(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Williamstown Middle/High School Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Jill Bryant and Director of Secondary Education Kenneth Cook talk to the Wood County Board of Education Tuesday night about reestablishing a girl’s soccer team at Williamston High School.

PARKERSBURG — Williamstown High School is facing difficulties in reestablishing a girls soccer team after several years without one.

Williamstown Middle/High School Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Jill Bryant and Director of Secondary Education Kenneth Cook provided an update Tuesday to the Wood County Board of Education on the status of the girls soccer program.

“Since the fall of 2014 Williamstown High School has had a girl soccer coach. They’ve had a girl’s soccer account. They’ve had girl’s soccer uniforms, and all these things are still in place at the present time,” Cook said.

He said however, in 2022 there were not enough student athletes to field both a boys and girls team. So the school formed a coed team.

During a Dec. 17 meeting of the board, Melissa Weppler, a parent and long-time soccer advocate, along with many young players, urged the board to reinstate the girls soccer program. She said several girls have since quit playing soccer altogether, not wanting to play on a coed team. She also noted that two girls have transferred to other schools to continue their high school soccer careers.

Board President Justin Raber asked administration to look into reinstating the girls team at that time.

Cook said there are currently 13 girls signed up to play soccer, but only 11 are eligible due to GPA requirements. He said there is also 12 boys signed up to play. He expressed concerns about the potential for injuries and how that could affect both soccer team’s ability to complete the season.

“Soccer is a difficult sport,” Cook said. “If Williamstown starts the season as separate girls and boys soccer teams, and injuries are sustained or players then quit, Williamstown at that point cannot combine into one coed team to finish the season according to the The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission.”

Raber asked what was being done about recruiting more players. Bryant said recruiting at this level is done by the coaches and players. She said former coach Ben Rinehart was still listed on paper as the coach but isn’t being paid by the district because there isn’t a girls team.

“I have to hire a coach, the guy that is on paper, I’ve already talked to him. He’s not planning to coach girls soccer,” Bryant said.

She said Wood County Schools doesn’t offer soccer as a sport to middle school students but there has been efforts to increase interest in the sport through recreation sports.

“The reality of girls soccer in West Virginia is that it’s on the decline,” Bryant said. “I do have someone that wants to apply for the job. I need to hire the coach before we can do anything else. The coach needs to do the parent meetings. … Kids are the ones that need to do the recruiting. Me recruiting kids to play soccer is not as effective as soccer girls recruiting soccer girls.”

She said the school also has less than 400 students with other athletic programs that offer athletes the chance to win state titles.

“We have a state championship football team. We have a state championship cross country team, a state championship volleyball team,” Bryant said. “You can’t be good at everything. And sometimes kids want a state championship ring, and they’re going to get it in those other three places. … Is that the right outlook? Probably not, but that’s just the way that it is.”

Raber gave some pushback and emphasized the need to ensure opportunities for all students and for a more concrete plan.

“I think we need to stop with the excuses,” he said. “I’m getting a ton of text messages from a lot of people that are watching this meeting, and they’re furious with the excuses. … I’ve not heard a single plan that is in place to see if this is viable. This is just information that we’re receiving without, you know, we have said at this point we want more information. You know, we have a request from students that want this to move forward. How are we working with those students? How are we working with those families? We’ve not been provided with that specific information. I want a plan, and this is where the school has come in and make a plan to move this forward.”

Bryant said there were a lot of younger kids playing soccer right now and she just needs them to commit to playing at the high school level.

“While you think I’m making excuses, I’m just providing information based on my experience as, what I would consider a successful athletic director, and I don’t want to end up with no soccer, because there are a lot of kids that live for it,” Bryant said. “And we are so close right now.”

Raber later said that although they disagree, he knows both parties just want what’s best for the students.

“If I came off the wrong way, Miss Bryant, I apologize,” Raber said.

Both parties agreed that a meeting with the interested soccer players and parents is necessary to gauge the level of commitment and explore options moving forward.