Spence new sports director at YMCA

Published 11:15 pm Wednesday, August 16, 2006

MOULTRIE — Burt Spence has taken the long road home.

The 1998 Colquitt County High graduate has returned to Moultrie by way of Douglas, Tifton, Albany, Atlanta and the Boston, Mass., suburbs to become the sports director at the Moultrie YMCA.

“This is what I went to school for,” said the former Packer soccer player, who received his degree in sports management in 2004 from Kennesaw State.

“And I’ve got soccer in my background.”

Spence said that while he is overseeing all of the YMCA’s sports, he will give particular emphasis to improving the soccer program. His goal, he said, is to get more youngsters playing and staying with soccer.

“We’d like to teach them more fundamentals so they will be ready,” he said.

At some point, Spence said, he would like the community to be able to support select and academy soccer teams.

“We want to get them out and keep them here,” he said. “We want to build and structure our groups so they’ll be learning more.

“We just want to get kids playing. That’s my goal for all sports.”

Spence grew up in Camilla before moving to Moultrie at age 10, when he began playing soccer at the YMCA.

In 1997 and 1998, he was a member of the Colquitt County High soccer teams that went a combined 26-5-5 and won two straight region championships.

Spence played a year of soccer at South Georgia College, then transferred to Abraham Baldwin College. He then went to Darton College, where he played soccer a year and met his future wife Beth.

After graduating from Kennesaw State, he spent the last two years in Massachusetts before getting the opportunity to return to Moultrie.