Utah soccer should be for youths

Soccer is huge among Utah's youths, with tens of thousands of players playing in organized leagues. Its growth is understandable — you don't need to be big to play soccer, or tall, or strong, or even particularly coordinated. All you need is a pair of cleats and an ability to run and kick the ball once in a while. It's egalitarian, good for both boys and girls, great for physical fitness. It's creative, intense and fun.

With the game's growth in Utah, the organizations charged with administering it have also grown. But unfortunately, along the way some of those organizations have begun to lose focus on why they exist.

Consider player fees, which have grown explosively: Yearly costs of $1,000 to $2,000 and more are increasingly common. Or accommodation of religion: More and more teams are requiring Sunday play from players whose religious beliefs prohibit it.

Consider an incident that occurred last week. I am a volunteer coach. My team and four other teams missed the check-in for State Cup, the big end-of-year tournament run by the Utah Youth Soccer Association. We had previously signed up, paid our money and participated in the seeding and scheduling of tournament games, but we had missed the scheduled check-in, a final technical requirement where the league checks your team roster and player ID papers.

Even though the tournament had not yet begun, association officials refused to check in any of the teams late, even with a late fee. Instead, they opted for the ultimate penalty: disqualification. They took our $550 entry fee, our $500 bond and our $100 appeal fee (all appeals were summarily denied), for a total loss of $1,150 per team — all coming out of the pockets of the players' families. The disqualifications required redoing the schedules at the last minute, causing many teams to show up at the wrong times and reducing the number of games to be played by others.

Checking my team in late would have taken, oh, about three minutes.

A parent from one of the teams we would have played called me to express her dismay and astonishment, wondering out loud, "When did it stop being about the kids?" Indeed. Their players wanted to play. So did the other teams we would have played. The league's action was the equivalent of imposing capital punishment for a parking ticket.

Perhaps the changes I've described are inevitable. But I hope not!

Remember, people: It's about the kids.

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Alan L. Edwards is an attorney with Kunzler & Associates.