With a lot of hard work by volunteers, 20 acres of land west of Goshen is being transformed into a seven-field soccer complex to serve local youth.
The Goshen Stars Soccer Club is constructing new fields off C.R. 36, between Greene Road and Indiana Avenue. The new fields will be designed as a memorial park. Community members can sponsor a field and name it after a loved one.
The Soccer Stars started in 1995 with one team as part of the Goshen Youth Soccer Organization. This spring, the Stars broke away into its own non-profit entity and 17 teams with 240 players were part of the organization. It serves Elkhart and LaGrange counties, and teams play in the Northern Indiana Soccer League and the Indiana State League.
According to Stars coach Millard Graber, the teams currently play at fields owned by Roll Pak at C.R. 27 and Dierdorff Road. The former owners of that company allowed the team to use the land since the club’s inception, and even maintained the fields.
“Gary Weaver, a principal of Roll-Pak, helped start it (the Stars),” Graber said. He credits Jim Apple of Roll Pak with maintaining the fields for the club.
“All we had to do was show up and play,” Graber said.
When Roll Pak was sold in 2007, club officials needed to look for a new place to play, since the future use of the C.R. 27 land was uncertain. Weaver offered the use of the 20 acres off C.R. 36, complete with a 20-year lease and the option to eventually purchase the property.
Graber said coaches and players are looking forward to having a complex where the teams can practice, as well as play, at one location. Currently, practices are scattered at fields throughout the area.
“At this (new) place, the teams can all be together. The younger players can look to the older players,” Graber said.
New zoning was applied for in December of 2007, approved in January 2008, and in June 2008 the first pile of dirt was moved. Contractors were hired to do the excavation and seeding.
Five of the seven fields (two for ages 9 to 10, two for ages 11 to 12 and one for ages 13 and older) are nearing completion, with volunteers still working to pick up rocks and do other jobs. The last two fields for players ages 13 and older will be developed later.
“Grass is growing,” Graber said. “We are still seeding and picking up rocks.” Play is expected to begin in spring 2010.
Coaches and board members are hoping the community will step in to help maintain the program and new fields and also to help the club grow. Team sponsorships are needed and the hope is to have each field named as a memorial field.
The first field to become a memorial field is for Graber’s daughter, the Joyce Graber Memorial Field. Joyce was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2001 and died May 2003 at age 18. The Goshen Middle School and Bethany High School student was involved in soccer, as are her three siblings. Her father is also a life-long soccer player and fan, having grown up in Brazil where the game is the national sport, Graber said.
The Grabers established a memorial fund for Joyce to help other brain tumor patients, research centers and provide scholarships. That foundation helped fund part of the memorial field, as did fund-raisers and help from family and friends.
“We hope that can serve as a model,” Graber said of the remaining memorial fields. He said the Goshen Soccer Stars will help anyone work through the process who would like to name a field after a loved one.
“We need community support,” he said.
The community can also help in others ways — by sponsoring a team (the sponsoring company logo will adorn the uniforms), making a general donation or even volunteering to help prepare the fields or clean up the woods of trash and debris.
Graber said community members can also sponsor specific projects. Future plans include building a pavilion, adding an irrigation system and purchasing the the land. The club also hopes to keep part of the area “green” by adding nature trails the public can use.
Team philosophy
Part of the Goshen Soccer Stars mission is to be as inclusive as possible, Graber said. Forty percent of the team members are a racial minority.
He said from the beginning, club organizers wanted the teams to be a place minorities felt safe and included. Several of the coaches are bilingual.
The club does hold try-outs, but coaches attempt to cut as few players as possible while still developing a competitive team, Graber said.
“We tried to make this as easy as possible for as many people as possible,” Graber said. He said the Stars is also one of the least expensive clubs to join — expenses are kept down in part by recruiting volunteer coaches.
The Stars serves as a “feeder” into local middle school and high school teams.
“Twenty out of the 22 Goshen High School players who went to state two years ago were Goshen Stars,” Graber said. “We work with coaches at Goshen and Bethany to improve the skill of the players.”
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