It’s been a soggy couple of weeks for the Pearl River Soccer Club as the league’s spring season has seen numerous games put on hold due to inclement weather.

Lots of rain and the biting cold spell a couple weeks ago made it impossible for the league to get through this season’s early games. However, preparation for the season went smoothly, even if the first few weeks haven’t.

“Outside of the rain dates, we had uniforms that were ordered for new kids and were ready to go. The rosters were filled out and we had coaches for everything. We were just like, ‘Let’s just get the games going.’ All of the behind the scenes stuff was in place, but now we’re scrambling trying to make up games,” PRSC President Dave Ortmann said.

Ortmann said only a U10 boys team was lost due to lack of players, while numerous teams were added, including new U15 and U16 teams.

Registration saw more players sign up than in previous seasons, which is a good sign the league is rebounding after losing some players for the fall season due to COVID-19.

Now it’s just a matter of getting those players on the field, which has been difficult so far.

The first games of the season were played January 30, but with all the games being cancelled due to weather, it now looks like the season will go into mid-April in order to schedule all of the make up games.

District matchups for the U12, U14, U15 and U16 teams will take place March 27 and 28, followed by the state championship in Starkville on April 11 and 12 for the top two finishers from the district games.

Ortmann said even though the season has had some challenges along the way, because of the proactive work done before everything started, the process of putting on the season has been much smoother than before.

“This season was a lot better than the fall. We were all new. If we didn’t have the rainouts I would’ve been happy, everything would’ve been running very smoothly. But then you try to get all the kids practicing and (Mother Nature said) nope, nope, nope, but there’s nothing you can do there. You can’t control that,” Ortmann said.

Even though there are still several weeks of games left to get through, Ortmann said the organization is already discussing the early stages of planning for the fall.

The organization has seen the benefits of getting the administrative work done early, so that’ll become the norm from here on out. “We’re starting early for next fall. When we play in the fall as far as registration goes we’re doing it over the summer. We’re not waiting until August and then scramble. Everything will be in place by August,” Ortmann said.