Smith resigns as SSA director

Says Athlete's Choice purchase was too good to pass up

SANDPOINT — A good soccer player can never pass up a chance to score, and for Sandpoint Soccer Association Director Ray Smith a shot at purchasing Athlete's Choice was one of those golden opportunities.

Unfortunately for the soccer community, which has benefited from Smith's four years as director, the commitments of operating the business will not leave room for him to continue as the head of Idaho's premier soccer program.

"I will miss working with the players, coaches and parents on a daily basis and the relationships that I have built with many of them, but they need a new director with two good knees that can come in and take the program to the next level," said Smith, who's knees are beginning to hamper his ability to demonstrate skills to players on a daily basis.

During the past four years, the club program won a total of 44 tournament championships, had 23 program players go on to the college level and sent 27 athletes to play on Idaho State Olympic Development teams. In addition, many of the club players were key at the high school level, winning a combined six state championships between the boys and girls.

"Strikers and SSA , to a degree, is the farm system for the high school," said Sandpoint girls soccer coach Adam Tajan. "We don't necessarily look for the kids who come out of that program, but you can usually pick out the kids that do.

"Ray's biggest contribution, however, has been through organization and holding people accountable," said Tajan. "He also brought to the table an ability to bring people together and I think the club grew quite a bit under his leadership."

According to Smith, however, it was the improvement that he saw in the Association's sportsmanship that he feels best about.

"He has been fabulous in instituting a code of conduct and enforced it," said Sandpoint Soccer Association President Nancy Meyer. "That brought accountability which was a very, very good thing for the program. He has also made things run much smoother and I hope we can continue that."

As of this month, Smith and his wife, Cindy, took control of Athlete's Choice from Dan and Cheryl Van Polen, who opened the local store in 1996 after selling the store they owned in Wenatchee, Wash.

After owning and operating their own stores for 12 years, the Van Polens felt it was the right time to sell Athlete's Choice so that they could spend more time with their three children, Ryan, 15, Hannah, 13, and Drew, 9. According the Van Polens, Athlete's Choice has shown remarkable growth in sales and profits over the last eight years.

"I was trying to look for a long term opportunity that would help us stay in Sandpoint and at the same time support my family," said Smith, who has been a resident of Sandpoint since 2001.

Smith said Athlete's Choice will continue to carry name brands like Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Asics, Brooks, New Balance, Montrail, Merrell, Under Armour, Oakley, Smith and Bolle. Along with men's, women's and children's athletic footwear and clothing, the store carries casual wear, hiking boots, snow boots, snow shoes, summer sandals, slippers and sunglasses.

Even though the Smiths plan to stay very busy with the store: Cindy, who has been employed as a math and computer teacher at Sandpoint Middle School for the past three years, will continue full-time with the school district; Ray will continue with the soccer program as the coach for his son's U11-Striker team.

"I hope he will continue to be part of the program, because we will all benefit from him doing that," said Meyer. "Ray is one of those good people that you hate to loss but it happens."

Before moving to Sandpoint, Ray and Cindy both taught in the public schools for eight years, as well as coaching the high school soccer and dance teams, respectively. Ray then went on to coach college soccer for 12 years in California, Illinois and Wisconsin, while Cindy taught college courses part-time. Cindy also owned and taught at a dance studio in Wisconsin.

The Smiths, natives of Southern California, met when they were both teachers at Katella High School in Anaheim. They wed in 1989 and have been married for 15 years. They have a son Lane, 11, and a daughter, Ashlyn, 7.

Along with coaching, Ray was employed as the Midwest regional head coach for a period of six years, coaching the top collegiate players in games against various U.S. national teams and the Mexican National Team. He had also served as Idaho's state director for the Olympic Development Soccer Program for a period of time.

Currently, the Sandpoint Soccer Association is in the process of finding a new director for the program. After announcing the job opening, SSA received 57 applications, which was narrowed down to 14 finalists. Out of the finalists, two have been invited to interview later next month.