The University Heights Academy Lady Blazers’ soccer team is only a few weeks away from a trip of the lifetime. But unfortunately, the trip will come at a cost to the team during the fall soccer season.
UHA Lady Blazers’ soccer coach Michael Parker said this morning that he and the school’s Athletics Director Taylor Sparks had a meeting earlier this spring with the KHSAA regarding the team’s trip to Sweden for the prestigious Gothia Cup. The trip will overlap a couple of days of the “Dead Period.”
The weeks from June 25-July 9 have been designated as a time of inactivity and KHSAA Article 3, Bylaw 26 states that athletes may not receive coaching or training from school personnel and school facilities, uniforms, nicknames, transportation or equipment shall not be used during the period beginning June 25 and going through July 9.
Parker said KHSAA officials ruled that the Lady Blazers could go play in the Gothia Cup, but his team would lose regular season games and scrimmages.
“We are losing four regular season games, we cannot play in the Bluegrass Games, and we can’t have any scrimmage games,” Parker said. “When I took the boys up there in 2007, they only took the games we played at the tournament so I was little surprised this time.”
Parker added that he normally doesn’t schedule 21 games in the regular season due to the school’s Fall outdoor school, which usually takes students on a trip over about nine days.
“The four games won’t hurt us and we weren’t going to play in the Bluegrass games this summer anyway because they start right after we get back,” Parker said. “We also can’t have any scrimmage games, which kind of surprised me a little.”
The Lady Blazers are scheduled to spend nine days in Sweden beginning July 10 playing in the Cup, which is the largest youth tournament in the world, before going to London for four days of sightseeing.
UHA will play in the U18 Girls division and will play in a group of four teams. The teams will play a round-robin and the top two teams move into a playoff bracket and the bottom two teams will move into a different bracket. The Lady Blazers will play in a pool with two teams from Sweden and one from Norway.
File Photo