In 1986, a reclamation project created the 28-acre recreational site now known as the Belmont County Sports Complex. While the two youth baseball diamonds are being used by local groups, the Belmont Soar FC will call the area home in an attempt to grow the sport locally.

Currently, the complex has two youth soccer fields – U10 and U12 – developed, but plans call for three additional fields and more amenities.

“Right now we are holding practices and just trying to grow soccer in our community,” Belmont Soar FC President/Coach Jaclyn Ketter said.

“This is the very beginning stages of our complex development.

“Surprisingly, we’ve only been a non-profit for about 11 months, so we’ve accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. We started with one team and now we have two,” she added. “We had no complex and no field space. Now we have partnered with the Belmont County Commissioners and have plans to develop five fields.

“Hopefully, this project will outlast all of us that are involved right now.

“We’d like to start having U4, U6 and U8 teams play in the spring and then be able to offer programs all the way up to U14 and the high school level. The southeastern part of Ohio is so rural and not very soccer friendly,” Ketter noted. “We would like to open that up in Belmont County and, hopefully, extend out to neighboring counties in an attempt to grow soccer in this area.”

When asked about the name, Ketter replied, “We wanted to give a nod to Union Local and western Belmont County. They are the Jets.”

Right now the club has 40 girls, which is also very unique to the club.

“We want to start young and teach them the basics and rules of soccer so they learn the correct way from the beginning,” she pointed out. “All the information and rules we can get out to the public, along with the prices is how we are going to go about it.

“Soccer is the World’s sport. It’s finally coming to America and with what Lionel Messi and the U.S. Women’s National team has accomplished has brought excitement and interest to the sport.”

Ketter added, “I grew up in St. Clairsville playing soccer and my daughter is involved now. We just want to see the youth of Belmont County have more opportunities. Too many high schools around here don’t have soccer programs, but I think if we help them learn about it now, that will only benefit everyone down the road.

“To grow up in this area playing soccer and now be able to give back my time and knowledge of the game means more to me than what I can put in words,” she added..

“We’ve never had a field of our own to be able to practice on,” Belmont Soar Board of Directors member Devin Cain said. “We tried to get time at Union Local on their field, then we went to the Belmont County MRDD. But when we found this piece of property, we knew this was the place we wanted. The commissioners were glad to see this property get more use than it does.

“This is a huge facility with a lot of ground.

“In the future we plan on having a playground so the little kids can have something to do while they are here watching their older siblings play soccer. The more they see it, the more they will want to play,” Cain said.

In addition, Ketter said a concession stand is also in the plans, as are bleachers.

“We’d like to have U4, U6, U8 play in the spring, then be able to offer programs all the way up through U14 and the high school level,” Ketter said.

“What we need to make this work are donations, community involvement, and parent involvement to help develop that for the future,” said Katie Fowkes, treasurer of Belmont Soar FC.