Baby steps: Gunnison girls soccer could be three years away

Gunnison girls soccer has been taking off the last three years since the implementation of youth club teams. The effort started at the U12 level, and this year has evolved into two U10 teams, a U12 team and a U15 team.

Historically, girls have played on boys club teams in Gunnison, or commuted to Crested Butte.

In 2020, assistant principal Susan Powers completed a three-year process to implement a boys high school soccer team in Gunnison.

“It was a pretty long process,” said Powers, now the boys head coach. “I started off just asking a lot of questions to understand historical context as to why we don’t have a team, and were there any set processes in place as to how you would add a team, and what the parameters are.”

Before, boys had been playing for the Crested Butte Titans, but the commute was a big hurdle. Each season, the Crested Butte team counted just a few players – if any – from Gunnison.

Now, fewer than six years later, the Gunnison high school team has enough players for a varsity and junior varsity team, without borrowing from other sports’ rosters.

Kanae Haneishi, a professor of exercise and sports science at Western and former collegiate soccer coach, has set out to break barriers for the girls the same way Powers did in 2020.

“Yes, we want to create a competitive girls soccer team, but more importantly we want to use soccer as a vehicle to empower girls and women in sports,” said Haneishi.

While this process is still in its infant stages, Haneishi has been taking big strides – the largest involving parents,community members and the high school athletic director, speaking at school board meetings and most recently, directly asking all three of the superintendent candidates their stance on the potential team.

Ayana Yadon, a Gunnison high school freshman, has been playing for Crested Butte club teams since she was in sixth grade, commuting multiple days a week up valley. When spring season begins, practices will take place every day.

“We normally take the RTA (bus) or sometimes a parent can drive us up and we carpool,” said Ayana. This season there will be three Gunnison girls playing for Crested Butte.

“It takes a lot of time. The girls get home really late and then we have to start in on homework, so that is a definite challenge, ” added Ayana’s mom Kimberly Yadon.

“When Ayana first moved up to Crested Butte to play, she was the only Gunni girl who was commuting, so it was just us,” said Kimberly. “She was in sixth grade so we didn’t feel comfortable putting her on the bus alone so we were driving three days a week plus traveling every weekend. The first couple of seasons were really hard. Her dad and I both work full time, it was a sacrifice we were more than willing to make, but it was hard.”

The commute alone presents a significant obstacle.

“It’s going to prevent some of the Gunnison girls from playing,” said Haneishi.

“I knew there were a lot of [Hispanic] kids who were not participating in a fall sport and that soccer was their cultural sport. I’ve coached these kids now for six years, and we have a high percentage of Latino boys playing soccer which has been great. And they were not necessarily ones who participated at the rec level at all,” said Powers. “I think there would be a similar trend with the girls as well.”

“We want to make sure those girls are included too. We need to advocate and spread the word,” added Haneishi. Though the team is most likely three years out, Haneishi, along with other parents, teachers, and coaches, has already begun gauging interest.

The Gunnison Watershed School District dictates that new teams must be on a probation period for their first three years. Within that period, portions of funding come from outside sources obtained mostly through fundraising.

“School funding is so changeable, so it’s hard to look forward to seeing what’s coming our way. That is the bigger barrier,” said Powers.

“From our family’s perspective, we’re really deep in soccer in the valley, we really care about soccer here and we’re all very pro Gunnison getting a girls high school team. We would help lobby for that and work with the people who are trying to put that together,” said Kimberly Yadon, despite the fact that Ayana will remain on the Crested Butte team to close out her high school career.

“The community’s been great, Kanae in particular, with really building support for girls soccer over the last couple years,” said Powers. “I think that between the numbers of girls that I hear are playing at the younger ages, coupled with kids who don’t play rec soccer due to other factors like expenses or transportation, there are enough kiddos to add a program.”

In the meantime, Haneishi is hosting free pickup soccer on Fridays from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. in the Gunnison middle school gym, Feb. 20 until March 13. All are welcome, including U6 to U15 players, students, parents and adults.