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About Us
Paola Soccer Club's mission is to
provide recreational soccer in Paola for players age 4 through
18.
All About Paola
Soccer Club
Paola Soccer Club is an entirely
voluntary organization. All Board members are volunteers, as are
the coaches. The majority of each player's registration fee
goes toward field maintenance and referee fees.
Our History
Paola Soccer Club (PSC) began
during the 1980s as an outlet for soccer players in and around
Miami County to come together to learn and play soccer. Paola
and Miami County were growing and no organized soccer existed at
that time. In the early years, 20-30 players participated,
playing against each other and other surrounding cities. During
those years, PSC had played teams from many other cities . . .
Louisburg, Wellsville, Princeton, Ottawa, Drexel, and Pleasanton to
name a few. Today we still play all but Ottawa.
Our early games and practices
were held on the same grounds and fields that our practices are
held today which include the Industrial Park, the football field
located between Paola High School and Sunflower
Elementary, and at the north end of both the Paola High School
parking lot and north end of the Paola High School football
field. We began by using just the north end of the high school
area. As we grew and added older players, we were fortunate
enough to
have the City of Paola allow us to use the Industrial Park
area. In the mid 90s we added our “munchkin” soccer program for
players 4-5 years of age. We also began offering soccer for
older players 14-18 years of age. Then, and now, we share the
space with Paola USD 368 during football and track seasons.
In the mid 1990s as our club grew
and grew, it became apparent that the space we shared with the
high school and at the Industrial Park was not going to be
adequate to accommodate our growth. At that time, we acquired
acreage of swamp land at the south end of the Miami
County Fairgrounds and began developing it into what today is a
high quality soccer complex. It did not happen overnight.
Almost all work
was done by PSC volunteers – grading the land,
filling in low spots, seeding and fertilizing, and hoping for
rain. In 1999, we moved into our new complex. Today we
currently have fields for all age groups . . . from U6 through U19
and high school. We also have adequate space for more fields
should our growth continue. Over the past 2-3 years we have
been accommodating approximately 300 children in both our spring and fall
soccer seasons.
It was also in the mid 1990s that
our club begin having dreams of a high school soccer team. Much
time, effort, fund raising, continued player development, etc.,
was done in order to bring this dream to reality. At that time
there were a limited number of other high schools in our
district or classification that played high school soccer. In
the fall of 2003, our dreams became a reality as Paola High
School added soccer to its fall sports program. The team played
a limited schedule of only 8 games that year. In the fall of
2006, the Paola High School soccer team will play in 16 games.
In 2006, Paola High School will play Louisburg, St. James
Academy, Baldwin, DeSoto, Eudora, Ottawa, Gardner-Edgerton, Fort
Scott, Topeka-Hayden and Pittsburg.
As in our early years, PSC is run
and operated as a completely volunteer organization. We are
reliant upon these tireless volunteers to administer our club,
prepare our fields, put together and equip our teams and fields,
man our concession stand, and provide the man hours for the
countless other activities that are required to maintain our
organization. Without all of these volunteers, PSC could not
exist. PSC is a 501(c)3 charitable organization which is
primarily funded by the registration fees we collect each
season, sponsorship fees collected from our sponsors (whose
names adorn your children’s game shirts) and grants from the Baehr Foundation. Without the Baehr Foundation grants, our
registration fees would be significantly higher, our equipment
would be older and in worse shape, and our soccer complex would
be less developed.
Looking forward, PSC hopes to
acquire a long term lease on our soccer complex in order that
additional grants might be requested from various soccer
organizations to add lighting, better parking, irrigation, etc.,
to our complex. As Paola and Miami County grow, other sports
outlets will continue to be developed which attract our youth. PSC
hopes to continue to grow while providing a low cost soccer
program that can co-exist with the many other opportunities
available to our
youth.
We want to thank those who have
volunteered and supported our efforts over the years and
encourage others to volunteer in the future. We also want to
thank the Miami County Fair Board for leasing us the grounds our
soccer complex occupies as well as all of our many sponsors.
You’ll see their names scrolling across the top of our website.
Please support them as they have supported us. Finally, we
would
like to thank the Baehr Foundation for its generous support.
Remember. . . it's for the kids! |
