Reviving Soccer Through Collaboration
A joint venture between two small high schools in Connecticut is reshaping the landscape of local soccer.
Terryville’s girls program, once a perennial powerhouse in the Berkshire League and Class S, has seen participation dip to just twelve athletes for the 2025 season, seven of whom are seniors.
Facing dwindling rosters, the Terryville and Gilbert schools have agreed to merge their girls teams under a GT co‑op, blending talent from both campuses while splitting practices and games between the two towns.
The overarching aim is to rekindle community interest and lay the groundwork for each school to eventually field its own independent team again.
Meanwhile, the Gilbert boys soccer squad will be eligible for the state tournament this fall, a milestone that underscores the program’s growing stability.
Gilbert, a private institution that serves as Winsted’s high school, routinely hosts fifteen to twenty international students each year; last season five of them were permitted to compete despite a tournament ban, and two are expected to return for the upcoming year.
Program leaders anticipate sufficient enrollment to sustain both a junior varsity and a varsity side, signaling a cautious optimism for the program’s revival.