Growing up in Durango, Durango boys soccer head coach Sean Ackerman thought of the Fort Lewis men’s soccer team as the local club as if he was in Europe. Ackerman and his friends would watch the Skyhawks games and saw FLC have a lot of success in that time period.
Both programs would work together and there would be one or two kids on the Skyhawks teams from Durango.
Ackerman wants to reestablish that pipeline from the New Mexico Rapids and Durango High School boys soccer to FLC men’s soccer. He thought a good way of doing that would be having both programs work together to clean up the Animas River Trail before the season starts.
The new boys soccer coach has thought about this idea since the spring. Ackerman liked the idea of cleaning up the Animas River Trail as a way of giving back to the community with a project so big all the players could get involved in cleaning up different parts of the Animas River Trail.
Both teams are planning on getting together on Saturday to do the work.
“It will be for an hour or two ideally,” Ackerman said. “We’re going to break up into four different locations and disperse each program equally, or as best as we can, into those four locations. Then after that, get together for a group photo at the amphitheater at the rec center, just so that we can all get together and get to know each other a little bit more.”
FLC men’s soccer coach David Oberholtzer said the team has won the FLC Athletic Department’s Community Service Team of the Year Award the past two years. The Skyhawks have done a lot of work with the parks and rec department and have gone to local schools to help out. Oberholtzer said it’s something the coaching staff really puts an emphasis on and values a lot.
Oberholtzer recognizes there are a lot of players who are new to Durango. He said it’s a great opportunity to show those players that multiple programs are invested in the community and to show those guys how cool Durango is.
He said he also wants Durango to do well and remembers some successful players in the men’s soccer program from Durango.
“Ideally, I'd love to be in a spot again where we have local players making a big impact in our team,” Oberholtzer said. “So if we can get there one day, that'd be fantastic. There's a lot of talent in the area. Sean has worked with the Rio Rapids youth club and I do as well. We're trying to build the soccer community from a lot of different areas, from a lot of different angles to build soccer, but having kids have a love for the game. Hopefully, we develop good people at the same time.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
