Kennett soccer kicks things off for first time in nearly 15 years

KENNETT – After years of effort and a recent successful school board vote, the first player evaluations for Kennett High School's brand new soccer team were finally held Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

The KHS soccer program was abandoned following the 2009 season, but now, two KHS teachers who happened to have played on the high school team while they were in school and have coached their own children in the Kiwanis Youth Soccer league have answered the call to build the program from the ground up beginning this fall.

Coaches Jeremy Westerfield and Alex Lee hosted the first team meeting Monday and the team's first of 20 contact days this summer on Tuesday to gauge interest and evaluate players who are interested in playing in the fall.

“I think we have more support now than the soccer program has ever had,” Westerfield said. “We're excited to be a part of bringing it back. It's something for the last 11 years of me teaching that I've been excited for and thinking that I'd love for them to bring back. We're coming at this full throttle and we're ready to go.”

A prospective member of the KHS soccer team is timed as she runs drills during a summer contact day on Wednesday.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

For the first two years, Kennett will field a co-ed, junior varsity-only team. Currently, the Indians have eight games scheduled in the fall – six away and two home – and the coaching duo hopes to add more as the season approaches.

“I'm excited about seeing it be co-ed again,” Westerfield said. “I think it's a good team dynamic for Kennett. Compared to some of the schools we'll be playing against, we're small. It's a unique thing for us to be able to have boys and girls playing together now, and historically, many of the girls from Kennett have been some of the more aggressive players.”

Based on the diversity seen in the first two meetings, Lee and Westerfield expect to field a team primarily made up of underclassmen with around half boys and half girls.

The upcoming freshman on the team will have a chance to be a part of the first varsity team when the time comes to expand. Westerfield explained that most of the players have participated in Kiwanis and have a foundation of skills, but for now, it's all about building up fundamentals and strategy.

“Coming in now, it's trying to figure out what these kids can do,” Westerfield said. “That's what we're using these 20 days of summer are going to be, player evaluations and figuring out where our speed, ball handling and who our more tactical thinkers are. Come August, we'll really start hitting strategy hard. We'll get our offense and defensive strategies and layouts down then.”

Students interested in joining the Kennett soccer team run ball-handling drills on Wednesday, June 7, 2023.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

As the team progresses in skill, they hope to begin working on more “advanced strategy” and “tactical style of thinking,” which is something they were not able to do with younger children playing youth soccer but are excited to do at the high school level.

For many kids, the new team simply provides the opportunity to keep playing the sport they grew up playing.

“There are so many kids here who play through Kiwanis,” Lee said. “The number of kids grows every year, and with Billy Palmer having his travel teams, it's getting them even more interested in it. This team will just give them even more to look forward to.”

While there are many unanswered questions and a long road ahead of the program, Lee and Westerfield explained that on top of allowing students to continue playing the sport, their goal is to prepare their players for the ability to play in college, leading to scholarship opportunities down the road.

“Now, with us having it back at high school, it gives a lot of kids more opportunities that they've been missing out on for all these years,” Lee said. “It'll be a good dynamic for them, because for many of them it's been playing together one year and against each other the next. Now, it's going to be more about really building a full team from the ground up.”