Soccer supporters determined to light up fields

They've never really had a place to call their own, but thanks to some grass roots fund raising, Central High School soccer players will finally know what it's like to have home field advantage.

A group of Cape Girardeau parents calling themselves the soccer fan club have spent the past year selling car stickers and calendars, washing cars and drumming up donations to light the soccer fields at Central High School.

The fan club has rounded up around $40,000 so far, $20,000 of which was raised in the past two months. They've got the money to light one of Central's two soccer fields, but nowhere to plug the lights in yet.

The school district is now working to run electric lines out to the playing fields, but chief financial officer Rob Huff said it may take three weeks to complete the $10,000 project.

"We didn't expect them to raise that much money this quickly," Huff said. "Those parents put out a lot of effort and raised a lot of money. They're ready to turn those lights on now."

In the past, the 80 boys and girls who make up Central's soccer teams have been forced to practice and play home games at Arena Park or the Shawnee Park Sports Complex.

With the completion of the new Central High School last year, the teams now have two fields on which to practice, but cannot play evening games without lights.

Home field advantage

"We've always wanted to play at home, and more parents can come in the evening," said Carla Fee, one of the parents involved in the fund raising. "We knew with budget cuts the school didn't have a lot of money for athletic teams, so we decided to do it ourselves."

Installation of the soccer lights began last week, and Central athletic director Darrick Smith said the field should be operational for night games by October.

"It will give us the opportunity to show off our school," Smith said. "We take pride in our home grounds. We might not have that same ownership playing on borrowed ground like the city park."

Smith said he hopes the soccer lights will lead to the lighting of other athletic fields at Central.

Although the $17 million high school facility at 1000 S. Silver Springs Road has been completed for over a year now, many of the outdoor playing fields still aren't finished.

Softball and cross country are the only two outdoor sports held at the new high school right now. Along with soccer, the football, baseball and track fields are not yet complete.

Because the junior varsity and varsity football playing and practice fields weren't seeded and have no irrigation system at this time, those teams still practice at the former high school building on Caruthers Avenue.

The varsity team has five years left on a 10-year contract to play at Southeast Missouri State University's Houck Stadium, but Smith said the junior varsity football team may play games at the new school next year.

The baseball and track fields still need a lot of work as well, but Smith said there is a plan in place to have them ready by the time those seasons start this spring.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128