The culture of youth soccer in Hermiston was plain to see Saturday as the American Youth Soccer Association had its opening ceremonies and first games at the Butte Park Soccer Fields.

The league drew 927 players from the Hermiston area, which doesn’t include Boardman this year as Boardman started its own AYSO program this summer.

The communities involved are Hermiston, Umatilla, Stanfield, Echo and Irrigon.

The season opened in Hermiston Saturday with a banner ceremony, a rendition of the star spangled banner sung by league parent Lisa Jones and an appearance by the fire department.

After the ceremonies and banner judging, shortened games began and ran through the early evening. While the regular season games last an hour and run every day of the week except Friday, the first-day games were 35-minute exhibitions and the first soccer experiences for many of the younger players.

Shelly Ehrmantraut, a Umatilla resident and the Area 2 director for more than a decade, said Hermiston’s program is the second-largest she works with, following only Corvallis with its city population of nearly 50,000.

“Every opening day here seems to get a little better,” Ehrmantraut said, “but it (the league) has always stayed the same. The five philosophies have stayed the same and we have a lot of good volunteers.”

The AYSO’s five philosophies are everyone plays, teams are balanced, registration is open, coaching is positive and good sportsmanship is emphasized. Scores aren’t officially and the league tries to promote a family atmosphere as much as possible.

Ehrmantraut bragged about the volunteers in Hermiston, saying many don’t even have children in the program anymore.

Two volunteers, Patty Guillen and Heather Dircksen, were awarded over the past year for their involvement. Guillen was recognized as the VIP Volunteer of the Year for section 2 and Dircksen was the Volunteer of the Year in area 2S.

The VIP program is for children with physical or mental disabilities, and this year has 12 team members coached by John Guillen.

Dircksen has done volunteer work for the past 10 years and been on the board of directors for the past five years.

Darren Broderick, the recently named Regional Commisioner, was also on hand at the opening ceremonies, filling in at the concession stand before his daughter’s team’s game.