Starting next school year, fans of Sedona Red Rock High School’s soccer games will be in for a warmer experience.
The school has made the decision to move soccer from the winter back to the fall. SRRHS’ soccer team has played it as a winter sport for the past decade.
The decision has the complete support of Sam Blom, who coaches the Scorpions boys team.
“I totally agree with this move to the fall,” Blom said. “As soon as I heard we were moving soccer to the fall, I already expected at least four quality players to re-join our program. Several of those players were starters a year ago and that will help our team in September.”
Players who could potentially return to soccer include Carlos Parra-Landaverde and Jaiah Grondin, who will both be seniors next season. As sophomores, both were among the top players on the SRRHS soccer team. However, as juniors, they opted to play basketball, which is only played in winter. Now that soccer will be played in fall, they can play both sports for the school.
While there will no longer be a conflict with basketball, other sports do present potential roadblocks. Soccer and basketball [both girls and boys] were the only sports SRRHS played in the winter this school year. With the move to the fall, the soccer teams will not only compete with football but also girls volleyball and both girls and boys cross country and swimming.
Blom noted that he’ll be flexible with any athletes who wish to participate in soccer and other fall sports.
“Coaches will work together to make this a positive experience for those players that are committed to participating in dual sports such soccer, cross country or swimming, etc,” he said. “I am totally flexible to the idea as long as the players understand the extra hours it may involve and that keeping up with their schoolwork should be the most important factor in that decision.”
Playing in warmer weather will be advantageous to the school on multiple fronts.
For starters, it will enable the school to charge admission at the gate. Even with no charge, winter games were sparsely attended. That revenue will better enable the Scorpions to pay for referees, which is the responsibility of the home team.
Costwise, two to three referees for one day where both boys and girls play at home is around $400, including the official’s travel costs.
In addition to the gate revenue helping negate the cost for the referees, the fact that the teams that play in fall are generally closer meaning they’ll be traveling less, cutting the total cost. On top of that, shorter travel will mean that the student athletes won’t need to be pulled out of school for as long on road games. Finally, as the sun is out longer in the fall, the stadium lights won’t need to be on for as long.
From a competitive standpoint, players will get loose much quicker playing in the warmer weather.
“The players who are not starting will be able to compete immediately when they are subbed in,” Blom said. “Starters taking rests will not be affected by cold weather after they return to play. There may be less cramping and injuries too. This will improve our team competitively; I am very confident about that.”
