Coed soccer league is one of the largest in the Midwest

1/1/2025

Sure, football draws more spectators than other sports. We all know that. After it, there isn’t much of a conversation. However, the Central Iowa Coed Soccer League boasts one of the largest memberships of any coed soccer league in the Midwest. Craig Marker, a longtime player and former president and board member, shares how his role, and the league itself, has grown.

“The original league started in 1992. It was originally the Central Iowa Greater Des Moines Over the Hill Soccer League,” Marker said.

Rolls right off the tongue. The league name has since been changed to the Central Iowa Coed Soccer League. Three teams from the original league in 1992 remain today: Celtic, Ames Hurricanes and Strikers.

Marker moved to Des Moines and joined the league in 2003. After moving away and incurring some life changes, Marker returned in 2012 and started to become more involved the second time around. His league-mates were a big help in getting settled back in for his second stint in Des Moines.

“When I came back to Iowa, I needed a group of friends, and soccer provided that. I was able to go play with like-minded people, and some of my best friends still to this day are people I’ve met in the soccer league and played soccer with, since 15-20 years ago,” Marker said.

During those 20 years, Marker has seen the league change in a multitude of ways, mainly in its growth.

“We were always a weekend league. It started with eight teams, and, lately, we’ve had anywhere between 30, and now we have around 40 teams every session. I ran a report for 2024, and we had 1,013 unique soccer players that played in CICS in 2024 throughout all of our seasons,” Marker said.

Marker says the league has tried to participate in tournaments with other leagues around the Midwest in Omaha, St. Louis and Minnesota, all of which didn’t have enough players to match. 

One matter of pride stuck out to Marker recently. 

“This fall was the first time we had an entire female referee crew that did a game for us. I thought that was pretty exciting,” Marker said.

When playing in the league for as long as Marker has, certain moments will stick in your mind. Sure, the uglier moments tend to cling to memory, but penalty kicks are always a favorite for him. 

“I really like it when there’s a penalty kick. I love bantering with the other team, with a player who’s going to take it, with the referee. There’s no pressure. It’s just enjoyable. And I’m like, alright, let’s see who’s better, and they’re probably younger and kick harder. So I’ve got to guess. And I just hope I fall the right way at that point,” Marker said.

Marker enjoys soccer to the point where he used it to treat himself around the holidays last year.

“I rented out RecPlex the week of Christmas Eve, my birthday week, and had people come out and play pickup soccer as a present to myself and for families to come and kick around with their kids. Because I think it’s a great thing sometimes during this stressful time to get to kick a ball at somebody else,” Marker said.

The bantering aspect between competitors is fun for Marker and other players. Also, having a healthy outlet for exercise, a community, and a stress reliever have kept him and thousands of others in the league year after year. 

“I believe mental health has been a large topic for the last five to 10 years, and I believe more than half of our league probably use this as their outlet to get away from a hard day’s work, a rough day at home. They get to go and get 90 minutes to just be for them. I’ve got a wife, three kids and a pretty stressful career, as I’m an oncology sales rep, so I’m dealing with cancer and death basically every day. So that 90 minutes when you see me there and I’m joking around, or I’m amped up, I don’t feel any pressure when I’m there. It’s just great. I’m just with people I want to be with,” Marker said. ♦

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