Updated: Wednesday March 12, 2008 Topeka Select Soccer Club The First 10 Years The seeds for Topeka Select Soccer Club were planted in 1997 when former Topeka High Coach Joe Waldron and Jerry Stamm teamed up for a boys soccer team.  The following year, Topeka Select was officially formed. Since then, thousands of Topeka area youth soccer players and their families have proudly worn the Blue and Black of Topeka Select.  Year in and year out, Topeka Select has consistently been the leader in the soccer community.  Great teams, great coaches, ample facilities and a plan for success that has worked for a decade - that's Topeka Select. Right now, we're putting together the complete history of Topeka Select that includes the names of great coaches who have had tremendous success at the club level as well as high school and college. Feel free to check back regularly for updates as we proudly share the story of Topeka Select Soccer Club!

Topeka Select: A History Of Helping Topeka Select Kicks Off Soccer At WU Topeka Select Helps Katrina Evacuee

History Of Helping:  Topeka Select Kicks Off Women's Soccer At Washburn
First Match 8 Years Ago

September 11, 2000 - This is a picture taken just prior to the coin toss between the captains of the Washburn women’s club team and Allen County Community College. 

It was the inaugural game for the Topeka Select/Washburn women’s club team played Saturday, September 11, 2000.  This captured moment was the culmination of work Tim Collins, then President of Topeka Select, and the club which had invested in starting women’s soccer at Washburn. 

Tim Collins coached the team for the two years prior to it becoming part of Washburn’s Division II program.  During that time, Topeka Select provided the required accessories including bags and uniforms. 

Since then, Tim Collins has resigned from his position in Topeka Select to devote his full time efforts to one of the best Division II programs in the Midwest.  Topeka Select is proud of Tim and the Topeka area high school girls that have been able to extend their soccer careers playing at Washburn.

 

History Of Helping:  Topeka Select Helps Hurricane Evacuee Get Back Into The Game Family Relocates To Topeka In Katrina Aftermath September 8, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina, had far reaching effects across the entire country.  Almost everyone had a relative or friend that experienced the devastation of one the worst natural disasters of our time.  Just before the fall 2005 soccer season began, Topeka Select was contacted to see if there was a roster spot open for a U12 New Orleans evacuee.  Sam Grace left the floods of New Orleans to stay with his grandparents in Topeka.  What was a normal life for an eleven year old one day was anything but normal the next.  Soccer was an opportunity to provide normalcy to the boy. Topeka Select offered Sam a soccer family with the Knights.  Coach Steve Loy donated training time and the club fitted him with a new uniform kit that Sam kept as a souvenir.  Sam played the entire fall season with the Knights before he returned home near the holidays.

From the Topeka Capital-Journal September 5, 2005:   Make no mistake, Sherri Grace and her three children are grateful they made it out of New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina unleashed its fury 10 days ago. Since landing in Topeka last week, Grace and her children, Allie, 20, Sam, 11, and Shaina, 8, have been staying with Grace's mother. Earlier this week, Sam enrolled as a sixth-grader at Jardine Middle School. He had his first practice with a premier soccer team on Wednesday night. Shaina is in third grade at Stout Elementary School. For Sherri Grace, the Hurricane Katrina saga began on Aug. 26. By that night, they had packed what they could, including their standard poodle named Noah, and left New Orleans. Her husband returned to his duties in Washington, and Grace and her children headed north.