While there are a few youth soccer clubs in the area, CSRA Rush Soccer Program is looking at possibly coming to play in Grovetown, according to a recent presentation to the Grovetown City Council.
Rush Soccer is a global soccer club and first was formed in 1997 in Colorado.
According to the presentation by Grovetown resident and Coach Arvonda Ganaway, the Rush Soccer Club has 69 clubs located across 32 states in the United States. They also have 110 clubs located across 48 countries and six contents. Ganaway consists of athletes ranging from mainly 6 years old to 18 years old.
Two Rush Soccer alums have played at the highest level. Connor Casey was the first Rush Soccer alumnus to play for the U.S. national team. Lindsey Horan was the first Rush Alumni to win a World Cup.
The Rush Soccer program helps youth soccer players, but it also goes past soccer as well, said Ganaway. Programs and classes to help young athletes find a future career are also provided with the CSRA Rush program.
“This is very soccer-focused, but it extends past soccer too,” Ganaway said during the Grovetown Council meeting. “We also want to make good citizens.”
The CSRA Rush Soccer program began in the CSRA just this year. After doing research, Ganaway says the organization noticed that Grovetown is continuing to grow. They would like to partner with the city of Grovetown to bring more soccer to the area.
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“It’s just an awesome opportunity, I think, holistically for us to partner and be able to actually grow kind of the city of Grovetown from a soccer perspective and from a sport perspective,” Ganaway said.
Ganaway hopes to possibly expand some of the local parks, such as Liberty Park, to bring soccer tournaments to Grovetown.
Ganaway also said there are Rush Clubs near the area in Atlanta, South Carolina, Alabama and North Carolina that are committed to coming to the Grovetown area to play in games and tournaments. He added that this could bring a significant positive impact to the city.
“It’s roughly three quarters of a million dollars for one weekend if we’re talking being able to have 75 or 74 teams,” Ganaway said.
Grovetown Council Member Eric Blair addressed the number of kids that are participating in recreation sports in Columbia County and thinks the idea by Ganaway may be something to pursue in the future.
“We just came back from the Columbia County state of community address we attended, and they had a number that shocked me. This year, they have 7,600 children that are signed up through Columbia County that are doing rec,” Blair said. “I think this is something worth pursuing and looking at because, instead of us having to drive all the way to Patriots or Blanchard Woods Park, I would really love to see us have our own soccer league right here in Grovetown.”
Chris Rickerson is a staff reporter covering Columbia County government and general assignment topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at chris@theaugustapress.com.
