Soccer at Galion High School may soon become a reality, while school administrators determine a location to play the sport and level student interest.

Officials have issued a survey to students in grades 8-11 with 48 girls and 44 boys expressing interest in the sport, said GHS principal Ron Williams at a Galion Board of Education meeting Thursday night.

“But what we have to do is go through and see how many of those are legitimate,” he said.

Williams added that some students may have been confused with the survey questions and what season soccer would take place, which would be in the fall.

Some students that expressed interest in the sport were already participating in another sport, he said.

The sport that would be most likely in competition with soccer would cross country, which the school now offers.

“It will require our coaches to work together,” he said. “So if we had both teams it will require them to work together on practices.”

Williams said adding soccer would have minimal impact on football.

Aside from student interest, Galion would need to determine a location for athletes to play soccer.

“Obviously we don’t have a soccer field in Galion,” Williams said. “So we have to decide is there a place we can have a soccer field for a year or two until we can find a permanent solution or do we play away games.”

He said Highland and River Valley would save two spots on the boys and girls soccer schedule for Galion.

“I think they are options,” Superintendent James Grubbs said, referring to viable locations for a Galion soccer team.

Grubbs said they have some staff interested in coaching soccer, which could be launched as early as next school year.

Galion would be the first high school in Crawford County to have a soccer team. Highland sanctioned soccer as an official school sport last month.