Soccer a possibility for school district

Lake Roosevelt High School could field a girls’ soccer team this year.

The Grand Coulee Dam School District board is dealing with the cost and plans to review the soccer request at its July 11 meeting.

Six schools in the North Central Washington 2-B League already have girls’ soccer teams — Brewster, Bridgeport, Liberty Bell, Manson, Oroville and Tonasket.

Making the presentation before the board Monday was Casey Moore.

She explained that the current youth soccer program had 120 kids involved and has become highly successful.

The district took a survey of girls in grades eight through 11 in May, and 22 girls responded saying they were interested in playing soccer.

The report to the board suggested that year-one costs would be $21,500, with annual costs after that about $14,050.

Board member Ken Stanger took issue with first-year costs and penciled it down to about $15,000.

Still, with budget time coming up, the board was unwilling to make a decision until July 11, when pre-budget figures will show if there’s money to start the program this year.

The report noted that a girls’ soccer program in the fall could have a “watering down” effect on turnouts for other sports, but that it would be manageable.