SOAP LAKE – Last week, the Soap Lake School District announced it received two grants for student athletes. Both grants total out to $17,500 and will directly benefit athletics in Soap Lake. According to Athletic Director Erin Allen, this allows them to take the financial burden off of coaches and parents.  

“This will help alleviate some of that and be able to really focus on providing more opportunities for the game itself and being able to get students better equipment, newer soccer balls, those kinds of things,” Allen said.  

The first grant provided by the Safeway Foundation and the Albertsons Companies Foundation is $10,000 toward providing student athletes with meals, snacks, and hydration materials. According to the district's Facebook post, this grant will ensure that athletes are nourished and supported throughout athletic seasons and promote student health and wellness.  

The second grant from the Paul Lauzier Foundation awards the school with $7,500 to purchase soccer goals and field equipment for their boys soccer team. Last spring, the soccer team completed its first season in program history.  

However, due to not having field equipment like soccer goals, they were not able to host any home games; now they can, according to Allen. Having the ability to host opponents in Soap Lake will provide the team with new opportunities to raise money for their program. Outside of fundraising efforts, they will be able to utilize options like concessions.  

“It was just great to see how well they did, too, for it being their first year. And I think the soccer grant is fantastic, because it really does allow our kids to build on that sense of community and pride in where they're from, and that's one of the things that we really want our students to be able to do, is be proud to be from Soap Lake,” Soap Lake School District Superintendent Angela Rolfe said.  

Soccer is not the only program that is new this year; they also had a tennis program start up. The grants are a nice way to reward these programs and coaches for their dedication to athletics at Soap Lake.  

“Our coaches do work hard. I am proud of them every day for all of the work they put into our kids,” Rolfe said.  

According to Allen, coaches work hard to put a focus on more than just athletics. They push student athletes to succeed in the classroom, make sure they have access to food and organize travel to games. She said having these grants helps take stress off their plate in their day-to-day work.  

“I really feel like we have a great set of coaches that already know how to do those kinds of things but taking one thing off their plate by being able to provide these meals and do these kinds of things for them also benefits the coaches,” Allen said.  

According to Rolfe, student athletes having access to these programs not only enables them to succeed in a sport but also pushes them to succeed outside of it, too.  

“Being able to participate in these sports programs is one of the reasons that (students) want to keep coming to school, and it really does help give them a reason to be successful while they figure out what else they want to do,” Rolfe said.  

    The Eagles boy's soccer team posing for a team photo this past season. The team recently concluded their first season in program history and finished with a winning record.
  

    An Eagles soccer player battles for control of the ball during a game against Oroville this past season. The boy’s soccer team will be able to host games next spring thanks to the Paul Lauzier Foundations grant that will provide them with soccer goals and field equipment.