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In Elk Grove, long a football hotbed, soccer enjoys wide popularity
  
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By Cameron Macdonald and Gamaliel Ortiz - Citizen Staff Writers
Soccer has no shortage in popularity at Elk Grove.
The Elk Grove Youth Soccer League alone has more than 400 teams, adding up to more than 6,000 players ranging from the ages of 5 to 18, said Mark Dickerson, the president of the Elk Grove Youth Soccer League.
“(Soccer) is the most popular youth sport in Elk Grove,” Dickerson said.
Elk Grove no stranger to soccer: the city is home to the Sacramento Knights, a top men’s amateur team playing in the NPSL league; as well as Stephanie Lopez, who will suit up for the U.S. Women’s National team at the upcoming Beijing games; and scores of players are participating at both the community college and university level.
The 2008 Elk Grove Everton Cup was to be held in Elk Grove on July 11-13, but the poor-quality air from wildfires raging across the state caused organizers to cancel the event.
That tournament would have brought more than 150 teams to Elk Grove where they would have played on 22 soccer fields, Dickerson said.
Organizers are currently working to reschedule the tournament.
The event is named after the Elk Grove Youth Soccer League’s collaboration with the Everton Football Club, a soccer team based in Liverpool, England.
Dickerson said that his league’s membership has leveled at 6,000, according to their latest numbers.
As for what soccer brings to the Elk Grove community and its youth, he listed several reasons such as how the sport “gives kids a chance to get out and learn sportsmanship,” and participating in athletic events to keep healthy.
Zach Jones, a recreation supervisor for the Cosumnes Community Services District, said that his organization has 34 soccer fields of different sizes across town.
The district has plans to have four soccer fields equipped with year-round, artificial turf at the upcoming Bartholomew Sports Park in the East Franklin area.
Dickerson said that soccer teams can play on those synthetic fields without damaging them as opposed to having soccer fields be closed during the rainy season.
Seth Boyle, a local girls soccer coach, saw the emergence of soccer over the last couple of decades. He credits Title IX, the women’s World Cup and the Internet and
satellite television as engines for youth soccer. “I have been involved with soccer since I was 8,” Boyle said in a telephone interview. “I played through college and been coaching ever since.” Boyle, who left the Elk Grove soccer league in April, started his own team that plays throughout northern California.
The coach says he sees two different types of players who play for him: the one who wants to pursue the sport in college and the other who likes it recreationally.
He said that while boys’ soccer has grown steadily over the years, thanks in part to the exposure of it via the Internet, growth in the girls’ game has exploded.
More school programs had to offer the game to ensure equitable opportunities for women sports. Young girls found inspiration in the World Cup.
Boyle said parents and students are eager to earn scholarships, but he cautions them to be realistic about getting a full ride to college and going to Division I schools.
In tournament after tournament, Boyle sees more scouts looking for student-athletes to attend their colleges, but some schools are not well-known.
“I do my best to put them in the right scholarship,” he said. “The biggest thing is help kids to fit where they belong. Division II and III schools still offer money – a free education is a free education.”
Boyle coached former Elk Grove High School standout Stephanie Cox, who
recently got a spot on the U.S. Olympic team that’s headed to Beijing. Many forget that she went to the University of Portland on an academic scholarship, he said.
The Elk Grove Youth Soccer League alone has more than 400 teams, adding up to more than 6,000 players ranging from the ages of 5 to 18, said Mark Dickerson, the president of the Elk Grove Youth Soccer League.
“(Soccer) is the most popular youth sport in Elk Grove,” Dickerson said.
Elk Grove no stranger to soccer: the city is home to the Sacramento Knights, a top men’s amateur team playing in the NPSL league; as well as Stephanie Lopez, who will suit up for the U.S. Women’s National team at the upcoming Beijing games; and scores of players are participating at both the community college and university level.
The 2008 Elk Grove Everton Cup was to be held in Elk Grove on July 11-13, but the poor-quality air from wildfires raging across the state caused organizers to cancel the event.
That tournament would have brought more than 150 teams to Elk Grove where they would have played on 22 soccer fields, Dickerson said.
Organizers are currently working to reschedule the tournament.
The event is named after the Elk Grove Youth Soccer League’s collaboration with the Everton Football Club, a soccer team based in Liverpool, England.
Dickerson said that his league’s membership has leveled at 6,000, according to their latest numbers.
As for what soccer brings to the Elk Grove community and its youth, he listed several reasons such as how the sport “gives kids a chance to get out and learn sportsmanship,” and participating in athletic events to keep healthy.
Zach Jones, a recreation supervisor for the Cosumnes Community Services District, said that his organization has 34 soccer fields of different sizes across town.
The district has plans to have four soccer fields equipped with year-round, artificial turf at the upcoming Bartholomew Sports Park in the East Franklin area.
Dickerson said that soccer teams can play on those synthetic fields without damaging them as opposed to having soccer fields be closed during the rainy season.
Seth Boyle, a local girls soccer coach, saw the emergence of soccer over the last couple of decades. He credits Title IX, the women’s World Cup and the Internet and
satellite television as engines for youth soccer. “I have been involved with soccer since I was 8,” Boyle said in a telephone interview. “I played through college and been coaching ever since.” Boyle, who left the Elk Grove soccer league in April, started his own team that plays throughout northern California.
The coach says he sees two different types of players who play for him: the one who wants to pursue the sport in college and the other who likes it recreationally.
He said that while boys’ soccer has grown steadily over the years, thanks in part to the exposure of it via the Internet, growth in the girls’ game has exploded.
More school programs had to offer the game to ensure equitable opportunities for women sports. Young girls found inspiration in the World Cup.
Boyle said parents and students are eager to earn scholarships, but he cautions them to be realistic about getting a full ride to college and going to Division I schools.
In tournament after tournament, Boyle sees more scouts looking for student-athletes to attend their colleges, but some schools are not well-known.
“I do my best to put them in the right scholarship,” he said. “The biggest thing is help kids to fit where they belong. Division II and III schools still offer money – a free education is a free education.”
Boyle coached former Elk Grove High School standout Stephanie Cox, who
recently got a spot on the U.S. Olympic team that’s headed to Beijing. Many forget that she went to the University of Portland on an academic scholarship, he said.
