After 40 years, Montana Surf is still kicking

As the clock winds down to the FIFA World Cup kickoff on Thursday, soccer fans around the world are rallying behind their teams. For Montana Surf, Bozeman’s oldest soccer club, this year’s Cup is extra special.

Montana Surf is celebrating 40 years of organized soccer in Bozeman in tandem with the U.S. men’s national team’s first Cup game on Friday. MT SURF is an acronym for the values the organization hopes to instill: Mindset for Growth, Teamwork, Sportsmanship, Unity, Resilience and Responsibility, and Fun.

When the organization, then named Football Club Bozeman, was founded in 1986, Bozeman lacked organized soccer, per Montana Surf board member, Otto Pohl.

In those days, Kagy was a dirt road, and 19th was a quiet stretch meandering past a handful of trailer homes, and soccer was just starting to gain popularity in Montana.

“We never really even knew what soccer was until our kids got involved,” Bill Dorgan, FC Bozeman’s first president, said. “We didn’t even know the rules.”

Recreational soccer made its way to Bozeman in the late 1970s, per Cathy Dorgan, Bill’s wife.

Recreational games were held on Sundays at the Bozeman softball complex. The softball field was sectioned off into three or four soccer fields, and several games were held simultaneously.

Their children, Mark and Karen, played on some of the first rec teams and league teams in town.

There were no girls’ teams when Karen first started playing soccer in 1978.

“She was nine years old at the time, and she was the only girl on a team with all boys,” Cathy said. “Some of the little boys would run up and punch her, and then they’d yell, ‘soccer!’”

The first organized youth soccer tournament in Bozeman was held in 1983, and was covered by the Chronicle.

As soccer slowly gained popularity during the next three years, Bozeman parents realized there was a growing need for an organized league.

In 1986, a group of parents met in the Dorgans’ basement on Sundance Drive. The original FC Bozeman board had around ten members, with Bill as the president.

With no experience in soccer beyond his children’s involvement in the sport, Bill describes his appointment as “a pickup thing.”

“Our kids wanted somebody to run the thing, and I was there,” Bill, now 87 years old, said.

FC Bozeman organized leagues by age, U-19, U-16, and U-14, allowing children of all ages to join the sport that was rapidly growing in popularity across the town, state, and country.

Because soccer was not a sport offered by local schools until the early 1990s, the FC Bozeman leagues provided kids the unique opportunity to play in organized leagues and travel across the state and region.

Mark Dorgan, Cathy and Bill’s son, played on an FC Bozeman U-19 team called the Bozeman Express until he graduated from high school in 1986.

He remembers playing the Magic City team from Billings, the Strikers from Missoula, as well as teams from Helena, Great Falls, and Butte.

In May 1986, Mark’s team won the state championship, qualifying to compete in the Far West Regionals Tournament in Seattle.

“There wasn’t a lot of money in the club, so parents always volunteered to drive the kids to tournaments,” Cathy said. “The kids would stay in parents’ homes when they could instead of motels, because we couldn’t afford motels.”

At regionals, the boys played three games, holding their own against the Nevada, Oregon, and Alaska teams before getting “thumped” by Cal South, 8-1, led by future U.S. men’s national team player Marcelo Balboa.

“Soccer still had a long way to go to develop in Montana. We were still in the beginning stages; other states were much farther ahead,” Cathy said.

In the intervening three decades, as soccer blossomed in Montana, so has Montana Surf.

While the name has changed, from FC Bozeman to Bozeman Blitzz Football Club to Montana Surf, the organization remains committed to bringing soccer to kids of all ages and backgrounds.

Cate Wright, the Montana Surf executive director, said Montana Surf aims to teach kids life skills through the lens of sport. She said the nonprofit aims to cultivate exceptional players and community leaders.

Karen Phillips, who works as a data coordinator for the Bozeman Human Resource Development Council, grew up playing on Bozeman Blitzz teams.

Phillips went on to play soccer at the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota. She said her time on the Blitzz teams was instrumental in her personal development.

“It fostered a competitive nature that I already had, but taught me how to refine that to be a good team player. You know, just because you’re frustrated doesn’t mean you get to take it out on your teammates or the other team,” Phillips said. “It also taught me how to lose graciously, move on, learn, and continue to grow.”

Now, Phillips coaches a U-14 competitive girls team for Montana Surf. When her former Blitzz coach asked her to step in four years ago, Phillips said it was a no-brainer.

“I missed it. I had been going to practice for 15 years, so of course I said ‘yes,’” Phillips said. “It’s been super fun ever since.”

There are nearly 1,400 kids involved with Montana Surf’s programming, which ranges from six-week recreational leagues to summer camps and year-round traveling competitive leagues.

“One of the biggest things we teach kids is how to persevere through difficulty,” Wright said. “Sport is uniquely set up with clear boundaries and safety nets to let kids fail in a really safe way.”

Currently, there are nearly 1,400 kids involved with Montana Surf’s programming, which ranges from six-week recreational leagues to summer camps and year-round traveling competitive leagues.

Last year, Montana Surf sent a team from the competitive league to the National Premier League finals.

“Previously, we measured our success on the state level, and now the club and the level of play have evolved to where we can measure our success on the national stage,” Wright said.

When Mark and the Bozeman Express traveled to Seattle for the regional tournament in 1986, Cathy said it was all hands on deck to support the players.

Early fundraising efforts included selling World’s Finest Chocolates, summer car washes, and sponsoring an exhibition match between two adult soccer teams at MSU Stadium.

As the decades melted by, the community focus and fundraising initiatives of Montana Surf remained steadfast.

Honoring the organization’s 40th anniversary, Wright said Montana Surf is aiming to raise $40,000 to help fund programming and scholarship opportunities.

Annually, Montana Surf gives away $31,000 in scholarships to increase accessibility to soccer.

“We don’t turn kids away,” Wright said.

In addition to scholarships, Montana Surf runs the Free Soccer Initiative, which provides free programming, equipment, and transportation to low-income families. The drop-in afternoon program runs on Sundays, and carpools are organized to address transportation needs.

Community is at the center of Montana Surf and the sport of soccer as a whole, with the FIFA World Cup uniting fans and players across the world.

“World Cup years are always special, and they always remind me of how interconnected soccer communities are. Every time I travel, I see people playing soccer, which is what sets it apart from a lot of other sports,” Phillips said. “It’s a great way to celebrate 40 years of Montana Surf.

“I know it’s going to stick around because the whole world cares about soccer and it’s not going anywhere.”