About Us

	Soccer is a family affair in North Texas’ Cooke County. 
	On a rainy day in 2000, a children’s soccer game was in jeopardy of 
being cancelled for lack of a referee. Rather than disappoint the youngsters 
who were primed to play, Kelli Walker, only five days from giving birth to 
her third child, came to the rescue and officiated the game. Several days 
after the delivery, she was back at work writing payroll checks for referees.
	“I don’t know how to not do this,” says Walker, secretary and treasurer 
for the Gainesville-based Cooke County Soccer Association (CCSA). “Doing this 
is something I take pride in.”
	Walker, who says her last-minute refereeing stint may have helped her 
win the Parent of the Year award that year, is just one example of how 
passionate CCSA members are about soccer. 
	“All of the members on the board are soccer enthusiasts to the bone,” 
says Walker, who joined the association in 1997 when her 7-year-old son began 
playing. “[The association] is definitely family-oriented. We have a strong 
family tie in the association.” 
	The association, which serves Gainesville, Muenster, Valley View, 
Lindsay, Whitesboro, Callisburg and other surrounding communities, is determined 
to keep kids playing together. More than 95 percent of CCSA teams are age-pure, 
meaning every child on the team is the same age. Unlike most other associations, 
in which players are chosen from throughout the organization, the CCSA’s team 
breakdown is according to geographic region.
	“Because they’re all the same age and they all live in the same town, 
they can stay together for as long as they want to play soccer,” says Walker. 
“Hopefully we’ll find a coach [for the youngest age group], for instance a dad 
of one of the kids on the team, and he’ll stay with us forever.” 
	Will Henry, a member since 1999 and current president of the association, 
says the coach is the bond that keeps a team together.
	“If you get the right coaches and you have the right people who have an 
idea of what they’re doing and they’re actually enjoying it, what you see is kids 
coming back to play again year after year,” says Henry who, since his move from 
San Antonio in 1999, coaches his nephew’s U-12 team from Muenster and, along with 
his wife, his two daughters’ squads. “With the teams we’ve had here the longest, 
you can still see a real close tie to the coach.
	“We have several coaches who have two and three teams in our association 
because their kids play in different places or they just don’t want to see a 
team collapse because they lack a coach,” says Henry.
	One example of how the association thrives on the family connection is 
Evan Dawson. His father, Sam, started the CCSA in 1987 and Evan began playing 
at age 8. Now, Evan coaches his 8-year-old daughter. 
	“It shows the history and the loyalty of the community,” says Walker. 
“Evan said when his dad started the association, he was too young to realize 
the importance of what he was doing for the kids. Now, he’s coaching his own 
daughter and he feels like the league is showing signs of growth.”
	Between the spring and summer seasons in the early 1990s, the CCSA had 
420 players in its ranks. At the time, teams were co-ed due to a lack of 
participants, especially in the younger divisions. But because of interest in the 
sport and the county’s growth, the total count more than doubled by the end of 
the decade, accelerating to 854 for the 1999-2000 seasons. Although the numbers 
have dropped a bit, the association has maintained between 550 and 700 
participants for the past several years, including 60 Under-5 to Under-19 teams, 
none of which are co-ed. 
	The community, including local businesses, has shown its support by 
sponsoring many of the local teams. Forty of the 60 teams are sponsored, with much 
of the money earmarked for fields, certified referee pay and scholarships for 
families who can’t afford to pay the full registration fee. Remarkably, the fee 
hasn’t gone up in five years, staying at $45 for the fall and an additional $25 
for the spring (if playing both seasons). The registration fee includes shirts, 
shorts and socks. The fees also help provide participation trophies for every child.
	“To be able to do all that with that amount of money is pretty good,” says 
Walker. “I’ve listened to what other registrars charge and [their players] don’t 
even get to keep the uniforms [in some associations]. [Our players] wear them 
everywhere they can.”
	However, the CCSA also has given back to the community in many ways. In 
addition to providing leagues for U-5 through U-19 players, the CCSA is helping a 
local junior high school start its soccer program by donating soccer goals. 
	Rather than holding invitational tournaments, the CCSA has teams participate 
in intra-league competition for the older players. 
	“We feel like doing that with our older kids gives everyone a chance to 
play instead of picking just one team and sending them to play in one big tournament,” 
says Walker. “We buy them the big trophy and they get their picture in the newspaper. 
Again, it goes back the community. We try to let the kids know they’re doing their 
best and we appreciate it.”
	What does the future hold for the CCSA? Henry wants to have lighted playing 
fields, league expansion and more young people becoming referees and coaches.
	“Hopefully we can get some of the kids that are older now back in the mix,” 
he says. “Last year was one of the first years we’ve really seen someone playing in 
U-8 or U-9 play all the way through U-19. [Hopefully we can get them] back in coaching 
and refereeing and doing things that will help the association grow over time.”
--Article from The Dallas Morning News/The Pitch
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