PIERRE — Soccer will become a school-sponsored sport in South Dakota.

But it’s not happening any time soon.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors voted 5-3 to approve the implementation of a soccer committee report Wednesday, giving schools the go-ahead to begin a five-year transition process from club soccer to school soccer beginning in the 2012-13 school year.

Capital Journal file photo The Pierre Governors boys compete at Hilger’s Gulch last season. The SDHSAA approved allowing schools to sponsor soccer as a sport at their meeting in Pierre on Wednesday. Advertisement

South Dakota becomes the 50th state to adopt soccer as a school sport. And the transition will take some time.

Rich Jensen, who leads the high school soccer committee for the South Dakota Soccer Association and has worked to get the SDHSAA to adopt the sport, grinned as the vote was recorded.

“We’re excited for the kids that are playing the sport, and we’re committed to continuing to work and help the schools that do adopt soccer with the transition process,” Jensen said.

The soccer committee report, presented at the Nov. 4 SDHSAA board meeting, outlines the transition process for schools adopting soccer. It sets up the five-year transition period during which teams must follow SDHSAA regulations, adopt school colors and logos and are eligible for state tournament play but are also allowed to play club teams during the regular season.

The SDSA will continue to offer a state championship for club teams.

Currently, nine schools sponsor soccer, including Aberdeen Central, Mitchell, Sioux Falls O’Gorman and St. Thomas More. Numerous other schools — such as Pierre — have affiliated soccer programs.

Pierre’s high school-age soccer teams wear Governor green, but are not sponsored by the high school.

Pierre Athletic Director Dan Whalen said the decision would now move to the school board, which has already passed a resolution saying they would adopt soccer pending state approval and certain financial criteria being met.

“Pierre has not dragged their feet on this at all,” Whalen said. “It will go to the school board and it is ultimately a board decision, but I would expect them to begin discussing it soon.”

Whalen said he estimated the cost of sponsoring soccer would be between $35,000 and $40,000 annually, a number he said was in line with what other athletic directors around the state have estimated. The costs inculde paying coaches, buying uniforms and gassing up busses to travel.

Pierre Superintendent Kelly Glodt said the school board would take up the issue soon.

“It’s kind of a complex issue. Our board two years ago voted to add soccer as a school sport but at that time there were a number of contingencies on that motion, those included the athletic association doing what they did and if funding was available. That will be our biggest challenge with the economic times and with what I’m expecting to come out of the legislature. It will be a decision for the current board. More than anything I see this as the first step. It had to happen,” Glodt said.

Much of the resistance to adopting soccer has been due to financial concerns from schools, many of which are facing tough funding decisions already.

But with a minimum of eight years to transition, the SDHSAA board ultimately decided it was more important to offer an increasingly popular sport than to keep costs frozen.

“People often ask me what the SDSA will do if the state association takes over soccer,” Jensen said. “Well, we have 17,000 kids playing youth soccer. So that will keep us busy.”

During the meeting, SDHSAA Executive Director Bob Lowery said he hoped schools would take up the funding challenge as a whole and not view the process as simply trying to find a way to pay for soccer.

“I know budgets are tough out there, but don’t put the whole burden on one sport for them to exist,” Lowery said. “If this is going to cost $40,000, then the athletic department as a whole needs to find a way to pay for it, and spread it among all the programs.”

Before the roll call, chairman Curt Hart, of Alexandria, noted the two previous votes on the issue had gone 5-3, and said he hoped the board could move together on final passage unanimously.

But Bob Sittig, superintendent representative of Baltic, and Chris Specht, board member from Yankton, said they would not change their votes, though they both said once the motion passed they would support it.

The first vote — to approve soccer as a school sport — passed 8-0.

Terry Nebelsick, board member from Huron, moved to approve the 2012-13 implementation date and the motion was seconded by Darren Paulson, of Rapid City Central.

Voting aye were Nebelsick, Paulson, Hart, Eldon Marshall, of White River, and Christena Schultz, of Bridgewater-Emery. Voting nay were Sittig, Specht and Doug Schooley, of Watertown.

The process now moves to individual school boards which will decide whether to sponsor soccer at the high school level.

A representative from Belle Fourche at the meeting said that school was going to go ahead despite the tough economic climate. At previous meetings, numerous schools have expressed a desire to move forward, pending approval from the SDHSAA.

“I understand the financial concerns out there,” Whalen said. “But there are a lot of schools ready to roll, too. Pierre soccer is strong and I look forward to doing whatever I can to make this happen.”