Indoor legues heating up

Where can you find the Purple People Eaters, the Spanky Panthas and the Motorcycle Mafia on cold winter weekends?

In the warmth of Mockingbird Valley's Melwood Avenue indoor facility in Louisville is where. And they are just a few of the teams which are part of a growing soccer league program featuring hundreds of high schoolers, including many from southern Indiana.

The leagues for varsity and junior varsity boys and girls are really heating up at the moment as they move towards their March conclusion.

Mockingbird's league director, Deron Schulten, said the program has been in existence since the late 1980s, but took off when the facility grew in size.

"When we expanded to two indoor fields in 2004, it really exploded," he said. "Now we annually host between 80 and 90 teams in each of our winter sessions."

There are 16 varsity and 24 junior varsity boys' teams, as well as 12 varsity and 24 junior varsity girls' teams playing in the leagues.

And such is the growth that Mockingbird is now planning to have spring and summer sessions for the first time due to the high interest level.

"Typically we host many teams from around the region, pulling a between eight to 12 teams from Southern Indiana," said Schulten.

Among those involved on this side of the river are coaches Todd Perkins and his wife Michelle. Todd has two U14 teams playing -- Jabouti and Orange Crush - while Michelle coaches the Spanky Panthas, with former SIU president Scott Klink.

"It has been tremendous fun and good competition for the girls on my teams," said Todd Perkins. "Indoor soccer is a different game with rebounds off of the side and end walls still being in play. The ball rebounds and moves at a very fast pace and it forces the players to speed up their reaction time to keep up the play.

"The 13 and 14 year old girls on my U14 teams have had to play against much bigger and more physical high school players. There are several high school girls that are close to 6' in height. Sometimes it even resembles ice hockey with the boards and the physical contact. The referees do a good job though of keeping it from getting too rough."

Perkins said they do a number of things to keep it fun.

“We have some girls from other clubs on the team to give them a chance to play with other friends,” he said. “ The team names, custom jerseys, guest coaches and playing other positions all add up to keeping it fun and interesting. The girls have been really enjoying the indoor sessions. Having fun while learning is the best way for players this age."


For more information about the leagues, visit www.mockingbirdsoccer.net.

Above: Holly Cobb (orange) and Michelle Klueppelberg (yellow) of SIU in action during the Mockingbird indoor high school leagues at the weekend. Photo courtesy of Todd Perkins.