Sturgeon Bay soccer players will still be able to take to the pitch this fall.

With the fall season called off due to COVID-19, the Sturgeon Bay Soccer Club will host a camp on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning September 10th through mid-October. The camp is open to 5th through 8th graders and will feature coaches from the club and high school programs running players through a variety of drills and scrimmages in small groups. More information can be found below.

For a second straight season, Sturgeon Bay was able to shake off adversity to find a way to the football field this fall.

The Clippers will be featured in the National Youth Football Organization Friday Night Showcase held at Capital Credit Union Park in Ashwaubenon beginning this Friday. Along with Gibraltar, Sturgeon Bay is one of the only two eight-man football programs in the 11-team field and likely among the smallest of schools. The passing league was co-created by former Sturgeon Bay football standout Chris Griesen as a way to highlight local players who will not be playing this fall due to concerns around the coronavirus. The league is not sanctioned by the WIAA or its member schools but will feature WIAA referees who are not working other games around the state. Games will take place at 6, 7, and 8 p.m. on two different fields inside the ballpark. Fans are allowed for $7 (adults) and $4 (students and kids).

Last year the Clippers made a late decision to switch from 11-man football to the eight-man league and had to travel far and wide to get a partial season in for the kids that came out for the team.

Below is the partial regular-season schedule. A tournament will follow.

STURGEON BAY

9/11 vs Green Bay West 7 p.m.

9/18 vs Gibraltar 6 p.m.

9/25 vs Oshkosh North 6 p.m.

10/2 vs Bay Port 8 p.m.

10/9 vs De Pere 6 p.m.

10/16 vs Gibraltar 8 p.m.

10/23 vs Edgerton 7 p.m., Lomira 8 p.m.

A majority of Sturgeon Bay High School sports play in the Packerland Conference, but not all. As different leagues work to start up amid COVID-19, Clipper athletic teams are subject to different rules. The Packerland forbids squads from traveling into counties where COVID-19 activity is classified as high. You can play other schools within your county, but not across boundaries. For example, cross country teams in Door County, currently at a moderate level of disease, cannot participate in meets against Algoma or Kewaunee High Schools. With several county schools offering the sport, it is still possible to put on meets with multiple participants. 

But what about swimming, which has one team for the entire county? Or girls’ golf offered only by Sturgeon Bay? Athletic Director Todd Miekle says the school has settled on the solution of having all sports abide by Packerland rules, even when the conference they are in does not have the same restrictions. That means, for now, getting into the pool or on the links has been a lot trickier. Golf’s conference opponents are in Brown, Shawano, and Outagamie Counties, where COVID-19 is still high. Seven of the eight schools have participated in meets so far this year, with Sturgeon Bay abstaining. A tournament scheduled for August 24th in Sturgeon Bay was canceled.