School Board Approves Addition of HS Soccer

The Graham ISD school board unanimously approved adding high school soccer Wednesday night, providing students with another athletics option as the sport is set to begin next school year.

Graham Athletic Director Kenny Davidson said soccer's emergence didn't happen overnight and was part of a growing movement within the Young County town.

"It's going to give more kids the opportunity to participate in athletics," Davidson said. "It'll be an after-school sport only, just like all of our spring sports are. A group here was organized and formed a committee wanting to add it, and they did it the right way."

The UIL is in its third season of having Class 4A high school soccer separated from 5A. Before then, Hirschi and Burkburnett had to play district games against bigger schools like Rider and Wichita Falls High School.

While competing on a level playing field may have served as a motivating factor to bring this idea forward, Davidson pointed to the popularity of Graham's youth association as the biggest reason for adding soccer.

"It's a growing sport," Davidson said. "There's a lot of participation at the younger levels and there was a lot of community support for this."

Davidson said Graham would play an outlaw schedule during the 2018 spring semester before joining a UIL district during the 2018-19 realignment. A logical landing spot would be with Hirschi, Burkburnett, Decatur and Bridgeport, adding a fifth team to the current district alignment.

Newton Field will serve as the site for Graham's home games. In fact, the new turf that was laid down during the summer included soccer lines, indicating the sport's debut would be coming soon.