Mississippi Academy girls’ soccer is set for a schedule change next season after the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools voted this week to make it a spring sport starting in the 2025-26 school year.
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The 2024 season began last week, with district games set to begin in August, and will not be interrupted by the change in future planning.
Girls’ soccer has been played from August to October traditionally while boys’ soccer lines up more with the Mississippi High School Activities Association season in the winter. The change now opens the door for soccer players to have more freedom to play other fall sports that currently clash with soccer, such as softball and volleyball which both also start in August.
“I do think it is beneficial for everyone,” Starkville Academy girls soccer head coach Boston Hampton said of the changes. “Especially for the girls because there’s a lot of sports going on in the fall and this opens it up for them.”
Hampton and the Vols played their first scrimmage on July 23 and began their season at the Bayou Academy 11v11 Tournament on July 27. It was a fast process for him after being hired in May and beginning practices just a few weeks later, and from his perspective the schedule change not only offers alternative sports for his players but also potentially frees up their summer schedules while they’re off from school.
“From another perspective too, because the games start in late July, early August, we have to start practicing in the summer,” he said. “It forces them to sometimes choose between practice and vacations or camps and now they don’t have to. I would encourage them to still go on trips because that’s what the summer is for and now this allows them to do that.”
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