Vashon soccer players, coaches and parents are trying to drum up support for a beloved sport on the island through a recently-formed booster club.

The Pirate Soccer Boosters aims to help youth soccer players on Vashon, especially at the high school level, make lasting memories and compete at a higher level.

“I think we see organized sports as an incredible platform for young people, not just for fitness and recreation, but also as an opportunity to learn about teamwork and ethics, all (while) having fun and being outside,” said Lisa MacLean, vice president of communications for the booster organization.

Vashon is fortunate to have a strong program for kids through the Vashon Island Soccer Club, MacLean said, but as young soccer players enter their mid-to-late teens, the demands for competitive soccer play increase and the resources don’t keep up.

The gap, she said, is most apparent in how soccer seasons work. Many young athletes play year-round and participate in club soccer during the off-season from the high school. The high school seasons (fall for the girls, spring for the boys) bring them together with their island friends and family.

“But they don’t have the resources … they need to have the same strong caliber of soccer experience that they’ve now come to appreciate in their club teams,” MacLean said.

“Like many school districts in Washington State, I think we end up with less than ideal funding to support the level of program that many of them have become accustomed to,” she explained. “So we’re looking to bring that same energy and support forward for the teams that are part of our school district.”

Some of their starting goals are humble.

“Our soccer balls are ripped, and [they] stink,” boys’ team coach John Thomas said. “When we went to the state tournament, all we could do was stop at a gas station, because the kids had a ridiculous per diem to feed them for eight hours. And what ends up happening is the coaches just write the check.”

They’re not throwing blame at the school, which is under its own budgetary restrictions. But they do feel that it’s time to ask the community to get involved.

Soccer is huge on Vashon, Vashon High School girls’ soccer coach April Bottman-Haase said, and would benefit from more advocacy.

“You have the club program, which will go from kindergarten all the way through U-19 (under 19 years old),” Bottman-Haase said. “But as they go into the high school range, it tends to get very sparse.”

So the coaches and organization members have bigger plans, too — they want to host events and trainings to draw more players together, like strength training workshops or bringing the whole team to watch and study a Seattle Reign game.

“Let’s have money so we can take the bus or the water taxi (to a Reign game),” Bottman-Haase said. “So nobody has to worry about footing the bills. … A lot of the teams we play against have those resources. They have so much more support than we do as a public school.”

Girls’ team co-captain Natalie Vickers started playing soccer when she moved to the island around age 5 and has been at it ever since, though she almost dropped out of the sport in middle school when she broke her arm.

But an older player convinced her to play, “and when I played just one season, it reminded me how much I love the team, and the bus rides, and everything,” she said.

Co-captain Besa Hruska recalled coming up in the program as a freshman, intimidated by the seniors — “big tall girls who had been playing soccer their whole lives.”

But team bonding activities helped shatter those boundaries and bring them all together, she said. Having more chances for those kinds of activities, like seeing Reign games, would bring the team together even closer, she said.

And boys’ goalkeeper Ozzie Tanner said he’d love the opportunity to get specialized training and coaching on goalkeeping, a service he said would be valuable for both the girls and boys.

The Pirate Soccer Boosters will host a community meeting on Monday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Vashon High School cafeteria.

The meeting will include conversations from coaches Bottman-Haase and Thomas about their visions and plans for the club, and what they need most to support their teams and players. It will also provide information about how those interested can join the organization by contributing as a donor and/or volunteering.

Ultimately, the booster club’s efforts are about keeping the game special and constructive for island youth, many of whom will reach the pinnacle of their athletic careers on Vashon.

“I think in the end, really what this is about is creating really memorable experiences for the kids,” Thomas said. “Some of (them) might go out and play in college, but that’s more of the exception to the rule. For most of the kids, this is their culmination, their community. … Let’s see if we can produce the best teams, with the best memories for (the students). [Because] when we have to take (them) to the gas station to eat, that’s not exactly a really enduring memory.”