Idaho fields a completive men’s club soccer team
For many players, the chances to play soccer after high school are slim, and getting a scholar- ship for soccer is even slimmer. At Idaho, men’s soccer is not even offered as a scholarship sport, but at the club level, students can find a competitive-level of soccer for the best players at the school.
Competing in the Northwest Collegiate Club Soccer Conference, the Vandals play against other members of the NCCSC as well as other school’s club teams in tournaments around the region. Along with Idaho, the NCCSC is the home to Central Washington, Washington State, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga and Seattle U’s men’s club teams, whom the Vandals compete with for the conference title every season.
Volunteer coach Luke Ordway is in his first season coaching Idaho and a former player as recently as 2011.
“Everyone has fun, it’s a club, and they just like to play with other good players,” Ordway said. “That’s why intramurals can be frustrating, you don’t get the best competition every time.”
When tryouts come around every year, Ordway has about 50 players come out to see if they can make the squad. Cuts aren’t easy for any coach and Ordway said he wishes he didn’t have to cut anyone.
“Initially, I wanted to run a no-cut program and have multiple teams, but the way the league is set up each school is only allowed one team,” he said. “If I wanted to create two teams, Washington State could probably create three teams. Then it’s like intramurals.”
In his first year as coach, Ordway is impressed with how the team turned out, especially with its diversity.
“The turnout was good,” he said. “We’re down to about 30 (players) over the course of two weeks. We traveled to Seattle this past weekend with 15 players traveling. We have a very ethnic team, with players from Brazil, players from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and the homegrown boys from Idaho somewhere, or anywhere in the US … it’s pretty good.”
In total, Ordway said six or seven nationalities are represented on the team. Ordway doesn’t do it all alone though, and has high praise for the team’s president and financial coordinator, James Wendell.
“He’s (Wendell) done a really nice job handling all the coordination for the team — the hotels, who’s driving and making sure they get gas money, attending all the club-required meetings that all UI club athletic presidents have to attend and dealing with the scheduling of field space,” Ordway said.
The team currently practices on the SprinTurf outside the Kibbie Dome and plays their home games at Guy Wicks Field. In just his first year as coach, Ordway said he does his best to give Idaho a quality men’s soccer club team based on all his experience around the sport.
“I just think every coach I’ve had as a player … has kind of helped mold my soccer philosophy of things I didn’t or did like of a coach,” Ordway said. “I hate yelling at kids. Sometimes as a coach you’re nervous and want to be out there as a player.”
One area Ordway said he is concerned with is establishing men’s soccer as an official athletic sport at Idaho. Coming from Moscow originally, he sees soccer as something the community would rally around, and has some strong opinions about it.
“We don’t have a men’s team because of Title IX, and Title IX is a good thing but now that we’re in 2014 and 2015 the idea of having equal scholarships is hard because football takes up so many scholarships,” Ordway said. “(Football) is a money-making sport. I just think the community around UI would support a men’s (soccer) team at the college level.”
One idea he has to equal out the scholarships is to establish new women-only academic scholarships for women to come study at UI. Cost-wise, he doesn’t see much of a problem for the athletic department.
“The facilities are already there. The cost to field a team and hire a coach is the same as the women’s team. If they created ten more men’s scholarships for soccer, they would just need to create ten more women’s scholarships.”
Both the West Coast Conference and Western Athletic Conference offer men’s soccer, and Ordway would like to see an Idaho men’s team join either one. The Big Sky Conference does not sponsor men’s soccer. He said adding a men’s soccer program would be a great contribution to UI and the soccer community in Idaho.
“There’s no reason a leading university in the state of Idaho, or the two state universities in Idaho, shouldn’t have a men’s soccer team,” Ordway said. “Why can’t Idaho beat Boise State to the punch? All kids in Idaho need to look outside the state (for soccer at a Division I school) and they might not have enough money.”
Despite his concerns, Ordway said he is focused on his club team and is already looking forward to spring tryouts.
“There will be two weeks of supplemental tryouts, and any interested players will get ample time to showcase their abilities through a variety of technical drills and scrimmages,” he said. “Time and location, to be determined. Make sure you stay fit for spring tryouts, make sure you’re going on some runs.”
Ben Evensen can be reached at [email protected]