When Sara Cowley and Kendra Halterman, local soccer stars who are both now married and mothers of two, started working with Dennis Burrows of Sparta United in the winter of last year to create a new Women's Premier Soccer League team for Utah, they planned to commence operations in 2009.
However, just a few months before the 2008 season began, Cowley received a phone call from the commissioner of the WPSL, asking whether the trio could put a team together in time for that season.
It proved to be a huge undertaking to make a new WPSL club a reality that quickly last spring, but they got the job done. Now, a year and a half later, it seems the work of Cowley, Halterman and Burrows has laid the groundwork for the club to be successful for years to come.
Salt Lake Sparta will wrap up its second season of existence when it faces the Utah Starzz at Timpview High tonight at 6 p.m. And Burrows, the team's head coach, is cognizant of the work that Cowley and Halterman, who play on the team on top of helping to run it, have put in to make it possible.
"Those two had the desire and the want to do it, and they put in the time and the effort along the way to make it happen," he said. "I don't think a lot of the people they play with really appreciate how much time and effort it took them, and me as well, to make it work.
"Their families have been tremendously supportive," added Burrows, before joking, "and it's quite a feat that we've been able to do this and (have) everyone stay married."
When the call came from the WPSL's commissioner to say the nation's highest amateur soccer league for women was looking for a new team in 2008, Cowley and Co. basically had to start from scratch.
And to get the team up and running in time, Cowley and Halterman found themselves working 40 hours a week — easily.
Among many other things, they did fundraising through USANA — cleaning up after concerts and events at the University of Utah — and worked tirelessly to find sponsors any way they could.
They also had to complete a list of specifications to be compliant with the WPSL, and of course, they had to find players.
"It started really quick, and we didn't know what we were doing," said Cowley. "We had to learn as we went and got it organized."
In the end, though, Cowley, Halterman and Burrows got everything done in time, and — flash forward to the present — all three are happy with the way things are currently run.
Cowley primarily works with the WPSL, Halterman primarily deals with finances and Burrows primarily coaches the team. And all of this is done while they all try to juggle having families.
Cowley, who's been married to Brian Cowley for eight years, has a son and a daughter — four-year-old Zackery and two-and-a-half-year-old Addisyn. Halterman, who's been married to Rocky Halterman for five years, also has a son and a daughter — four-year-old Cole and two-year-old Marley.
Cowley and Halterman say they've been willing to spend time away from their families over the past year and a half because they want to provide opportunities for the state's top female soccer players to compete at a high level for many years to come.
Both went out of their way to say they believe the current Sparta players have been doing their part.
"My biggest thing," said Halterman, "is that I appreciate our players coming out and doing what they need to do to carry on our dream, to carry my and (Cowley's) dream."
e-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com