Have soccer will travel

When Kim and Bill Slaybaugh moved to Navarre in 1997, neither knew much about soccer.

Little did they know that soccer would just about take over their lives for the next 20 years.

In high school Kim had played softball and was involved with gymnastics. Bill had participated in football, basketball, baseball and track. “I played every sport except soccer,” Bill said.

A year after they moved to Navarre, their oldest daughter, Samantha, enrolled in a soccer program at Hurlburt field. The next year she joined the Navarre Heat. It was the first all girls team formed by NYSA and marked the beginning of a soccer tradition. Every three years after that, for the next nine years, a new Slaybaugh began her soccer career at NYSA. The first to follow Samantha was Meghan, followed by Rylie and then twin sisters Autumn and Jade.

For more on this story, see the August 4 issue of the Navarre Press or subscribe online.