Talk to folks about the beginnings of the Western Missouri Soccer League and you' get some colorful stories. But one thing everyone agrees on: it took a lot of people with a lot of heart to make the thing stick.
Fifteen years ago, three of the League's founders, George Hickerson, Jim Schlosser, and Peter Vanderhoorn were recruited, so to speak, by a man named Greg Park. Vanderhoorn, who had recently moved to the New Mark area from California, was chosen because he is a native of Holland, a country where soccer is extremely popular.
Hickerson and Schlosser also lived in New Mark, and, like Vanderhoorn, their children were at the right age for soccer playing.
It took them a few years, and affiliations with a lot of different groups, to iron out the name and bylaws of the Western Missouri Soccer League. But when it was all said and done, the league operated on one very special premise: If kids aren't having fun, they won’t stick around.
“After park left, we went through some rough times," recalls Vanderhoorn. "I remember vividly in the first year we would load a truck with mowers, go to Happy Rock Park, and mow the grass ourselves in order to put a field out there."
Vanderhoorn says he also remembers the group going out with hammer and nails to Oak Park High School, where they were given permission to mow a field and put up goal posts for each game.
Soon, however, their activities were becoming a hindrance to baseball activity in the area, so they moved back to a central location at Happy Rock, says Vanderhoorn.
And that's about when a Northland couple, Pat and Joe Forbes, got involved. Joe had been commissioner of the Kansas City Soccer League, and his wife Pat had also worked for the League.
"We had battled for years for more games North of the River," recalls Pat. "We decided we could stand as an entity on our own, and that's when the principles got together and formed the Western Missouri League."
The group had quite a system going at Fortise, with templess ha, frys par explaining that his contributions were actually as much a benefit to Joe as they were to the League. "Joe had a lot of time on his hands, and he would hit up sports organizations so we didn't have to refuse any child" who might not have the money to participate.
Pat says before he died, Joe spent a lot of time on the telephone, talking to corporate sponsors, parks departments, anyone who could make a contribution. "He felt he was doing something worth-while," she says of the League's first commissioner.
Pat became the League's third commissioner, after Hickerson, and she says it's never an easy job, because of the time and effort which goes into it, from laying out the season program, to working with parks departments for field assignments, to scheduling games. "We tried to accommodate everyone," she says.
There are many reasons the Western Missouri Soccer League has endured over the years. Some say it's because soccer itself is so popular. Others say it's because the League became a community effort.
"The community Mission St working together — that and the fact that it's still a game for kids to have fun," says Pat. "The success of the league speaks for itself."
Another important aspect of the League's endurance, everyone agrees, is parental involvement. Once the League was off the ground, people came out of the woodwork, Pat says. Vanderhoorn agrees. "It was always nice to see a lot of parents show up."
He says it was always his policy to give the parents a lecture before the start of the season, saying that the team would play for fun, but also to win. "I always made the promise: you form a team of 18, and each game, 18 kids - would play. That was the League's commitment to the parents: every kid would play."
That enthusiasm rubbed off on the kids, who helped spread the word.
Hickerson says Soccer is the perfect sport for kids. In fact, he says, it is the largest sport in the United States for children under 14 because of the high level of activity involved in play. "Kids are actively involved, and for that reason, they love the game. It's not a sport which requires specialized equipment; you simply throw a ball out there."
He says the game's simplicity is another plus for kids. There are only 17 rules in the game and children can pick them up quickly. Parents like soccer, he says, because it does not involve direct physical contact, like major sports, such as basketball and football.
"A soccer player will outrun any football player because he runs continuously for 80 minutes," says Schlosser, who says another reason the League survived is because it was never an outlet for select teams. "Select teams weren't what we were looking for. We pushed recreation, then selection."
Schlosser says that as the League grew, so did the recognition of soccer as an alternative sport for kids. "With the assistance from parents, soccer began to be looked at as an addition to the school sports pro-gram."
Kids got soccer training at a slower pace through the League, and soon the area high schools picked up on it. All of a sudden, says Schlosser, there were 7 or 8 high-school teams up North."
By then, it became more than just a recreational activity, says Pat Forbes. "It was very inspiring because we saw lots of kids get help in school. Soccer is the best bet for those children who need some more self-esteem in their lives," she continues. "Where else will parents cheer while kids run through a mud puddle?"