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March 12. 2010 6:00AM

South Dakota school districts will have the option to add soccer as a sanctioned activity for boys and girls starting in 2012, but several area schools say now is not the right time to add another sport.

On March 3, the S.D. High School Activities Association board voted unanimously to implement soccer, and approved it by a 5-3 vote to add it beginning in the 2012-13 school year.

Although the board approved the sport, local school boards will have the final say on whether their district will offer it. South Dakota is the last state in the U.S. to add soccer as a sanctioned sport.

Rich Jenson, chairman of a South Dakota State Soccer Association committee that oversees club teams and their state tournament, said the state has more than 17,000 soccer players ages 5 to 18 and 42 communities that are involved with club soccer. He has been pushing for 13 years to get the sport sanctioned.

"I'm very excited about the decision," he said. "It's really a milestone in soccer for South Dakota."

Chris Limmer, vice president of the Brandon Area Soccer Association, said the organization is excited with the SDHSAA decision.

“Obviously, we support it,” he said. “It’s a way to validate our athletes a little more.”
Limmer said the BASA will continue to sponsor the high school club program as they await the school district’s decision.

“It would be a good move for both us and the school,” adds BASA member Jayne Knochenmus.

Nine schools across the state currently sponsor soccer for boys, girls or both. Sioux Falls O'Gorman and Sioux Falls Christian sponsor both.

Bob Lowery, assistant executive director of the state activities association, said he anticipates other school districts will add the sport now that it's sanctioned.

But some area schools are reluctant to have soccer teams because of the costs that come with an extra sport.

It’s too soon to know if Brandon Valley will add soccer, according to Superintendent Dave Pappone.

“Certainly given the next couple of years of projected budgets … it would be a challenge to implement that,” he said. “Our approach will be to wait and see.”
Pappone estimates the cost of adding the sport at $40,000.

Brandon Valley’s decision will also hinge on what Eastern South Dakota Conference schools and the other large school districts in state choose to do.

“Even though they say it’s a local school decision, it’s really not. But now it’s in our laps and we have to try and figure out if we can do it,” Pappone said.

Randy Marso, Brandon Valley activities director, said it’s beneficial that the SDHSAA is giving school districts time to decide.

“Maybe in 2012 the financial picture will be better,” he said. “We have until the 2017 school year to make that decision (to fully fund the program).”

Marso said the proposal with be studied over the next year and expects to make a recommendation to the school board about this same time next year.

The Sioux Falls School District has already announced they do not plan to add soccer because of the cost. District officials have estimated the cost for the sport to be $150,000 - extra money the district doesn't have, said DeeAnn Konrad, community relations supervisor for the Sioux Falls district.

“The vote doesn't really change our position or extra funding,” Konrad said. “We are scrambling to do what's right for kids in the classroom. It doesn't matter what the sport would be. Now is not the time.”

Mark Meile, Sioux Falls activities director, said the current funding formula does not allow the district to fund new sports. It would have to cut from other programs to pay for soccer.

“The state funding formula needs to change,” Meile said. “Until that changes, basically Sioux Falls public schools are not going to entertain adding additional sports at this time because of that.”

Both Watertown and Baltic school leaders have said their districts are not interested in adding soccer at this time.

“I have been hearing from superintendents from across the state that they don't think it is the time to be adding sports,” said Baltic superintendent Bob Sittig. “Nobody has to add it, but they fear they are going to get pressure from their local communities to add it, and they don't feel they can afford it.”

Sittig is on the state activities board. He voted yes to allow district's to sanction the sport but no on the timetable.

Watertown activities director Doug Schooley, another board member who voted no on the timetable, also said that his district was not interested in soccer.

“Our enrollment is going to be down next year, so we are going to lose some state aid,” Schooley said. “Our school board has told me they are not interested in adding soccer at this time.”

Pappone doesn’t anticipate the large majority of ESD schools will add soccer.

“I know that many of the ESD schools will be struggling with their budgets for the next few years because of decreasing enrollment,” he said. “In the end, however, it will come down to whether the schools can afford it or not.”

School districts will have a five-year transition period for adding soccer, meaning each district can promise some funding each year but will have to cover the entire program after five years.

In order to have soccer sanctioned at the start of a school year, districts must approve it by Jan. 1 of the previous school year.

The soccer season currently starts in August for both girls and boys club teams. Once it is a high school sport, sanctioned schools will be allowed to play non-school club teams during the regular season, but club teams will not be eligible for the sanctioned postseason.
The S.D. Soccer Association will continue to hold a state tournament for club teams.
Pappone realizes soccer has become a popular sport, but said adding the program could affect the district in the classroom.

“Nobody would argue that soccer isn’t worthy of sanctioning,” he said, “but adding a $40,000 program is almost the equivalent of one teacher in the classroom.”

Challenger editor Jill Meier and reporter Michael Klinski contributed to this story.