POLAND – Karen Johnson ran with camera in hand from one soccer field to another Sunday. With three sons playing, the fall season keeps the entire family on the go.

“I keep a giant bulletin board in the kitchen with everyone’s schedule,” said Johnson. “I try to keep the calendar in my pocketbook color-coded. If I relied on just my brain, I’d never know where anyone was supposed to be.”

Karen and Kurt Johnson represent the typical family with more than one child playing on more than one team. In Poland, Minot, Mechanic Falls and Hebron, there are 360 kids playing soccer.

Parents find a way to master the logistics of keeping practice and game schedules straight and trying to cheer for each child during simultaneous games.

While Kurt Johnson cheered on the sidelines for 11-year-old Kurt and 9-year-old Zachary on the Revolutions, Karen dashed to another field to encourage 8-year-old Lucas on the Storm. But then she heard the shouts coming from the first field and realized that she had just missed seeing Kurt Jr. score.

Both Johnson parents tensely watched the last couple of minutes of the Revolutions with the score tied when Lucas jubilantly dashed over and yelled, “Hey, Mom, we won!”

A quick high-five from Mom and then she was all business back to the first game.

“Thank goodness two of the boys are the same team,” said Karen Johnson. “Every year, we ask, “Please, put them on the same team.’ “

In addition to spending all day each Sunday at the soccer fields at Poland Regional High School, the Johnson family also juggles two full-time jobs and practices during the week. They also make room for 6-year-old sister Kymberlee’s ballet lessons.

“Every Sunday she says she wants to play soccer,” said Johnson. “But they have to choose only one sport per season. We only go in so many directions.”

But the Johnson parents believe that participating in community sports programs provides a way for their children to become connected to kids that they wouldn’t otherwise know because they attend a private school.

For a Minot family with three kids playing on three different teams, a Sunday at the soccer fields provides a social benefit in addition to the exercise.

“I think we’ve made some friends out here,” said Julie Bertrand. “We’re out here from 11 on, so you definitely get to know people. Sometimes I wonder what we’d do all day without soccer.”

Julie and Mike Bertrand watch their children, Emily, Everett, and Libby, sometimes in split shifts for simultaneous games, and sometimes all day long for consecutive games, as they did Sunday, when all three kids finished out the day with wins.

Julie also coaches 11-year-old Emily’s team and once in a while sneaks over to see 6-year-old Libby play. Meanwhile, husband Mike gives steady support to 8-year-old Everett. Emily, who has been playing since first grade, also plays on her school soccer team and has practices six nights a week.

The community soccer program has been a part of Poland for more than a decade. Soccer directors from Poland, Mechanic Falls and Minot-Hebron coordinate throughout the year for game and field schedules and to line up referees and coaches, said Poland Recreation Director Scott Segal.

“I’m quite impressed how all of the towns work together,” said Segal. “We look at it not just as Poland, but as a much bigger community.”

The soccer program offers four different levels of play, each with different criteria designed to teach kids the game gradually. But on any given Sunday between 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at least a dozen games for the upper three levels are going on at the same time.

Each town takes care of their own registrations, teams and fees. Proceeds from this year’s Silent Sunday, scheduled for Oct. 10, will provide a $100 scholarship to a Poland Regional High School student, which could be from any of the participating towns, said Segal.

For parents like the Bertrands and the Johnsons, Silent Sunday adds extra pressure. Parents can’t cheer for their kids but must sit as silent spectators. Referees collect a dollar each time a yell escapes from the sideline. Some parents give up before the games even start and come bearing a fist full of ones, said Segal.