This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Like seemingly every other high school game of consequence this week, Kylan Gardiner's was postponed.
Wednesday, his school's soccer team was prepared to play in the state semifinal, and then - rain. Wait until Friday, he was told.
It just gave Gardiner more time to imagine.
"I think it would be awesome for us if we took the championship home," said the sophomore goalkeeper from Legacy Preparatory Academy.
Legacy? What is that, 1A?
It's a common question for Gardiner, his teammates and players at other schools like Legacy, a Davis County charter school with about 600 students from kindergarten through 11th grade.
Legacy's sports teams play in the Utah School Sports Association, a loose collection of charter schools, alternative schools and residential treatment centers that, for an assortment of reasons, aren't sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association.
"The competition level isn't the same," said Tom Fell, the athletic director at Merit College Preparatory Academy in Springville. "But it gives people the opportunity to do things that they normally wouldn't have."
Like the opportunity to imagine, and perhaps achieve, a state championship. Turns out, Legacy's wait wasn't so bad. With Gardiner in goal, the Lions beat Summit 7-4, to remain unbeaten and advance to the USSA championship next against American Heritage.
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Starting small • In the gym at Independence High School, a blue banner hangs from the ceiling. "2008 State Champions," it proclaims.
Richard Dewey stared proudly at that banner this week. Just months before Independence won that title, he conceived a new league for charter schools once he learned a similar association had broken up several years earlier.
His son attended Independence, an alternative school in the Provo School District, and Dewey thought he deserved the opportunity to play on a high school team with his classmates.
Utah law allows for students from charter and alternative schools to play sports at the school whose boundaries they live in, but at bigger schools there is no guarantee of players making the team.
"For me it's been huge," said Preston Parker, a guard who helped Merit to the boys' basketball championship this year. "I'm not at the level where if I were able to go to public school I would be able to start."
In the three years since Dewey founded the USSA, it has taken hold, though Dewey acknowledged most people have never heard of the league. The association sponsors basketball and soccer for both boys and girls and co-ed soccer, volleyball and flag football. Next year, kickball and softball are likely to be added.
The big star, though, is basketball, Dewey said.
"We have music at the games," he said, "just really uptown, professional stuff —like you see at the Jazz games and such."
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'Any school should have sports with it' • The UHSAA boasts more than 130 schools. In certain sports, the USSA peaks at about 15. Next year, Legacy, Merit and Summit will all join the UHSAA with sub-varsity status, joining schools such as Pinnacle and Maeser Prep that have made the jump.
And it's a significant jump.
In a league that stretches from Ogden to Utah County, teams usually carpool. Some schools, though, do bus.
"To the far ones," Parker said.
And then once they get there ...
"You play in some places," Fell said, "and you're like, 'Wow they really have athletics here?' I think one of the schools played in a cafeteria. It definitely wasn't the same standards as what the (UHSAA) expects, as far as facilities."
At Legacy, Gardiner splits time in goal with his twin brother, Clint. Their father, Derrin, used to be the head basketball coach at East and this winter led Legacy to the USSA's championship game.
In basketball, like in soccer, Legacy came close to a banner of its own. The USSA, though, has never been about championships.
"Any school should have sports with it," Clint Gardiner said. "If you didn't have sports at a school, it would be pretty boring."
After a moment, he added, "I wouldn't go there."
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