While football, baseball and hockey are all varsity sports at Wayne State, there are some sports that float under the radar.
One is the WSU club soccer team, which held tryouts June 19 and 20. Over that time there were tryouts held on the open field at the Matthaei Center to see how many players wanted to form a team this year.
The tryouts consisted of a series of pickup games that rotated all of the prospective players. They were lead by returning player and club President Ody Chis. Chis has been involved with the club team at WSU since it began two years ago.
“I just wanted to play soccer somewhere,” Chis said. “I was walking along campus, and I saw the flier for the approval of a pilot program for club sports, and we got on Facebook, and that’s basically how it got started two years ago.”
Along with a few returning players, the club team’s coach, Marty Declirk, will be returning for his third season.
The team will meet three times a week for practices at the Matthaei Center’s open field. Each player is expected to attend at least two of the three practices each week.
Along with the practices, players will help out at fundraisers to support the program. The hard work put in by the players will be rewarded with opportunities to play competitive, sanctioned and organized soccer.
“We play with NCAA sanctioned referees on a 120-yard field, 45-minute halves; this is the real deal,” Chis said. The team will compete against other club teams from universities around metro Detroit.
“We do have a schedule set now for eight games, two tournaments,” Chis said. “We are going to be playing Lawrence Tech three times and we are also going to play the U of M club team.”
Despite it’s relatively short existence, the club will not be allowed to play its games or hold practices on the football field.
“There’s a lot of politics involved in getting us on field or the practice field,” Chis said. “Our only other option is to play at Belle Isle.”
Chis said the club team is still looking for as many players as possible for the upcoming season. More information is available on the Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Web site.
