RAPID CITY - When South Dakota became the final state to make prep soccer an official state-sanctioned sport it cleared one major hurdle, but there are still plenty of questions to be answered before high school teams take to the pitch in 2010.

One of the issues that led to the most debate among soccer fans and supporters is the decision to play the boys' season during the fall and the girls in the spring.

The South Dakota State Soccer Association recently completed an online poll asking respondents to voice their opinion on the split seasons.

"We didn't know what the response would be, but we thought it would be heavily in favor of playing both in the fall," said chairman of the high school committee of the South Dakota state soccer association Rich Jensen. "We had 97 percent of the people who responded say they wanted both boys and girls to play in the fall."

Jensen said over 100 people took part in the online survey that had them list their reasons for wanting both genders playing in the same season.

"The biggest reason by far was the number of kids that play soccer and track," Jensen said. "With the addition of soccer in the spring, people are wondering how it will affect girls track."

The second biggest concern, according to Jensen, was the South Dakota weather in the spring.

"You don't have the same problem with rescheduling or the turf in the fall that you do in the spring," he said. "It will make the girls' season more challenging than the boys."

The other common argument for soccer to be played in the same season is the ability to save money on travel. Instead of schools making multiple trips across the state to play games in the fall and spring, it can be limited by traveling both teams at once.

Rapid City Central activities director Darren Paulson said he would like to see both in the fall for convenience.

"Right now soccer is a club sport for us (in the fall) and it works," he said. "It is already set up that way."

However, he was not as concerned about soccer in the spring taking away from a very strong track program throughout Rapid City.

"The success of the track programs have spoken for themselves," he said. "With the strength of the programs it is not a major issue."

The decision to split the seasons was made by the South Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors so any changes would have to come from it.

"I think the size of the school and community would make a difference for what they wanted and what they would be in favor of," Paulson said.

Paulson believes part of the reason for splitting the soccer season is the large number of sports already offered to girls during the fall. In addition to cross country, tennis, volleyball and cheer and dance, Central offers softball and soccer as club sports in the fall.

The cost of adding soccer for schools, which has been estimated at $40,000, has been an issue throughout the state because of funding problems.

Jensen said communities may have to look at themselves if they want soccer provided as an option for their kids.

"It isn't popular but communities may have to help raise some of the funds if they want it, or the kids may have to help raise some of the money to make it happen," Jensen said. "I think this is something that could happen with more sports, not just soccer."

The SDSSA currently administers the high school soccer program as a club program in conjunction with the schools, and while its role will change with soccer becoming a sanctioned high school sport, it is willing to do what it has to in order to make that a reality.

"Our No. 1 goal is to get the schools to sanction the sport in the near future," Jensen said. "We want to get the kids playing so the funding is there, and we also want to have both boys and girls playing in the fall."

Schools will not be required to sanction soccer, and Jensen believes it might take a few years for it to catch on statewide.

"I look at it a lot like competitive cheer and dance," he said. "At first, just a few schools had it, then the next year a few more got it and then it started rolling. I think that is how it will be with soccer."

Paulson said Central has not had any discussions on whether or not it will sanction soccer in 2010.

"That is still two years away and we haven't really discussed it yet to be honest with you," he said.