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Soccer and small-town Iowa have quickly gone from strangers to family
North Fayette Valley’s soccer program is an example of starting from scratch and turning into something that has brought a lot of value to the school and its communities
Jun. 3, 2025 2:10 pm, Updated: Jun. 3, 2025 2:41 pm
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IOWA CITY — For Iowa’s Generation Z population, having soccer in high schools is simply the way it’s always been.
For the rest of us, it may still seem like a bit of a marvel. The sport went from being nonexistent in most of the state’s schools 30 years ago to continually growing.
That it got off the ground in larger Iowa cities wasn’t necessarily surprising, but to see it flourish in many smaller communities has been interesting.
No magic tricks have been involved. It’s been youth programs started from scratch, coaches and parents enthusiastically promoting and supporting them, high school administrators that were open to adding soccer teams, and the kids who embraced playing.
The girls’ and boys’ state tournaments are this week. The boys’ tourney resumes Wednesday in Des Moines, but without defending Class 1A state champion North Fayette Valley. The TigerHawks lost to Van Meter, 1-0, in a Monday quarterfinal at the University of Iowa Soccer Complex.
The boys’ tourney began with one class in 1995. There now are 175 boys programs in the state. This is the third year their state tourney has four classes.
It was North Fayette Valley’s fourth boys’ state appearance in the last five years. That’s remarkable given the school — which serves West Union, Elgin and Fayette among other towns — added the sport in 2019.
“My wife and I moved here in 2008,” said Coach Ignanacio Fuentes, a Colombia native who came to the U.S. in 2002. “She is originally from West Union. She got an opportunity to work at the hospital in West Union and that’s when we moved here from Minnesota.”
Through West Union’s Parks and Recreation department, Fuentes launched a youth soccer program. At first, it was teaching a handful of 8-to-10-year-olds how to play the game. Now, 170 kids from under-8 up until high school age are involved.
“I was able to coach my son’s team for so many years with his peers,” Fuentes said, “and I always helped with the younger generation of soccer players around our area.
“The school noticed our soccer growth, and they invited me for a meeting to see if the numbers would support a high school team. We had a good principal that saw the future of the sport.”
Fuentes didn’t coach the first TigerHawks’ boys’ team. After the 2020 COVID year, the position was open and he accepted it. That was four state tournament appearances ago.
Monday, two dozen players represented a high school of 243 students. Many North Fayette Valley supporters were present, too. The TigerHawk players saluted those fans and vice versa after the game.
During the contest, Fuentes’ approach was to be calm and instructive in one-on-one discussions with players as they entered or left the game. At halftime with his team down 1-0, his comments to the team were strategic and positive, not critical or berating.
“Those kids for me are my soccer sons because I care for them as sons,” he said. “Soccer is just a sport to reach into their hearts and being able to put some wisdom into them. I'm 47 years old. They're only 15, 16, and they could use a little bit of wisdom in this world that is not coming from all directions or from their phone, but from somebody that has a true care for them.
“I really love them as my kids. They feel that and it becomes like a family on our team. We call it the brotherhood. I just make sure that it's a healthy environment and safe for everybody to belong to.
“Words carry a lot of weight when they come from a coach. And if it's a coach that cares for them and constantly shows them respect and love, the words will carry way farther than you can imagine.”
Fuentes’ final words to his 2025 team was to urge it to shift from the heavy disappointment of not repeating as state champions to focus on what they it done.
“Keep your heads high,” he told the players. “It’s no joke to be in the Elite Eight.
“Sometimes you have to lose and today was our turn to lose. We’re emotional. I get it. When we lose, we try again and try again and try again and try again. If you don’t try again, you lose completely.
“You seniors, thank you for being such a golden generation. Always carry our school in your hearts.”
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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