Nears 25% minimum number of students from Yavapai County on Community College athletic teams, which was goal set in February 2021

Yavapai Community College’s Women’s Soccer Team roster for 2021 has been announced.  This will be the first season for this soccer team.

The roster is composed of  20% of its players coming from Yavapai County, which is nearing the 25% figure the Administration has set as a minimum goal in its recruiting efforts for its various athletic teams.  At the February 2021 Board meeting where this issue was last discussed, Athletic Director Brad Clifford reported to the Board that in 2020-2021, only five of the student athletes in total were from Yavapai County. At the time, the Community College had baseball, softball, men’s soccer, and volleyball programs.

 Only 15% of the players on the 2021 Women’s Soccer team are from out-state with the remaining 65% coming from counties outside Yavapai but living in the state of Arizona.

The issue of the lack of Yavapai County athletes on the taxpayer supported Community College teams has been a regular question raised by Third District Governing Board representative Mr. Paul Chevalier, who has urged a change in the policy.  One explanation given by Mr. Clifford in February to the College Governing Board for the low number of County students in the athletic program was that “the best student-athletes in Yavapai County want to leave the County to pursue their athletic endeavors.” He did not discuss whether lowering  recruiting standards slightly might generate more athletes from the County.

Mr. Clifford also said that “the [athletic] department’s policy is to recruit within the County first.”  However, “due to sheer numbers,” he said, “most recruiting is done outside of Yavapai County.

At the  April 2021 Governing Board meeting, the  Community College Administration publicly revealed that it was in a difficult position because of a “high risk” of a potential civil rights violation.  The reason for this, as explained to the Governing Board, was  that the College  had failed to comply with federal law, specifically Title IX.  It was also explained that this was one of the first issues addressed by Dr. Lisa Rhine, the Community College President,  following her hiring.

Yavapai Community College Vice President of Community Relations and Student Development, Dr. Rodney Jenkins,  told the Governing Board at the April meeting that “to be out of compliance with Title IX and know it, is a dangerous line to walk.  We are now very close to being in compliance once we field this [women’s soccer] team and add a couple other components. [Then] “we will be within the 54th percentile range, where we should be” with federal civil rights law.

Recruiting for the 2021 season already  underway

Yavapai Community College has announced it has begun recruiting for its new women’s soccer program.   The program will begin in the fall 2021 at the new soccer field on the Prescott Campus. 

The Community College has made a commitment to the District Governing Board that it will seek to recruit players from Yavapai County. However, out-of-county and out-of-state players more easily help it fill up its residence halls.  Only  time will tell if it can and does carry out the commitment to recruit significant numbers of women soccer players from the County. 

The College has not made public any estimate of the overall real cost to the Community College of adding a new sports program such as this one to its athletic department.

The following is the announcement about the soccer program made by the Community College on Facebook earlier this week.

Yavapai College has announced the addition of women’s intercollegiate soccer to their championship athletic department starting in the fall of 2021.

The Roughriders will compete in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). There are currently 11 other women’s soccer programs in the ACCAC.

The women’s program will be featured in home and away doubleheaders with the existing Yavapai College men’s soccer program, winners of 78 conference, region, district, and national championships.

“I am very excited about this announcement and the opportunity to offer women’s soccer to our communities in Yavapai County,” said Brad Clifford, Director of Athletics. “The popularity of women’s soccer is at an all-time high right now, and I am ecstatic to see the growth of this program in the coming years. We have had tremendous success with our men’s soccer program, and I am anticipating the women’s program having the same success.”

Women’s soccer will join four other Roughrider athletic programs, including the aforementioned men’s soccer team, baseball, softball, and women’s volleyball.

Yavapai College expects to have its new head women’s soccer coach on campus by January 2021. The position will be posted on the college web site starting in October, with interviews following in November and the appointment of the first head coach for Yavapai College women’s soccer to be announced in December.

Yavapai College, its athletic department, and the community are excited to present this opportunity to interested candidates looking to use soccer as a means to continue their education.

Recruitment has begun for quality student-athletes who exhibit a commitment to academics and the advanced skills to play NJCAA Division I level soccer. Young ladies interested in being one of the pioneers of the program should complete and submit a women’s soccer recruiting form located on the athletic web site.

For more information on Yavapai College Athletics, visit www.goroughriders.com or contact Kelsey English, Assistant Athletic Director – Operations, at [email protected].

Foundation made formal decision in April to provide the funds to construct (in the Blog’s view) the unneeded facility

The Yavapai Community College Foundation formally awarded the College $200,000 to build a practice field for the soccer team in April.  The announcement was made by the District Governing Board Chair, Deb McCasland, at the May meeting.

The soccer team currently practices at two fields: one in Prescott and a second in Prescott Valley. It has done so for years and held major competitions at these excellent facilities.  It has also operated its summer camps at them. It intends to use these fields for its games.

According to Chair McCasland’s announcement, the new field adjacent student residence halls will “allow the men and women soccer teams to practice on campus as well as  holding revenue generating camps and clinics.”

As readers of this Blog are aware,  the Blog has long opposed  allocating scarce funds for  an unneeded soccer field of any kind.  From the Blog’s perspective, the money would be much better spent to provide scholarships to financially struggling,  deserving students. 

You may view a clip of the announcement below.

Initial claim by Blog in commentary that College would pay $200,000 and Foundation a portion of $700,000 donated funds it was receiving from unnamed source  was incorrect.

In the Blog Commentary of Friday, April 10 the author of the commentary (me) incorrectly stated the total cost of the soccer (multi-use) field the Community College is now building on the Prescott Campus.  The information received by the Blog, which it believes is correct,  is that the Community College Foundation will pay $200,000 toward construction of the facility and the College will pay its staff for working on the project.  (There is no indication of how much staff time is associated with the project.)

The $200,000 is a part of a $700,000 donation to the Foundation from a so-far unnamed source.  Of that $700,000,  $500,000 is going to pay for a “Technical Theater Building” on the Prescott Campus and $200,000 for building the soccer (multi-use) field.

It should be noted that the Governing Board has not finalized approval of the project, although the absence of discussion about the project at April’s budget portion of the meeting strongly suggested there was no disagreement among its members about the project. The final vote on the Budget that includes the soccer (multi-use) field comes next month where the Blog expects final approval.

The Blog apologizes for the error.