Albany School Board To Discuss Adding New Sport

ALBANY (WJON News) -- Albany is going to potentially decide on adding a new Boys' sport Wednesday night. The Albany School Board will be gathering information, asking questions, and listening to parents of the Albany Soccer Club at their meeting and potentially deciding to add JV Boys Soccer as a sanctioned school sport.

Get our free mobile app

The board could decide to add the program as a Minnesota State High School League sport fully managed by the school, or they could allow the sport to be added as a self-funded sport by the Albany Soccer Club. School Board Chair Matt Kreuzer says there are a lot of factors to consider if they would decide to go the self-funded route:

"It would be a new endeavor for our district to do it. You have the coordination of facilities, coordination of officials, you have busing, you have finances, you have insurance, you have payroll, you have staffing, there's just a lot of considerations, and who owns what. There's a lot of things to sort through if we were to go down that path."

The Albany Soccer Club has been trying to get the JV Boys team added for over a year and has had numerous meetings with several committees in an attempt to get the sport added. Kreuzer says they have a lot of very passionate parents and that they are trying to be very open and listen to parents while still weighing what is in the best interests of the school. He says if they can't vote Wednesday on whether to add the sport or not, they at least hope to be able to provide the club with some clear direction, and that they appreciate all the work the soccer club has done.