Drone Soccer Helps Asheboro High School Build A STEM Powerhouse
Photo credit: Anthony Woodyard.
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Drone soccer sounds like something invented during a late night brainstorming session involving caffeine and spare propellers, but at Asheboro High School in North Carolina, it has quietly become one of the most effective STEM programs in the state, as Elon News Network reports.
What started as a passing idea has grown into a nationally ranked team where students build, program, fly, and compete, all while learning skills that look very good far beyond the gym walls.
The spark came from Anthony Woodyard, chief information officer for Asheboro City Schools, who was looking for something hands on, academic, and genuinely engaging for students. Not another club that fades by October, but something that sticks.
“It was just a passing comment, but I immediately keyed in on it and wrote it down,” Woodyard said. “I did a little research on U.S. Drone Soccer and knew it was something we had to bring to our city schools.”
That comment led Asheboro High School to become the first school in North Carolina to launch a drone soccer team, putting them on a path that mixes engineering, aviation, teamwork, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.
What Is Drone Soccer And Why Does It Work
Drone soccer originated in South Korea and has since spread globally, blending STEM education with the structure and energy of a team sport. Players pilot small quadcopters enclosed in protective spheres, flying them through goal rings in mid air. Think soccer, but the ball has motors and absolutely no respect for gravity.
Photo credit: Anthony Woodyard.
The U.S. Drone Soccer Association now includes around 270 institutions nationwide, with a mission focused on pushing students toward aerospace, science, and engineering careers by making them build, program, and fly their own drones. Woodyard saw immediately that this was not just about flying.
Photo credit: Anthony Woodyard.
“They have to build their drones. They have to program their drones,” he said. “It really is the full STEM continuum.”
The program launched in 2023 with 12 drones and only five or six students. Today, Asheboro fields three teams made up of students from all four grade levels. They compete against teams from Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., and as of January 2026, Asheboro sits at number 26 on the national leaderboard. That is a serious result for a program that was brand new and learning the rules as it went.
Early Wins And Learning Moments
Success came fast. In their very first regional competition in Virginia, Asheboro took home first place, surprising even their own coaches.
“That speaks to the power of the program, but it also speaks to the commitment of those students to really learn the sport,” Woodyard said.
That first competition also highlighted an important detail they had missed. The sport is coed, and competition rules require both boys and girls on the field. Asheboro did not have any girls on the roster. Instead of treating this like a problem, the team treated it like a design flaw. Identify the issue, adjust the approach, and try again.
Head coach Wendy Graham and the team made a deliberate effort to recruit girls, including hosting girls only practices where students could get comfortable with the drones and controls before joining full competitions.
Asheboro High School’s drone soccer team celebrates its win at regionals
at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Photo credit: Anthony Woodyard.
Senior Jenny Gabriel joined during the early days of the program and quickly became one of its leaders.
“One thing that really sparked my decision going into it was that there weren’t many girls there,” Gabriel said. “It kind of shook me because I thought this was so interesting. There should definitely be girls here.”
At the start of the 2024 season, the team had two girls and 16 boys. Through outreach and encouragement, that balance began to shift, turning drone soccer into both a competitive team and a visible example of female representation in STEM.
“The more girls we got into the program, the more comfortable I felt,” Gabriel said. “It showed me that it’s okay. We are going to reach out and have girls involved in this STEM based program.”
More Than Flying Drones
As Gabriel prepares for graduation, she says drone soccer taught her more than engineering basics and flight control. It taught leadership.
“Being a leader is not only listening,” she said. “It’s taking part in the team and having my own ideas.”
For Woodyard, the impact of the program goes beyond rankings and trophies. Drone soccer has opened doors for students who may never have considered careers in science or engineering and has rallied the community around something entirely new.
“Everyone around the community really just rallied around the team,” he said. “That created even more momentum for us in having a successful program.”
DroneXL’s Take.
Drone soccer might look like a futuristic game at first glance, but programs like Asheboro’s show why it works so well. It sneaks serious skills into a format students actually care about, blending teamwork, problem solving, and technical knowledge in a way traditional classrooms often struggle to achieve.
Watching a drone bounce off a goal ring might look playful, but behind every flight is code, engineering, and collaboration. If this is the future of STEM education, it is hovering in the right direction.
Photo credit: Anthony Woodyard.