Soccer on the Side: A closer look into three rec soccer teams started by East students for friendly competition

Showing up in sunglasses, tracksuits and headphones for their first game on Sept. 7 — consisting of juniors Georgia Boyd, Henry Saylor, Hudson Weaver and 15 others — the soccer team was ready to start their first season with this humorous tradition.

They got their first win of the season against another high school team, and Weaver scored four goals in the 11-2 win after only one practice.

“It went pretty well,” Boyd said. “It was a little shaky for a couple of us because we hadn’t played in a while, but we actually picked it up really fast. And I think it’s going to be a really fun year.”

Boyd was a designated team captain and signed the team up for the Brookside soccer league at Swope Park. She’s been in charge of making sure practices and games line up with the players’ schedules. 

“I think my favorite thing will just be getting back to a sport I played for my whole life,” Boyd said. “I think it’ll make me closer with everyone and I think it’ll just be fun to get out there and play a sport with my friends.”

Players on the team enjoy not having to stress over performance and just being able to spend time with friends while having traditions such as matching shorts and eye black for the games. 

“I think it’s just being able to go out there and have fun,” Saylor said. “There’s no stress. Most of my sports have all been stress-induced, and you have to be the best you can be. But [with rec soccer] you can just go out there and you can just have fun.”

Playing their personal playlist during warmups and team dinners after games will be an essential part of the team, hopefully bringing the friends closer together.

“We’d definitely be interested in doing it again or we’ve even talked about maybe doing a rec basketball league with the same team,” Boyd said. “So we definitely are all very intrigued to do another one [season].”

Even after getting kicked in the face during one of her rec soccer games, sophomore Ellie Burgess laughed it off and received her team’s Player of the Game award. 

The sophomore recreational soccer team, Spray Tan Traffic Cone Monkeys, started during the spring season in 2024. Even though the team finished their season 1-7, they loved being a part of a soccer team so much that they plan to do it every spring for as long as possible, according to Charlotte Hardy.

Freshman year, Hardy formed a co-ed team composed of her friend group: Ellie Burgess, Coco Reiser and Hallie Pfeiffer plus 20 other sophomores.

When Hardy scored her one and only goal last season, the entire team ran over to high-five and celebrate with her and enjoyed branching off from her usual cross-country lifestyle to try something new.

“​​We all do different sports, so we don’t really get to play sports together, so we thought doing a soccer team together would be fun,” Hardy said. “It’s the group that I used to do soccer with when I was in elementary school, so we thought it would be fun to do a little reunion.”

The team was scattered throughout different elementary school teams, but they reunited in middle school when they decided to form the team.

This team has numerous players who switch in and out of games depending on schedules. But they developed a special tradition of choosing players of the game based on who had the most memorable plays like when player Coco Reiser hit a header into the goal and scored for the team, throughout the season.

“It’s super fun, and since we’re so old, no one takes it personally and no one’s upset if we lose,” Burgess said. “It’s a way to have fun with your friends and we lose every game, but it still feels like we win every game because it’s so much fun.” 

After three days of squeezing in online training during her shifts at Indian Hills Country Club to become the head coach of her friend group’s recreational soccer team, senior Helen Jones could finally schedule the team’s first game on Sept. 7. 

“I had to get a background check and everything,” Jones said. “And I also had to do this safe sports training, just to make sure I know coach and player misconduct, even though, obviously, they’re my friends.”

Jones took the liberty of signing everyone up and getting the team together, and for the friends who didn’t want to play, Jones invited them to become the team’s honorary soccer moms, bringing orange slices and loud cheering to the games.

The team consisted of Jones, the head coach and a player, senior Maggie Condon and 28 others in their class. On the team, they don’t have any specific positions and they switch every game.

“We have coaches, though, and it’s kind of funny,” Condon said. “It’s also fun too because some of our friends are on the actual soccer team. So it’ll be fun for them to try to help us out and all, they can’t play because they’re in season right now.”

Since it’s their senior year, they won’t be able to play together after graduation, so they are planning on doing a rec soccer team in the spring too. The team hopes for an entertaining experience before they leave for college next fall.

“It’s a fun way to hang out with everyone, while also still doing some sort of activity and I’m also very competitive.” Jones said, “So soccer is a good way to do that.”

The team is trying to soak up the time they have left before they part ways, but are excited to see how this rec soccer season goes for them.

“I think it would have been fun if we did it sooner, but I’m excited to see how it’ll work, and if we do a spring season,” Jones said.