School says yes to soccer
The world’s most popular sport is coming to New Hampton High School, thanks to a unanimous vote by the School Board Monday night.Board members voted to add soccer to its sports offerings, beginning in the 2019-20 school year, after hearing from a parade of speakers who came to the meeting to express support for the sport.“It’s not one of those slam-dunk things,” Board Member Damian Baltes said, “but I am encouraged by the data we received that schools didn’t see a drop-off in participation [in other sports,] or at least most didn’t. … I also don’t think, in fact I know, this is not going to go away. … We can’t say no forever.”— For more on this story, see the Jan. 25 New Hampton Tribune.