Cape High to field freshman boys’ soccer team

Cape Henlopen High School will field Kent and Sussex counties’ only freshman boys’ soccer team beginning with the 2021-22 school year, thanks to a unanimous school board vote July 22.

In requesting approval for the additional team, Cape High Assistant Principal Tim Slade said that over the past five years, an average of 20 players a year have been cut from the boys’ soccer team.

“If we were able to keep these players and provide them an opportunity to play, the program could develop more players, which is excellent,” Slade said.

Slade said Coach Patrick Kilby told him he had a list of 66 players, including 28 freshmen, interested in playing. If all 66 try out, Kilby would have to cut 26 players, Slade said. Last year’s varsity and junior varsity teams each had 20 players, he said.

The freshman class could be Cape High’s largest yet, Slade said, and since middle school sports were cancelled last year due to the pandemic, all high school sports will have an influx of freshmen eager to play again. The expected cost for the freshman team is $5,000, he said.

Athletic Director Kevin Smith said the freshman team would be the only one downstate; seven schools in New Castle County have freshman soccer teams. Games would be played at home and away, he said.

Board member Janet Maull-Martin said she was in favor of freshman teams but was not so sure one was needed for boys’ soccer. “I’m just being honest,” she said.

Cape High has had freshman basketball and football teams, Smith said, but football did not have the numbers for a freshman team last year. 

Superintendent Bob Fulton said all sports are able to request a freshman team if the number of students interested indicates a need.

“From my perspective, if that many students want to play, especially given last year … I think it’s worthwhile to provide those opportunities,” he said.

A freshman soccer team would open up spots on the junior varsity team, board member Jessica Tyndall said, and students who can’t play travel soccer due to financial reasons would have more opportunities.

Soccer is one of, if not the most, popular sports in the world, Tyndall said, and participation is skyrocketing in this area. Students do better socially and academically if they play on a team, she said.

President Alison Myers said sports allows students to feel connected, and letting 20 to 25 more kids feel connected to something is key to good mental health.

Maull-Martin said she understood Myers’ point but that a whole group of kids who can’t afford travel ball would be left out.

“And I’m going to say this - kids that look like me - who are not going to be able to be a part of the freshman soccer team,” said Maull-Martin, who is Black.

Tyndall said that was exactly her point on why the freshman team should be formed.

Kilby said 25 rising freshmen have been attending summer workouts. Practices begin officially Aug. 16 and the first three days are tryouts, he said. After that, coaches evaluate players and assign them to rosters. Typically, there are no spots left on the team when the school year begins because players have already put in three weeks of work, he said.

“I am sensitive to your need for people that look like you to play sports and participate at all levels,” Kilby said, addressing Maull-Martin. “We’re a very diverse program and I am very excited about that. I’m proud of that. Everyone who’s interested is more than welcome to come out.”

Questioning Kilby, Maull-Martin said, “How many minorities of the 66 players you have here - how many are minorities - and I’m especially going to say, African-American?”

One player is African-American, Kilby said. Although he was not asked about the participation of other minorities, Kilby said that Hispanic students represent the largest minority on the team.

Board member Bill Collick suggested allowing freshmen to try out after the school year begins; Fulton agreed. All rising freshmen are informed of sports physical and tryout dates, Slade said.

Board member Janis Hanwell said anything Kilby does to go out into the community and recruit players from all areas of the district should be shared with the board. “We want to know about it,” she said.

Fulton said he would like to know more about what all teams are doing.

“Soccer is here tonight to ask for a freshman team,” Fulton said. “They shouldn’t have to do something no one else is doing. We all should be doing that. So let’s talk in more general terms about all our sports and what they’re doing to recruit other students and to encourage students to play that normally wouldn’t play.”

That is a topic for discussion for the district athletic committee, not just for soccer, but district-wide, Fulton said.