DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710080199

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAY LIDINGTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

LEAGUE STRIKES OUT ON ITS OWN OLIVE BRANCH FIELDED 215 PLAYERS FOR ITS SECOND SEASON AS AN INDEPENDENT GROUP.

OLIVE BRANCH SOCCER has broken away, but it has only a little to do with scoring goals.

Eighteen Olive Branch teams of children and teens ages 6-16 are beginning their second season as an independent group following their split in January from Olive Branch's football and cheerleading programs.

Money issues and the ability to run their own program were the main reasons behind the split. Olive Branch soccer parents and athletes now raise their own funds and have their own board.

While the players haven't noticed any difference in the way thing are run, parents and organizers said the switch is in the best interest of everyone involved.

``It's so nice,'' said Amy Compton, registrar and player agent for the Olive Branch soccer league. ``They're filled by people with an interest in Olive Branch soccer. Everybody has soccer's best interest at heart as opposed to being indifferent.''

Compton said the league's soccer program was ``getting the short end of the stick'' in the way funds were distributed while serving as the top moneymaker of the previously unified Olive Branch soccer, football and cheering programs.

The soccer program has sold candy and held 50/50 raffles to raise money and they made $2,300 from selling frozen French bread pizzas earlier this year.

Before the league's concession trailer was vandalized and put out of commission last month, the trailer also was bringing in $500-$800 a day and made $1,000 the Saturday before the Sept. 15 break-in.

Combined with soccer's lower equipment and insurance costs, conditions were ripe for revolution, Compton said.

``We really felt that soccer pulled in more money than we spent,'' Compton said. ``The president of the (entire) league was a nice guy, but his part was from football. That's how people felt.''

Joe Strait, president of Olive Branch Football and Cheering, said he hadn't noticed any problems in his five-plus years on the board. The programs were relatively even in fund-raising and everyone carried their own weight.

``I feel soccer and football got along good together,'' Strait said. ``They grew and decided to go on their own.''

Mary Donovan, whose neighbors play Olive Branch soccer, said she held her daughter, Virginia, out of that league because of politics. The younger Donovan now plays for rival John Tyler league.

``There was always some sort of controversy,'' Mary Donovan said. ``It was more for the parents than the kids.

``No one wanted to play Olive Branch. The consensus isn't the same anymore. This year, I don't see the controversy I saw last last year.''

For Jackson Brown, parent of one player on the Olive Branch U-12 team, the split was a sign the program was healthy. This year, 215 players signed up for fall soccer, compared with 175 last year.

``They're here to play ball,'' Brown said, while watching his son, Paul, in action on the field. ``It can't be running too bad. As long as the kids get out here and play, it's OK.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JIM WALKER

Two Olive Branch soccer teams, the Colts and the Mavericks, match up

in a recent game on the Hodges Manor Elementary School field.

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