Southeast Missouri State University women's club soccer is a new organization on campus that will compete on a regional level. The club welcomes players of all levels and abilities who are interested in competing against people from other universities.
"I tried to start one in my freshman year, but we had like eight girls and then they never started showing up to practices," vice president Paige Jones said. "She [president Taylor Buettmann] is a transfer student and when she came, she got more girls to play."
Buettmann played soccer at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., in 2011. She played in five games before transferring to Southeast.
Club soccer is a registered student organization that is formed by students that want to participate in a league and travel. The club is supported by Recreation Services but is student-organized, student-led and student-operated. It is the players' choice whether they want to become recreational or play at a competitive level.
Jones said that there are 16 women on the roster.
"We're hoping that in the next year we can have an actual booth at the 'Welcome Back' stuff, and actually have a new number of girls that want to try out and are more competitive," Jones said.
When submitting a request for recognition, sports clubs must meet specific requirements to obtain club recognition within the Student Government Association. The criteria in the Student Organization Handbook says that clubs must have at least five current Southeast students who are in good standing with the university. The club must present a constitution with the university's rules as well as a student code of conduct. Each organization must have an executive officer and be active in participation, too. Once the club is approved by the Club Sports Council, it will receive recognition.
"There's a lot of paperwork," Buettmann said. "First I contacted the Recreation Center just to see if there was a club because I played soccer at my last school. They said no, but would love to have a girls club team on campus. They put out a sign-up sheet during move-in day at the tables. A bunch of girls wrote their name down and I emailed everybody. Then we started with the paperwork and rosters."
The club will travel throughout the region to compete against SIU Carbondale, Washington University, Truman State, the University of Missouri and University of Nebraska.
"I think there are going to be around eight teams in the division," Buettmann said.
Buettmann added that the next step is fundraising so that expenses will not be an issue.
"We just have an initial fee, but the school gave us some allocations, so that helped with leagues and the jerseys we're ordering," Jones said.
Buettmann and Jones also said that they're debating on having a fundraiser either at the end of this semester or next semester.
Practices currently are being held in the gym at Parker Hall.
"We practice in Parker Hall on Mondays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Tuesdays we have conditioning workouts. Wednesdays we're usually outside or in the recreation center," Jones said
The club is scheduled to play its first game at 1 p.m. April 21 at SIU Carbondale. The teams will meet again at 1 p.m. April 28 at the intramural fields on the Southeast campus.
"We play for the love of the game," Buettmann said. "When you've played your whole life, and you don't want to quit."
For more information on the club, email trbuettmann1s@semo.edu or pdjones1s@semo.edu. Students can also visit the "SEMO Women's Club Soccer" page on Facebook.
