June 24, 2001

By David Hinojosa / The Dallas Morning News

Their ages range from 18 to 32. Each has a different reason for being a part of the Texas Odyssey women's professional soccer team.

Some have aspirations of playing in the WUSA. Some are just heading into college. Some just like playing soccer.

"This is a better way to stay in shape than just running," Janette Javet-Barton said. "I mean, how boring is that?"

The league is much more than a recreational tool. The Allen-based Odyssey is part of the United Soccer League (USL) and competes at the W-1 (elite) level. The team is in its first year of existence and is an expansion team in the USL. Dave Simeone, a staff coach with USA Soccer, is the Odyssey's technical director, and Keri Riley and Stephani Webb are the coaches.

The team is owned by Texas Soccer, which also has two men's teams under its wings. The Texas Spurs compete on the Player Development Level and next season, the Texas Rattlers will compete as an A-League squad at the level just below the MLS. The company's headquarters are at Allen's Texas Spurs Soccer Complex.

Gary Elliott is Texas Soccer's general manager. He is heavily involved with player development. One of his major goals was to form a W-1 team for the area because it would serve as a higher-level training ground for local players.

"It gives them a chance to be seen and improve in the game," Elliott said.

Until the WUSA began play this year, the USL W-1 was the highest level of soccer available to women in the United States.

"This gives us something for us to play in," Laura Snyder said. "It gives some of us who have higher aspirations a chance to play against a high level of competition."

Snyder, 22, is a recent graduate of SMU. She was one of four Odyssey players who went to the WUSA combine in Tampa, Fla., last December. Things didn't work out for Snyder, but she hopes that playing with the Odyssey will give her a chance to maintain her skills in case another opportunity to play in the WUSA arises.

Javet-Barton also tried out for the WUSA, but fell short in her efforts. The 30-year-old said the window of opportunity is closing, but her age, the demands of being married and owning a business may have put a strain on maintaining a WUSA career.

Javet-Barton owns a successful pool business in Plano, so the $50 she earns each game doesn't supplement her income much. But, the pay isn't important.

"It's not a whole hill of beans," Javet-Barton said of the pay.

The team has only 11 paid positions. Those who are not being paid are able to maintain their college eligibility, even for those who haven't even started college.

The Odyssey carried two recent high school graduates in Allen's Shannon Labhart and Plano East's Stephanie Peel. In addition, Kelly Burke, a Plano resident and recent Ursuline graduate, trains with the team.

Labhart, 18, discovered that playing with the Odyssey was different than playing club soccer.

"In club soccer, we always used to goof around," said Labhart, who will play soccer at Texas A&M. "On my first one-on-one drill [with the Odyssey], someone was grabbing me, and I knew that this was serious business."

While much of the team's purpose focuses on player development, one player, Mary Howard, is happy to still be playing. The 32-year-old is the oldest on the team and has earned the nickname "Grandma."

She chuckles when she hears her teammates call her that. Howard is coaching with the Longhorns club team director of coaching. She has coached collegiately at Arkansas, Marquette, Wisconsin and Tulane before going into youth coaching a year and a half ago.

There will be no WUSA future for Howard because, as she put it, "I'm too old," but the reward of playing with the Odyssey is special nonetheless.

"One of the advantages of this league is that some of the younger players get to see their coaches play," Howard said. "In the past, they would have never had a chance to see them do that."