Wednesday, September 12, 2012
- by B.B. Branton
Known for years for talented football, basketball and track teams, Howard High School is adding boys and girls soccer teams to the list of varsity sports.
Thanks to encouragement and support from faculty, staff and students, current Howard architectural drafting teacher and former CSAS soccer player Michael Prater will put a Hustlin’ Tigers boys’ soccer team on the field in the spring followed by a girls' squad a year from now.
“We have close to 15 guys and about 20 girls interested in playing soccer here at Howard and we should add some players once the fall sports are over,” said Prater who is a 2002 CSAS graduate and also coaches cross country and track and field at Howard.
Prater plans to have a boys’ junior varsity schedule next spring and a few scrimmages against some varsity teams.
“We have some talented players in school as we have some of the players from the East Lake Middle School boys team which won a county championship two years ago,” he said.
“We will let the players get a season of JV matches under their belts this spring and then plan for spring 2014 with a varsity schedule.”
Equipment Needs: Prater is seeking soccer equipment and funds from individuals and corporations to help the team be ready to start practice in February.
“I have contacted some people in the community and it is exciting to see the interest to help us start our program,” he said. “Everything from goals, to soccer balls to volunteer assistant coaches to uniforms to you name it, we need it.”
Anyone interested in helping the Howard soccer program can contact coach Michael Prater at prater_m@hcde.org.
contact B.B. Branton at William.branton@comcast.net