked away with life lessons.

“It’s like a smorgasbord what they take home with them,” he explained.

After helping form SVJSA, Tom and Karen Gresch, now retired, coached their children’s teams and played adult recreational soccer.

Tom Gresch officiated games for SVJSA, and Karen Gresch became an assistant soccer coach for Community Colleges of Spokane.

Their son took a refereeing course at his dad’s coaxing when he was age 12 and refereed his way through Washington State University, calling college, national and professional games.

After playing four years of soccer at East Valley High School, Amy Mason, now 33, became a teacher.

Today, the stay-at-home mom coaches a team for 7-year-olds that includes Tommy’s son, Tristan, and her own son, Christian.

Her brother regularly volunteers to referee, and jokes that officiating professional games was a cakewalk compared to calling the grandkids’ games in front of his mom and dad.

“I get heckled even more sometimes now. Now I get ‘Nice call ref’ from my own parents and all I want to do is watch my son play,” he said.

After becoming a teacher, he went to work at East Valley High School, where he coached girls’ soccer with his mom. He then moved up the ladder to become a high school administrator for District 81 and today, Cheney High School.

“For me, it (soccer) has really shaped where I’ve ended up. I’ve just had great experiences. It’s led me into education, where I am now.”