Powell Middle School will add its first-ever soccer club this spring.

“At this point, this is just a soft start to give our kids an opportunity that currently they don’t have,” Superintendent Jay Curtis said last month.

The middle school has “quietly held a soccer culture within our student body,” said Chanler Buck, the school’s activities director. A survey of incoming seventh- and eighth-graders last year showed nearly 50 students interested in participating in a school-sponsored soccer club, Buck said.

To move forward with the club’s creation, the Park County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees unanimously approved adding a sponsor to oversee the program on Jan. 14.

Justin Waterworth will serve as the sponsor and assist in building “the long-awaited program,” Buck said.

Soccer will be available to seventh- and eighth-grade girls and boys. The season is slated to begin with the first practice on March 9 and continue through April 25. That makes the season about six weeks (excluding the week of spring break).

Buck said the middle school has faced some challenges in starting soccer.

“I think one of the things that has held up this program in the past is our location,” he said. “There are not many middle school [soccer] programs in Wyoming.”

Worland’s soccer program is Powell’s “closest competition by far,” he said. Powell will play Worland twice — one home game, and one away.

Other school-sponsored soccer teams include Buffalo, Newcastle, Douglas, Rawlins and two middle schools in Gillette. Riverton is planning to add a middle school soccer program next year, Buck said.

“It’s not realistic to travel to Gillette with middle school kids, nor is it to Douglas — and even Buffalo is a pretty good jaunt for kids,” he said.

There may be a chance for Powell to play in a quad tournament in Buffalo with the two Gillette schools on a Saturday.

“We wouldn’t go any further than that,” Buck said.

Powell Middle School also may be able to play local private soccer clubs.

Those clubs have given kids the opportunity to play soccer competitively, but it can be expensive for families to pay for their child’s equipment and traveling costs.

“There’s a very large group of kids in our district that have the interest, but not the funds to play club soccer,” Curtis said, adding, “Anytime you go out on the playground during recess at the middle school, there’s a bunch of kids playing soccer.”

Currently, track and tennis are the only sports offered to middle schoolers in the spring. The tennis club draws anywhere between 15 to 30 students, while the track team has seen roughly 120 students, though that number usually goes down a bit by the end of the season.

While soccer may take some students away from track, last year’s survey showed 95 middle school students would still go out for track.

“Certainly, we don’t want to take away from that program, but the real picture is that we may be missing kids who aren’t involved in anything at all,” Buck said.

Buck believes soccer will increase participation numbers and get the middle school closer to its goal of having 95% of students participating in extracurricular activities.

Currently, the middle school’s participation rate is hovering around 75%, but swimming, track and soccer “will certainly influence our goal of 95%,” Buck said.

“Middle school is about exposure and exploring new ideas and seeing where they belong going forward,” he said.

The club could lead to a “long-sustaining soccer program at the middle school,” Buck added.

Initially, only one club sponsor will be hired. As with sponsors for other middle school activities, Waterworth will receive $967 for the season. Volunteers will assist with some coaching duties.

“If we’ve got 45 kids out for spring soccer, we need help,” Buck said. “I’ve received a lot of interest and feedback from parents and people in the community with soccer experience who said they would be happy to help out.”

Waterworth is in the midst of seeking and recruiting coaching volunteers in the community, Buck said.

Superintendent Curtis said if there’s a lot of interest in soccer, then perhaps another sponsor would be hired in the future. Powell also will see what happens with middle school soccer programs around the state.

“If it just remains that we have few schools doing this, then maybe we never have it as a [official] sport,” Curtis said.

The hope is also to help prepare students for competition at the high school level.

“We always look for avenues to support the high school program and fostering our kids up to the next level,” Buck said.

Soccer is one of the only sports that doesn’t have a feeder program into the high school.

“I think that’s a valuable piece to get these kids ready for a higher level of competition,” said Trustee Trace Paul.

As school leaders look to encourage extracurricular activities, they will ask students about participation in additional programs outside of school, such as church youth groups, 4-H, scouts and recreational programs.

“We understand that we’re not able to cater to every student’s interest here at the middle school, although we’ll always strive to engage the majority,” Buck said. “The fact that students may be engaged and committed to something outside of what the middle school offers is just as important, assuring belonging, mentorship and a sense of belonging to an organization bigger than themselves.”