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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
Winning is great, but the Auraria United Futbol Club’s new president Melissa Yim wants to show others “you don’t have to be top-notch to play on a college team.”
That is why, according to Yim, AUFC founder Sarah Jeffrey started the women’s soccer club three years ago – as an alternative to the highly competitive NCAA women’s soccer at Metro. At club tryouts on Aug. 25, the players practiced their skills, but they also smiled and laughed, revealing an important difference between them and the women of NCAA soccer.
Three years ago, Yim joined the team as a sophomore just to play, but by the midway point of the season, she had already begun to help Jeffrey establish the league. When Jeffrey graduated from Metro last season, Yim was handed the reigns.
The club satisfies different needs in its players’ lives. First-year player Kelsey Dockter already graduated from the University of Denver where she played on their club team, but now she attends classes at Auraria and joined AUFC to get involved.
“Club soccer is a good way to meet people,” Dockter said.
There are many different reasons why these college women are participating in club soccer, Yim said. Some players are not able to qualify for the top-ranked Metro team, but others, including vice president and goalkeeper Keeley Morris, didn’t have the time to devote all their energy to the demanding schedule of varsity soccer.
“Life took over,” Morris said. “I want to have a life and play soccer.”
With only two practices a week, there is plenty of time for players to make other plans. During tryouts one player left early to go to work, but she wasn’t cut – in fact, no one was. Everyone who tries out for the team is guaranteed a spot on the roster.
Getting started was tough for the AUFC. It was hard just finding enough players to fill a roster, Yim said.
“We struggled a lot in the first two years,” Yim said. “In the first year we took on girls that had never played before, we got pummeled.”
In its second year the team never managed to routinely field more than nine players, so it played all its games shorthanded.
These days Yim and her team are ready to not only field a complete team, but to be competitive in their region. The team already has 15 players committed and more are expected to sign up.
“We’ve gotten the club to the point where it can contain itself as long as the girls keep paying the dues,” Yim said.
She admitted this is not the final step. Next year Morris will take over as president when Yim graduates and will hopefully continue to move the program toward a goal of “self-sufficiency,” Yim said.
This year the team will play many of the other club teams from Colorado colleges, including Colorado State University, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Air Force Prep. In all, the team has 14 games this season, which starts Sept. 15 with a tournament in Gunnison.
One of the most important differences this year is that the women are finally a legitimate club team. They have finished the mandatory trial period subjected to every aspiring club – which includes committing to volunteer work in the community – and now they are official.
During the upcoming season the team will volunteer at a haunted house, as well as set aside a day to invite young girls from the community to campus to learn about soccer.
“This will be the best year yet,” Yim said.
To join the AUFC, contact president Melissa Yim at (303)905-4852 or melissa_yim@hotmail.com.
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