In the last few years there has been a rush on the part of private schools and some even home school co-ops to add Football to their athletic programs. Smaller schools like King’s Academy, for whom fielding a full team is for one reason another not an option are joining six- man leagues, and larger schools like Grace, All Saints, and Brook Hill are competing with full squads. There are however a number of private schools in Tyler, like Christian Heritage, who are resisting the move toward football and opting to continue with another fall sport, namely Soccer.
Christian Heritage School (CHS) has been playing Soccer for around twenty- five years now and it has been a part of the school’s tradition and student culture. The school has won numerous state and national titles in that time and thus finds moving over to fall football a difficult change of gears. CHS is affiliated with the international missions organization, Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The organization draws families and individuals from all over the world, whose children are in need of a school to attend while their parents attend the mission’s adult classes. The CHS soccer program has thus benefited from this due to the fact that it has consistently been able to draw students from countries where soccer is less an athletic program, and more of a way of life.
East Texas Christian Academy (ETCA) has also elected to continue offering fall soccer rather than moving in the direction of American Football. But how long will these schools continue to opt out of East Texas’ favorite sport? Some suggest that given the international make- up of CHS it will probably be a while before the school takes the plunge. But with more and more schools switching over, one would think that the field of competitors is bound to shrink eventually. As a proponent of CHS and private schools in general, I would love to see the school take to the football field. I’ve seen first hand how beneficial it can be for helping to produce a sense of school community and richer student life. But suspect it will only happen when the school can support both sports.
Hopefully we’ll see at least a six- man CHS football team in the next few years but regardless let me assure you that Tyler loves you CHS.
For more information on Christian Heritage School visit the following web sites: http://www.chsconnect.org/pages/,http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christian-Heritage-School-Tyler-TX/118634768188552. Also see the following articles located elsewhere on this site: http://www.tylertxdirectory.com/7288/principle-approach-schools/, http://www.tylertxdirectory.com/3295/private-schools-in-tyler-texas/.