Records are meant to be broken.

It’s become almost an expectation for the state of Alabama’s high school soccer scene, which continues to grow and develop strong players and solid high school teams.

That’s why AHSAA executive director Heath Harmon hopes plenty will turn out as 10 soccer state championships will be crowned this week in Huntsville.

“Anytime you make it to that final four, to that championship game, it seems to elevate play,” he said. “We have some tremendous soccer talent throughout the state and teams performing very well at this time of the season. We’re looking forward to some great games and probably some records being broken.”

The Rocket City is set to host the AHSAA state soccer semifinals and finals this week at John Hunt Park, with a field of 40 teams set to travel to Huntsville aiming for a state soccer title.

Games will begin on Wednesday at 9 a.m. with the Class 5A girls semifinals, seeing matchups of Westminster Christian-Springville and Indian Springs-St. Michael.

The semifinals for Class 1A-3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and 7A will be played on Wednesday and Thursday with the championship games set for Friday and Saturday afternoons.

“We’re very excited to be here in Huntsville,” Harmon said. “It’s a phenomenal city, I mentioned earlier the leadership, these things don’t happen by accident. You don’t end up with facilities like this accidentally. A lot of work, from the city standpoint, to offer this type of venue and Huntsville is a great city. We’re happy to be in Huntsville.”

While plenty of teams will make trips across the state, this year’s matchups include five teams in Madison County (James Clemens girls, Westminster Christian girls, St. John Paul II girls, Madison Academy girls, Grissom boys) and others in north Alabama.

Huntsville Sports Commission executive director Mark Russell, who prided the city and John Hunt Park for bringing a great experience for all involved with the championships, said the soccer championships will bring plenty to the city and its businesses.

“It’s a big hit for the city of Huntsville, a great economic impact event,” Russell said. “We’ll be working with our hotels, our partners, making sure we have rooms for each team because it’s complicated that if they win they stay, if they lose they go home; we’ll work with all our partners.

“It’s a big event, there’s lots of people involved. You saw at the lunch that the mayor’s here. There’s just lots of people involved to put this on.”

Among the attractions of John Hunt Park are two turf fields, which will allow for a much easier transition in the event of inclement weather.

The facilities and those involved are among the things that made Huntsville such an attractive place for the state championships.

“We’re really proud of it, having two grass fields and two artificial turf fields side by side, a mirror image of each other,” Russell said. “I don’t know of any other site like this, and we were able to showcase that last year when we had terrible rain. We were able to move, and the kids didn’t miss a beat and that’s what we hope to have happen.

“There’s not many cities that can provide this for soccer.”

Harmon expects the city of Huntsville, which also hosts state wrestling championships, to be an asset for the AHSAA.

“They do a great job running the tournament here,” Harmon said. “It’s an absolutely beautiful facility, and I always say leadership matters. You have great leadership here in Huntsville. So thankful for Mayor Battle for Mark Russell, great leadership, and we’re going to have a great experience for our student-athletes.”