PORT ANGELES — It’s over.
A dispute which got statewide attention has been resolved between the Port Angeles Youth Soccer Club and soccer parents Andrew May and Carmen Czachor over their son’s attempt to play on a girls team because not enough players signed up for a boys team.
Spencer May, 13, and at least seven other boys ages 14 and younger will be part of a smaller, academy-style team that starts practice at Stevens Middle School in Port Angeles this evening.
The team, which will have two-hour practices on Mondays and Thursdays, will consist of ball handling and other practice drills and be taught by John Leslie, who also coaches with the elite Storm King youth soccer program.
“We’re popping open a bottle of champagne right now,” Andrew May said Monday night soon after he received a phone call from Leslie telling the family about the academy team.
Academy-style teams do not play against other squads but instead participate in intense drills and scrimmages between members of the team.
May, a professional horticulturist who writes a gardening column for the Peninsula Daily News, said he was told that at least eight boys have shown interest in the academy-style team.
“We are really pleased,” May said about the academy team.
There was no comment from PAYSC officials.
The new team is open to the original boys who signed up for 14-under spring boys soccer with the PAYSC.
The controversy erupted in March when not enough boys signed up to form a team in Spencer’s age group.
May and Czachor tried to get their son on a 14-under girls team so he could play soccer this season.
PAYSC wouldn’t allow Spencer to play on a girls squad.
The youth organization postponed the spring season a couple of weeks to decide what to do with accusations from May and Czachor that PAYSC was discriminating against the boys.
“Girls can play on any boys team, but boys can’t play on girls teams,” May said at the time.
The dispute, which went on for several weeks, was the subject of heated pro and con letters to the editor on the PDN’s Commentary page.
It also drew attention on Internet soccer and sports blogs across Washington state.
“Should Spencer May be allowed to play on a U-14 girls team?” asked a poll at www.seattlesoccerexaminer.com.
The vote was 335 yes, 88 no as of Wednesday night.
PAYSC allowed coed teams at all age levels until two years ago when it mandated separate boys and girls teams at the higher age groups.
May said finding out that at least eight of the original 13 boys who had signed up for 14-under spring soccer are interested in the academy-style team shows that Spencer wasn’t the only boy affected by the cancellation of that age group.
Spencer said that he is excited about starting practice with the academy team.
The drills will make the team challenging, he said.
“It will be more intense than a regular team and will help me get ready for high school soccer,” Spencer said.
Spencer said he also plans to try out for the prestigious Storm King boys team — a more competitive team than any of the PAYSC’s recreational teams — during planned tryouts in May.
