Soccer does not draw a large number of participants, especially for girls, at HHS. Most athletic girls either
play basketball or volleyball. Other area schools don’t have a soccer team even though they have a few students who are interested in playing. The answer to the problem is to create a team by pairing with another nearby school to create a co-op team. Freshman McKayla Williams from Galatia feels the partnership approved by the school board will be an excellent solution.
“I feel like we should co-op since it would be a great opportunity for people at our school who don’t get a
chance to play,” Williams said.
A co-op program is a good opportunity for players to be able to connect with players from another school and compete in the sport they love. Sophomore McKenna Boon thinks that it is an amazing idea.

̈I think this will be a great idea! It will make the team better and have more players and teammates to
get to know, ̈Boon said

Most high school participants have played soccer for several years, so it will be interesting to see what other
girls can do and how they play. Junior Abbie Graham has played since she was very young.
“I’ve been playing soccer for my whole life,” Graham said, “so I’ve had a lot of experience playing soccer and club, helping me a lot and getting noticed, and yes, co-op’ing makes soccer interesting cause you are meeting new people, and you have to get used to the way play and perform. You have to learn how to pass them the ball so they can perform well with the ball also and have communication at the same time”
Williams has never co-op ́ed before and is looking forward to learning from her teammates.
̈I have never co-op’ed before, but I think it would be
fun,” Williams said
Some of the girls have played with girls from other teams, but it was when they were in middle school. Graham played for Southern Illinois Middle School Soccer (SIMMS) which featured players from other schools.
̈I have co-op’ed before in middle school playing for SIMMS and also playing club soccer through high
school,” Graham said.                                                                                                                                                  Harrisburg’s middle school team paired with Galatia for one season in 2019. Sophomore Tessa Heath was part of that team.
̈In middle school I played co-op with the girls from
Galatia. I ́ve never had any troubles playing with them,”
Heath said