Krista Miller, an early childhood special education teacher, started a middle school girls soccer program. Miller started this team in hopes of establishing a strong feeder program for the high school girls soccer program. Their season started off with a game against Greenwood on March 31. This team is not run through Fair Grove schools but is composed of Fair Grove students.
The team is composed of 15 girls, mostly eighth graders and a couple of seventh graders. They practice twice a week and are expected to give their all. Miller shared, “I expect them to show up, commit, work hard, and have a good attitude.”
According to Miller, previously Bob Florez and currently Shane Tennison have coached a boys middle school team that has made a positive impact on the high school boys program. She believes that if the girls team also has this, it will greatly affect the future years of the high school girls soccer team.
She stated, “I would estimate that 95% of the girls playing high school soccer never played beyond parkboard. Whereas in the next 5-6 years the boys team will be rocking somewhere between 8-10 club players.”
Miller explained that she has many reasons for starting a middle school team. She stated, “The biggest reason is that my heart belongs to the sport and the program I tried so hard to build. While I am no longer coaching the high school girls, I can still help the program. Soccer is still relatively new in our area, especially on the girls side.”
Miller stated the biggest difference between the high school team and the middle school is the program is not a part of the fair grove athletic department thus a lack of time to practice. She said her expectations for the younger girls are still the same.
Miller explained that soccer is a very difficult sport to learn but there are a lot of girls with talent on the team. She shared that Maddy Miller (8) holds the most experience on the team having played club soccer through Sporting Springfield for several years. However many first year players have noticeably stood out.
Miller mentioned that Halei Davidson has picked up the position of goal keeper very quickly. She explained that Davidson is very coachable and has made consistent progress throughout the season.
Another player Miller pointed out is Addison Miller (8). She explained that Addison has an unmatched level of grit. She shared that Addison is locked in and hustles from the moment she arrives until the moment she leaves.
Addison stated, “A goal for myself is to get a goal and a goal for my team is to see growth throughout everyone by the end of our season.”
Miller said, “This will be the first time in at least five years that the girls’ program will have had 13 girls step into the high school soccer program knowing the rules of the game, having basic footwork skills, and having already played their opponents.”
With a new start and a brand new team. The middle school girl soccer team is making the future of Fair Grove’s girls soccer program bright.
