A few years ago, all you needed to play soccer were the five Ss: shorts, shirt, socks, shoes and shin guards. Today, options for youth soccer in the Flathead Valley can be difficult to navigate. With competitive clubs offering pathways to the professional level or to university teams, the path to the field can be obstructed. 

The Greater Kalispell Youth Soccer Association Inc. began in the mid 1980s. Its mission was to increase the public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the game. It has evolved into two of the three clubs available to Whitefish kids today. 

Three soccer clubs in the valley, Flathead Valley United, Glacier Surf and Flathead Rapids, two nonprofits and a for profit, develop young players with dreams of playing professionally or at a college level.  

Each club offers recreational as well as competitive programs. 

Even with recent changes to the way Division I schools recruit and the new, name, image and likeness, or NIL money, scholarships still exist but NCAA statistics show that fewer than 2% of high school athletes receive athletic scholarships, and only about 1% receive a full-ride scholarship.  

That statistic fails to deter some parents. The demand for player development in the valley persists and youth soccer has become big business. 

Damion Blackburn, Flathead Valley United Soccer Club executive director, said the nonprofit is a member of the Montana Youth Soccer Association and United States Youth Soccer. Its recreational programming in Whitefish and Kalispell serves about 700 players each season. 

The goal of FVA is to provide a positive, supportive environment for kids and young adults to learn all aspects of and enjoyment for soccer. It offers recreational programming and three arms of competitive play: academy, juniors and seniors. 

"We just had our 2013 boys finish as quarter finalists in USYS nationals, which was excellent,” Blackburn said. “The majority of guys are Whitefish kids.” 

The competitive pathways are for players and families interested in going pro or nabbing a rare scholarship. 

"Ideally, that next level for a competitive player in the country should be try to go play as a professional. If that doesn't work out, college should be, not necessarily a safeguard, but it should be, hopefully, something you would want to pursue as well," he said. 

Anywhere from 225 to 250 kids participate in the recreation and academy programs, which are both considered competitive. He said more than 380 kids registered for the competitive spring program last year. 

“It's been a pretty competitive growth rate for us over the last three years, in particular,” he said. “We've had significant growth, which has been great, and we love the opportunity to serve more.  

“With all our programming each year, we're reaching out to over 2,200 families a year in the valley, so that, I believe, positions us to be the largest youth club in the valley,” he added. 

The fee for the senior spring season at FVU is $700 and can be dropped to $600 if parents complete volunteer hours. He said he played in a boutique club called the Ohio Elite, where the fee was $3,800 plus travel expenses. He said the fee was below the market rate for that area.  

FVU also requires a uniform fee of about $260. 

Blackburn spoke of the cost structures of clubs, of one national association looking to buy another to have 90% of the market share, and of male players "looking to be bought and developed and sold off as pros." 

FVU teams play local league games against other MYSA clubs.  

"Since Glacier Surf is not a member of MYSA, they are not eligible to play with our teams in those environments," Blackburn said. "They can play in tournaments and they typically do play in our 3BR tournament and Tamarack in the fall. I know it sounds crazy, but it's just for insurance purposes." 

GLACIER SURF SOCCER Club is the local arm of Surf Nation, a network of over 50 clubs in the United States and Canada.  

About 400 kids will play for Glacier Surf Soccer Club this fall. Little Surfers, 3–5-year-olds, play twice a week. Academy players are 6-9 years old and play three times a week and no weekends. Surf offers competitive soccer to players 8-18 years old. 

"We're the only program in the valley that, at those ages, it's not recreational,” said Nate Evans, Surf director. "There're no volunteers. You will have a dedicated coach. There won't be any questions like who's going to volunteer and step up for the team.” 

Evans said to be the best, one must play against and try to beat the best. 

“We live in the beautiful state of Montana but good soccer is far, and really good soccer is really far, and that's just part of the trade-off of living here,” he said. “So we go into Canada, we go over to Washington, we go to Idaho. We do play in Montana still but, ironically, a lot of places in Idaho in Washington are just as far, if not closer, than Montana cities and the soccer tends to be better in those bigger demographics.” 

The competitive teams practice three times a week and play tourneys on some weekends, giving parents time “to do the things they love to do in this beautiful state – hiking, fishing, camping,” he said. 

Surf offers film review and highlights, strength conditioning and TOCA training in the winter, which hones skills like shooting, dribbling, balls out of the air and using the weak foot. Evans added that Surf is the only club in Montana with a TOCA trainer. 

Evans noted that Surf also has Tori Strickland, the highest licensed director in the entire state, on staff. 

“The number one thing players start soccer for is to have fun, and so we want to continue a love for the game, number one, and then, what we have found is the top players in Montana can absolutely play at the highest level,” he said. “Our goal is to help players go as far as they can in the game, as far as they want, and as far as they are physically able.” 

Northwest Elite is a statewide program for top players from the biggest clubs around the state. After a tryout, coaches take them to showcases in Phoenix, San Diego and Las Vegas. 

"We had the program launch in 2025,” he said. “One hundred percent of the graduating class of seniors got offers to play in college in year one, which was, for Montana is like holy cow. 

"That's one of the three main options for kids in our club,” he said. “If they want to do more soccer, if they're good enough, they're not just going to get stuck and landlocked here in Montana. They can go on and try out for these other opportunities.” 

“We’ve already sent dozens of kids, in just a few short years, to college,” Evans said. 

Surf hosts two tournaments each year – the Rumble in the Rockies in April and a fall tournament called the Premier Cup. 

“This year 's [Premier Cup] going to be the biggest event,” Evans said. “There are teams from Washington, Idaho, Canada and all over Montana and everyone’s invited. Every local and regional club and team is welcome to attend.” 

THE FLATHEAD RAPIDS nonprofit is based in Columbia Falls but open to kids from Whitefish and other towns in the valley. One of the club’s goals is to make playing soccer an enjoyable experience.   

It offers recreational programming, the least expensive option, in the spring and fall with practices once a week and games on Saturdays for kids up through eighth grade. 

The competitive teams are for U10 to about U15 in the fall. They practice two or three times a week and play games on Saturday or tournaments over the weekend. In the spring, the Rapids offer programs for U10 through U16 or U18, depending on interest. 

The registration fee for the fall competitive season is about $475 but varies based on age group. The uniform fee is about $116. 

“Our whole mission is to have high-quality programming at a more affordable price point,” Evan Miller, Flathead Rapids director, said. “We realize it’s cost prohibitive in a lot of youth sports anymore ... so we try to keep our registration fees a little lower while still providing high-quality programming. 

“We compete in the competitive leagues – the Montana Youth Soccer Association spring league and in the fall, we play in tournaments, and we play friendlies with other clubs all around mostly the western part of the state,” he added. 

The Rapids travel as far as Helena or Great Falls. Miller said he tries to keep the travel cost down for families. The recreation league travels around the Flathead Valley. 

“We have need-based scholarships for families,” Miller said. “We participate in the Whitefish Community Foundation’s Great Fish Community Challenge ... and part of the money that we get from that helps with operations but also, we try to earmark that for scholarships. 

“Last season we gave out about $3,000 worth of scholarships to families that needed extra support with the registration fee,” he added. “That's a really important piece for us – trying to make sure that families can afford it and participate.” 

The Rapids’ competitive coaches are paid. Recreation coaches are volunteers who can waive the fee for one player.  

Miller said community culture is important to the club, and while most of the players are from Columbia Falls, they welcome any player who wants to be part of the soccer community. 

"We’re super open to that and really pride ourselves on trying to keep a real positive, engaging, supportive environment where kids can develop their skills ... and grow and fall in love with the game,” Miller said. “The most important things are those teamwork skills and leadership skills and cooperation, collaboration, and connection with family and community.” 

“The culture part is really important to us," he said. "It's competitive soccer for that group but that's not the most important part of it.” 

Miller is cognizant of living in a small community in Montana but said there are opportunities for kids. The Rapids have players who participated in the Montana Olympic Development Program. 

“We have some really skilled players with us, obviously, but that's not the number one priority,” Miller said. “[It’s] the community building and connection and those other life skills that are so important and necessary for future community members and future leaders.  

“The vehicle is soccer but the end goal is developing quality individuals,” he added. 

Soccer, and youth sports in general, have changed in recent years. Families have different expectations now, and Evans said they are the market that is driving the change. 

“Parents are seeking out better coaching, more professional training and playing environments for their players, and more diverse opportunities that will ultimately help them reach their goals,” Evans said. “Whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, it’s the world we live in. If there wasn’t a market of people driving it, it wouldn’t exist. The market is talking.” 

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support. 

    A Flathead Rapids boys black team with medals and coaches John Schmidt and Eddie Grenier. (Photo provided by Flathead Rapids)
  

    The Flathead Valley United Soccer Club's Academy girls green team, champions of the 2026 BR tournament. (Jaxon Willett photo)