Playing in a relaxing atmosphere

By: Lily Zhao <lzhao@hilite.org>

Dribbling the soccer ball, senior Peter Haigh aims and scores a goal, while his dad, Head Coach Steve Haigh, watches on. Although their Carmel Dad’s Club (CDC) Coeducational Spring Soccer League has already started its season, this league coincides with the fall league as well, so students who are interested are welcome to join one or both of the leagues, Mr. Haigh said.

“Our team is all about fun. You don’t have to know how to play soccer,” he said. “It’s just fun because you can be on a team with all your friends and enjoy playing soccer at the same time.”

According to Mr. Haigh, who coaches the team with John Warne and Aaron Stout, students who want to sign up for the upcoming fall season can either sign up online at the CDC Web site or visit their offices to fill up a form. The fee is around $60 for the whole season. This year, he said that there are 18 coed teams playing and games are usually played on both Saturdays and Sundays down on Shelbourne Field. Peter’s team, the Spartans (its unofficial name), practices once a week on Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on the Forest Dale Elementary soccer fields and he said it’s such a stress-free environment that missing one practice is no big deal.

“We’re not a strict league or team, but you will find some fierce competition,” Mr. Haigh said. “Because everyone wants to be here because of either friends or their love for soccer, we don’t penalize someone for not showing up for practice.”

For his team right now, Peter said that they are in first place among the league and said that he feels confident that the Spartans will come out on top this year. The league starts tournament play the weekend of June 7 and treats it like a round robin tournament. As of now, Mr. Haigh said, 19 kids are on his roster with the first 11 kids starting—it’s first come, first serve. Also, he said that each student gets equal playing time—a rule implemented around the league—and each half is a good 40 to 45 minutes, so all the students get a fair amount of playing time.

Peter said that the best part of playing CDC soccer was making the number of friends that he now has. Because most students love it so much, they tend to stick around together and stay on the same team throughout their high school career, he said.

“I’ve played for so long and I’ve only missed one season (my eighth grade year),” Peter said. “Now, my senior year, it’s never been more fun.”