Champagne tapped as president of Houma-Terrebonne Soccer Association

The Houma-Terrebonne Soccer Association elected a new president last month.

Kevin Champagne, 42, replaces former president John Hebert who stepped down to spend more time with his family.

“He’s done a great job getting this association to where it’s at,” Champagne said. “I hope to carry on his mark and continue to develop soccer in Terrebonne Parish.”

Champagne began with the HTSA as a volunteer six years ago and has been on the board of directors for the past three years. He also coaches a U11 girls premiere team and has been helping Vandebilt soccer teams for many years.

Champagne said his responsibilities as HTSA president are simple: maintain fields, ensure registrations and provide direction for the organization and its board.

His immediate goal is to keep kids active in the HTSA regardless of costs.

“We’ve never turned anyone away because of inability to pay,” Champagne said.

Registration is $55 a season for one child. If parents register multiple children, the fee is a sliding scale. Deadline to register for the fall 2009 season is July15.

Contact HTSA with questions concerning registration by email at htsa1soccer@aol.com, or calling (985) 868-3897.

Another of Champagne’s priorities is providing the highest-quality instruction for area kids to develop their technical and tactical soccer skills.

He partnered with new Vandebilt boys’ soccer coach Matt Kelso to create the K&M Premiere Soccer Camp. The two-week camp for 8- to 17-year-olds had 110 kids its first year.

Besides Champagne and Kelso, the camp included Vandebilt girls’ soccer coach Philip Amedee and former professional players John Lapeyre and Travis Dupre.

“The idea with the camp is we can reach more kids than just your own team,” Champagne said. “We wanted kids who wouldn’t have access to this level of instruction to get that experience.”

“With this camp, kids learn the function of being a soccer player, learn their role on the soccer field, and hopefully take it back to their team,” Kelso said.

Champagne’s long-term goal is to find HTSA a permanent home. The association has two fields it maintains and plays on.

A property adjacent to The Lakes subdivision in West Houma on La. Highway 311 is owned by a group of local investors that lets HTSA use the land. The Houma-Terrebonne Airport Commission allows HTSA to use the field at the airbase for a fee.

“We never developed this piece of land (near The Lakes) because we don’t own it, so we could lose it at any time,” Champagne explained. “They can provide us a 30-day notice to get off any time they want. That’s something we constantly have to be prepared for.”

The idea of having the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government construct a sports complex has been around for several years but nothing has come of it.

Champagne said the HTSA is working on getting a soccer complex built in East Houma, but the cost of such a project is daunting.

“You’re always scared to put money into something you don’t own,” he said. “Plus, the hurricanes last year set us back a little bit. We had some flooding on the east side at the airbase. We put seed down and the seed washed away.”

In the meantime, HTSA is cutting the fields trying to get them ready for a pair of two-day tournaments it will host later this year.

The Kick-off Klassic, for boys and girls U10 through U19 teams, is held in September. The Gobbler Cup, for boys and girls U11, U12 and U13 teams, takes place in November.

“Two years ago, we hosted the state recreation tournament, which were the older boys groups, and we plan to put more games (at the airbase) next year,” Champagne said. “But, we really need a permanent situation that we can call home if we’re going to grow into the level of soccer association we are capable of.”