Youth Soccer Is Autumn Rite Kids, Parents Gather By The Thousands For Games
There are a few sure signs that fall has arrived in the Inland Northwest - honking geese overhead, Cougar Football Saturday ads on the radio and hordes of parents watching soccer.
And we’re talking hordes, here.
From Riverside to the Valley, thousands of area parents gather each Saturday to cheer brightly clad kids as they pursue a bouncing ball across fields of green.
Take Saturday, for example.
The city’s sprawling north sports complex near Albi Stadium was jammed for most of the day, with soccer games going on in nearly a dozen fields along with two youth football contests on nearby gridirons.
Longtime veteran soccer mom Linda McGlocklin of Mead was in attendance, as she has been on almost every Saturday for a decade.
Her two sons, 17-year-old Scott and 14-year-old Colin, have played soccer since they were in grade school.
McGlocklin, taking a break from watching Colin compete, said she’s attended games in Pasco and Sandpoint on the same weekend.
She’s also stood on the sideline during monsoon-like storms to watch games.
“They never cancel a soccer game - ever,” she said with just a hint of disdain. “That’s the worst part of it, watching it in the rain.”
The best part?
“Seeing their skills develop,” said McGlocklin, glancing in Colin’s direction. “It’s a big difference now than when he was a defenseman in second grade picking dandelions and sitting down on the field.”
In family-friendly Spokane, attending youth league soccer games is as much a part of being a parent as worrying, yelling and changing diapers. More than 8,000 kids between the ages of 6 and 15 play youth soccer in the Greater Spokane area, and they’re never without an audience.
Rain or shine, intrepid moms and dads are out there, sitting on lawn chairs or blankets and shouting things like, “Big foot here, Matt” or “Kick it, Nicole, kick it.”
Laura McCune was on the sidelines of a north complex field Saturday, watching her 7-year-old daughter, Cassady, and the Red Panthers taking on the neon-clad Pink Shots.
McCune said she has a lot of fun watching Cassady and 10-year-old daughter Meghan compete, although her schedule can get hectic during soccer season.
Last weekend, the girls both had games at different fields in different parts of town at different times.
“So it took all of last Saturday for those,” McCune said. “And that’s just with two kids. There are people with three or four kids playing. I don’t know how they do it.”
Begging for help helps, said Jim Butler, whose three daughters - Colleen, 10, Katie, 8, and Keely, 6 - all play soccer.
“I get some days when I’m all over the city,” Butler said between games Saturday. “Other days I have conflicts, so I see who can help me out.”
Team parents are good about giving players rides to games or taking them home afterward, he said.
Butler said he sometimes laments the fact that soccer cuts into his golf time.
“But they all seem to love it, so I can’t say no,” he said. “Besides, it’s fun to watch your kids play.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo