The Wright City School Board last week approved a request to add two athletic programs at the high school beginning next school year.

Girls soccer and wrestling will be added to the stable of athletic teams in 2018-19, which already includes football, cross country, softball, basketball, track, baseball and boys golf.

“It was needed,” Wright City Athletic Director David Evans said. “There was some reservations about it from some members of the school board, but as long as we can get the kids out, there is no reason not to have it.”

The school recently sent out questionnaires to students to gauge their interest in the possible additions.

Sixty of the 150 girls that responded showed interest in soccer, while 20 of the 90 boys did the same for wrestling.

“The numbers are there and the kids are interested,” Evans said. “The day after the board approved it last week, one of the potential coaches brought a soccer ball and was passing it through the halls between classes, and it seemed to be the talk of the school last week.”

The two biggest concerns appear to be a lack of facilities and coaches, but Evans says neither should be a problem next year.

The girls soccer team — which will compete in the spring — will play on the football field, although Evans hopes space can be made on the field west of the baseball facilities.

“I walked it the other day and I think it should be big enough to play, but it will take some work to get ready,” Evans said. “It’s been a practice football field for years, and it’s sufficient for that, but whether or not a ball can roll across it consistently is a different story. It would be nice to have soccer and football separated, but you’re also looking at a lot more field costs, too. But right now the girls soccer team will play on the stadium field and practice around the track team.”

Coaches will also be needed.

Evans is already working on filling spots that are expected to be left by multiple varsity coaches, and two more sports would only add to his wish list.

“Staffing is a big thing because with the size of the school we have, we’re limited on the staff size,” he said. “But right now we have a lot of qualified people who are willing to fill those positions, so it’s not going to be much of a challenge next year to staff it as it might be in the future when teachers come and go.”

Much like the excitement he saw from students last week, Evans thinks finding eager coaches for first-year programs won’t be a challenge.

“I think for the first couple of years while the newness is there, they will do OK,” he said. “The big concern is longevity, so we’ve talked to the city and we’re looking to get soccer fields and football fields built. That way we can maybe get football and soccer programs with the younger age groups, which would help in the future.”

He hopes members of the Wright City community will embrace the new sports  — as well as the current sports — to help prepare athletes for high school competition.

“The biggest concern is getting enough people to buy in and be interested, and getting them educated to do the developmental stuff,” he said. “Because the schools can’t possibly run all of the programs. Your community has to step up, and that’s what we’re looking to do.”

If everything goes well, the school would like to add boys soccer, girls golf and high school dance in 2019-20.

“We’d like to eventually add middle school wrestling as well,” Evans said.

For the soccer team, Evans doesn’t believe the schedule will conflict with the spring track season.

The school plans on playing a shortened schedule with 10-14 regular season games next season, as well as one tournament.

“That way they can still play soccer and run track if they’d like to,” he said. “We’re trying to make it as accommodating as possible so we don’t crush the track program to build up another program. You don’t want two programs to suffer just to say you have more programs.”

With summer quickly approaching, Evans hopes to have the vacancies filled shortly.

“We’re pretty confident, and by late next week I plan to have these positions filled,” he said. “We have people in the district who have coached in these sports, and they’ve been involved in developing programs, so they know how to get them started and what expectations to have.”