Eddy County Drone Soccer League in the Making

By Misty Cryer

A drone soccer league consisting of eight teams is expected to begin competing in Eddy County in the fall of 2026. The program is administered through Southeast New Mexico College (SENMC), and with teams across the communities, the league is designed for youth. Volunteers will be sought to train as referees and scorekeepers.

Chris Spaulding, Interim Vice President of Workforce Development and Community Engagement for SENMC, credits Jerry Brian with initiating the idea of drone soccer for the community. “He started to develop a drone program here at SENMC; while he was doing his research, he discovered drone soccer, which has recently come over to America from South Korea,” he said.

After a grant application was submitted and received, Spaulding said. “Now we are in charge of the Drone Soccer League of Eddy County.” He said Hattie Quinn (Lizbeth Kimbell), SENMC’s Workforce Partnership Coordinator, is running it as the project manager.

The vision for the program, said Hattie, is ultimately like everything they do in the workforce department—it is aimed at developing interest in drones among the kids, so maybe some will pursue further drone training toward industrial or military use.

“This is a skill for the 21st century, just like any other,” said Hattie. “It is also a STEM event, because the kids have to build the drones and fly them in the soccer games,” she said.

Eight of the kits were distributed to teams, said Spaulding. “We have one whole kit that we use here for exhibition and also training,” he said, adding that the college is not competing in the league.

The eight teams consist of two teams at Carlsbad High School (CHS), one at Loving High School, the City of Carlsbad’s Rec Center, Carlsbad Enrichment Center, Jefferson Montessori Academy, Southeast New Mexico Homeschool Hub, and the Boys and Girls Club, said Hattie. “Next, we’re going to start recruiting volunteers to help out the different teams,” she said, adding that they will train them to be referees or scorekeepers.

“Deborah Haggerton has actually been super helpful because she has experience with battle bots and other esports already,” said Hattie.

“Drone soccer is a growing sport. It actually takes the concept of soccer and puts it into the realm of drones,” said Haggerton, one of the two CHS coaches. She said it teaches kids how to build a drone, and they learn how to fly a drone, and how to participate as a team member.

A team can be anywhere from five to 10 students, aged 12 to 18, Haggerton said. “The other (CHS) coach and I are both MESA Advisors, so we were going to our MESA group to start this, but we would like to get other kids involved with it as well.”

There are currently eight students on her team, with about six on the other team. Interest was drawn by placing flyers around the campus.

While most teams will start in August, Haggerton said she will be unavailable then, so she started her team a little early to avoid getting behind.

In competition, she said the league will run from October to the middle of December. “We will be doing Red Robin, just like any other athletic competition,” she said, explaining that playoffs and finals will be in January to March of 2027.

“We’re doing an Eddy County Drone Soccer League so all the instructors and students can work out the kinks,” said Hattie.

Spaulding said that whether to start locally in Eddy County or join the national league was discussed with the coaches. “There are a lot of reasons to just keep it here in Eddy County and just have fun with it and make it a STEM thing, but you never know where we’ll go with it,” he said, adding it is always up for discussion.

Multiple locations will be used for weekend games, Hattie explained. “Multiple teams will travel to that location, and everybody will get to play everybody during the season. It will really be fun,” she said.