The YMCA youth soccer program helps kids become not only better soccer players, but better people as well. With an emphasis on fair play and safety first, our program is progressive with age-appropriate rules to help teach soccer for kids and keep it fun. Our youth soccer leagues build winners in life, emphasizing good sportsmanship, fitness, fair play, fundamentals and fun while implementing our core values of caring, honesty, respect, responsibility and faith.
Practices & Games
Location(s): Region-wide
Ages: 3-14 for Boys, 3-12 for Girls [3-6 – Recreational | 7/8 and older – Recreational and Competitive]
Member Priority Registration Begins: July 1
Non-Member Registration Begins: July 8
Registration Ends: July 25
Late Registration Begins: July 26 – July 30 ($10 late fee applies)
Practices Begin: Week of August 29th
Season Begins: September 10
Season Dates: 9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15
Season Break: September 3 – Labor Day
Rain-Out/Make-Up Date(s): October 22
What’s Provided: Registration includes full uniform (shirt, shorts, and socks).
Equipment Needed: Shin guards, ball, and water bottle.
Volunteer Coaching Opportunities
We’re seeking volunteers interested in coaching youth sports. Our coaches make YMCA youth sports possible and create a lifelong impact on children by encouraging participation and emphasizing sportsmanship and strong character.
When you become a volunteer, the Y will introduce you to coaching and provide resources specific to the sport you coach. If your child is a player, getting involved at their practices can help them feel comfortable to practice with you outside of official practice time.
Soccer Tips
The goal of becoming a top athlete is a long road for anyone to achieve. Many factors go into developing soccer players that compete at the highest level but a key aspect can start with simple everyday habits as a child. Everyone shines in their own way, at their own time. That’s the beauty of soccer; it builds people for whatever comes next in life.
Training Tips
Practice makes perfect! That begins with a good warmup to focus training players to get as many touches on the soccer ball and increase their heart rate to help prepare them for practice and soccer clinics with technical activity, creating an environment where players can get as much repetition of a skill as possible. The more a player practices, the better they’ll get!
Coaching Tips
Coaches who engage in active listening guarantees clear, mutually understood communication makes players more willing to talk to the coach as well as promotes a more meaningful relationship between the coach and player. Communicating with purpose by being aware of posture, eye contact, facial expressions, distance between the coach and the player, distracting behaviors and voice quality is crucial in addressing players and understanding their questions and quandaries.
