Prairie Soccer Club offers competition despite uncertainty in YCS sport

By Dylan Reubenking/[email protected]

The Yelm-based Prairie Soccer Club (PSC) is preparing for a fall season that may include more students than usual.

The club, which has served the Yelm community for nearly 40 years, has extended its fall registration deadline to July 25, a week after the Yelm Community Schools (YCS) board is scheduled to vote on the future of the district’s athletics and use of the facilities by local sports leagues on July 18.

PSC has 27 teams organized by age group, each with at least two coaches. In total, the club serves approximately 400 student athletes in the Nisqually Valley area and competes against teams from the Thurston County Youth Soccer Association. Seasons run 12 weeks and include eight games against clubs from Olympia, Lacey, Rochester, Tenino, Tumwater and Black Hills, to name a few.

YCS doesn’t offer a soccer program for student-athletes until they reach middle school, while PSC has teams with students as young as 4. After the dual failure of the district’s educational programs and operating levy this spring, the school board will soon decide how to reduce athletic offerings to save money.

The board also discussed increasing fees for use of facilities of local sports leagues, including the PSC, and expressed support for them to use district fields, such as at Yelm Middle School, where the PSC often hosts games and practices.

“We support the school’s programs. We are the training ground for all the kids who play soccer in middle and high school,” said Michael Brackett, PSC board chairman. “If we continue to push the levy, clubs like PSC that are not affiliated with schools will be critical to ensuring that these kids actually continue to play when they are unable to do so in school.”

In the past, PSC has competed with other sports programs in Yelm for space to practice and compete since the club did not have its own space. In fact, some of the younger age groups have competed in Rainier since PSC does not have enough space for all the kids in Yelm.

“PSC’s biggest need for growth is field space. We are in constant competition with the other sports in Yelm for the few fields we have. The city is great at getting field space, but there just isn’t that much field space from the city for soccer fields,” Brackett said. “That’s our biggest obstacle to growth.”

Brackett said the PSC board made a conscious decision to keep fall registration open for a few more weeks so parents could decide depending on the school board’s vote. If the school board decides not to keep its fall soccer programs, more students will turn to clubs like the PSC for competition. Registration will run until July 25, or until all teams are full.

“We have players that sometimes play for the school in the fall and then play for us in the spring. So if they decide not to have a fall program at the school, those players would have nowhere to go if we closed enrollment,” he said. “With the enrollment, it’s going to be an interesting couple of years.”

To learn more about PSC and to register, visit https://yelmpsc.org/home.