PYSA finishes fall season, looks forward to new fields
<p>A group of 6U soccer players fight over the ball during their game Sunday.</p>
The Polson Youth Soccer Association finished up their fall season this past Sunday on a warm, windy afternoon at the Kerr Dam fields.
If all goes according to plan, that might be the last time the PYSA fall program takes place on those fields. According to Link Moderie, president of the PYSA, the program will take place on the new soccer fields being built north of Mission Valley Aquatics. “They should be seeding it this week,” Moderie said this past Friday.
The PYSA has been around in various forms for about 35 years. The program has seasons in the fall and spring, with the fall being more recreational, and the spring being competitive. This fall, 190 kids registered to compete in age groups that include U5-6, U8, U10, and U12. Starting in the second week of September, volunteer coaches take on the challenge of teaching local youth the art of the game. Every Sunday since then, the teams have gotten together at the Kerr Dam fields for some friendly competition.
In recent years, soccer has become more popular. Moderie attributes that to the attention being drawn to the World Cup. He said he thinks soccer is a good sport for young kids because of the amount of action they see. “Everybody touches the ball in soccer. You don’t usually have kids sitting on the ground playing with grass like you sometimes see in baseball,” he said.
Starting soccer at a young age doesn’t hurt the Polson High School teams, who have been very successful, perhaps because of the kids who started early in the PYSA. PYSA teams have won five spring Montana State Cups in the last five years as well.
In 2014, the PYSA received the funding it needed to get their new fields started. According to Moderie, that funding came from Mildred Weber-Hanson, who left money for many projects in the Polson area when she passed away. The community has also supported the project in the form of grants from Polson Rotary, the Greater Polson Community Foundation, the Lower Flathead Valley Community Foundation, and the Rolfson Charitable Trust, and many other private donations.
The PYSA hit the ground running after receiving that money, and purchased 20 acres from the cemetery. Currently, nine acres are being used as four regulation sized fields and a concession and restroom facility. With the other 11 acres, Moderie said at some point there will be a second phase of the project, which may see more fields created, or possibly an indoor facility.
Moderie said the project needs around $120,000 more to complete the project. Fundraising has included everything from grant writing to spaghetti feeds, he said.
The fields will have the ability to host tournaments that could help the local economy by bringing people to the area. While the fields will be regulation size, Moderie said there hasn’t been any discussion, as of yet, with Polson High School about using the fields for Montana High School Association events.
With the PYSA fall season ending, the kids will have to wait until spring to play competitively. The spring season has more age groups, and the older groups travel around Western Montana to compete. In the meantime, the young athletes will just have to watch the grass grow on their new fields and dream of next fall, when the fields plan to open.