Drone Soccer is a relatively new airsport–invented in South Korea in 2016– involving two teams of five pilots each. The striker of each team has a goal to fly their drones through the opponent’s goal ring. The other four drones aim to defend their goal ring from the opposing striker.  

Millikan’s Drone Soccer Club started in 2024 as a result of Co-Founder and President Zach Copeland’s interest in flying drones for cinematography. Copeland and Co-Founder and President Davis Outten pitched the idea of Drone Soccer Club to administrators their sophomore year. 

These two QUEST seniors started the club from scratch, raising over $6,300 towards buying equipment during their first year. 

“While waiting for our drones to arrive, we started practicing at Sato Academy using their drones on loan,” says Outten.

They’ve only begun getting started with practicing as a team this school year as a result of their fundraising efforts. The club no longer has meetings during lunch but instead holds practices with the team each week. The team competes against other teams, both independently run and associated with other high schools.

“It’s definitely been extremely difficult to get it off the ground and start from essentially nothing,” says Copeland.

Now, the team has 8 members and holds practices weekly in order to train for tournaments. Although the team is small, it fosters a positive team atmosphere.

“It’s been great, everyone’s so funny and kind and I really like how it’s a bit of a smaller team so that we all kind of know each other and the flying styles,” says Cecilia Rogers, a freshman on the team who has played drone soccer since middle school.

Drone Soccer Club meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month in Room 302 and has after-school practices on 3:30pm-5:00pm