It was a nearly empty field Saturday afternoon, but soon a large lot at the corner of Lorain and Ninth streets in Ironton will be filled with the sound of children.

The Ironton Area Youth Soccer Association will begin its season next week. On Saturday afternoon, Herb Brown and his daughter, Meghan of Ironton took advantage of warm temperatures and sunshine to stripe the lines into place and turn the green stretch of land into three soccer fields.

Association coordinator John F. Schwab Jr. said 272 children ages 4 to 14 have signed up to play on one of the 23 teams during the eight-week season that runs through the end of October.

"She got into it when she was four and she's been in it ever since," Herb Brown said of his 9-year-old daughter.

And what brings Meghan back year after year to kick that ball?

"I just like it," she said. "I like making goals. It makes me feel happy."

Her love of the sport got Dad involved, too. He now joins other volunteers in keeping the soccer field in good condition and coaching those games.

"We've probably spent the last four weekends here making it look nice," Herb Brown said. "Next weekend is our first game and then it's every Saturday morning, right here."

Schwab said soccer is becoming a popular sport. The recreational league is an opportunity for interested young people to have something fun to do.

"They learn the basics of the sport and they learn to work as a team, they learn disciple and self esteem. And it's an interesting sport," he said. "And everybody gets to play."