Indian Creek’s Denton Steenbergen stretches to stop the ball during a drill at practice last week.
Rob Baker | For The Daily Journal
Had someone told the teenage version of Jeff Smeltzer he would return to Indian Creek to coach, he likely would have predicted football or track and field.
In other words, the sports he actually played.
Boys soccer wasn’t among the athletic options when Smeltzer, a 2007 graduate, was in high school. During the fall, he played football, doubling as a defensive back/kicker.
Smeltzer did, however, play college soccer, making him qualified to coach the Braves’ first boys squad.
“My first thought was excitement,” said Smeltzer, who played one season at Indiana University and the final three at Bethel College. “It’s not just because it’s a new program, but my alma mater. It’s terrifying at the same time because you don’t know what to expect.”
Former Austin Peay goalkeeper Haylee Shoaff can relate.
Hired to coach Indian Creek’s inaugural girls soccer squad, Shoaff also looks forward to helping the program grow in every way possible.
“When we first started, we had only 12 or 13 girls,” said Shoaff, whose initial Braves squad counts senior Hanna Leuck, junior Chelsea Guernsey and sophomore Bre Gault as its core. “It’s very eye-opening coming from such a soccer background and teaching foundational skills like passing. The players using muscles they’ve never used before.”
The boys and girls teams feature 20 players each.
This is a significant upgrade over the number of participants Smeltzer and Shoaff were working with earlier in the summer. Word got out. Players began telling friends, who sensed the excitement of being part of a new program.
Indian Creek’s list of boys and girls sports had stood pat for decades; the addition of soccer coincided with the installation of field turf on the Braves’ new football field.
“It was facilities. Getting the new turf installed was a must before we were able to pick up soccer, and give the kids an actual nice facility to practice in,” Indian Creek athletic director Derek Perry said. “I think that was the first piece of the puzzle.
“Last winter, we did a survey of eighth-graders through juniors to see who would be interested in playing soccer. We had some really good numbers. I was a little afraid before that survey of what it might do to (boys) tennis or cross country or football, but it’s worked out where we’ve kept steady numbers in all of our fall sports.”
Captaining the boys team are Clay Funkhouser, a senior midfielder, and junior midfielder Denton Steenbergen. Other playing major roles are sophomores Jordin Booth, Nick Jackson and Tristan Gray along with freshman Aiden Long.
The Braves opened the season with a 3-0 loss at Northview; in their home opener against Greencastle on Aug. 24, they lost, 5-2, as Funkhouser and Booth scored goals, and Jackson, the team’s goalkeeper, stepped up with seven saves.
Funkhouser was a student in the Center Grove school system from grades 1-11.
He played boys soccer for the Trojans as a freshman and sophomore, but chose not to play as a junior. Funkhouser is happy to be taking part once more, knowing his contributions go well beyond mere statistics.
“I myself had never played in a travel league before. I played in a rec league in Bargersville pretty much my whole life,” Funkhouser said. “A lot of that experience helped me out by being on the field and communicating on the field with my teammates.
“I think this is a great experience. The players on this team are the ones setting the tone for future teams. Our team now and the ones the next couple of years are the foundation of the program.”
As such, victories will take place in many forms over the coming seasons for both the boys and girls, whether individual improvement, upgraded schedules, increased fan support and so on.
“My initial thought was to build the interest. How can we grow as a program, but also make it as enjoyable as possible to the kids so that we have numbers year after year?” Smeltzer said. “Our team has improved so much.
“First and foremost, for a first-year program, we couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids. They have been phenomenal and really worked hard.”
