Soccer players don’t peak until their late 20s. Unfortunately, many youth clubs push kids to peak at, say, age 12 or 13 because it gratifies (momentarily) coaches and parents focused on winning at an early age. This approach frequently causes injury due to overwork and emotional burnout. Too many promising teenage and pre-teen athletes quit playing sports altogether.

Beginning at the U8 level (second grade for most children), our program has the following features designed to give Strikers players a positive experience today AND a great foundation for future play as high school, college and adult players:

(1) Keeping it fun. Our coaches are committed to positive coaching methods. We work hard, but keep it fun at the same time. You will see a lot of smiles and hear a lot of positive words at our practices and games.

(2) Teaching quality, possession soccer. We emphasize skill development, beginning with our youngest players: dribbling, passing and shooting with both feet; moving with and without the ball; receiving the ball correctly; playing the way you face; creating defensive pressure; and so on. Mastering these techniques is time-consuming and hard, and often will not translate into winning at younger ages. But players immersed in these techniques early on will run rings around the competition at older, highly competitive levels of play.

(3) Avoiding pigeon-holing players. Many youth soccer teams appear to enjoy success at an early age (at least in terms of wins and losses) by following the predictable formula of putting their best players at center or right forward, center midfield and goalkeeper and playing “longball” or “kickball” featuring those players. This approach ultimately hurts the young “stars” because they learn only one position and don’t involve their teammates. It also hinders the development of their teammates, many of whom may become standouts at later ages, since kids develop unpredictably and on different timetables. Our club strives to expose players to different positions during their developmental years and to help all players on the team improve, regardless of current ability level. In addition, we typically rotate coaches to new teams at reasonable intervals, generally after two seasons (one year) but sometimes after three or four seasons (two years), so that players will benefit from the fresh perspectives and different voices of a variety of coaches.

(4) Stressing team play and good sportsmanship. This applies to both players and parents. Players are expected to work hard and may not criticize their teammates or show disrespect to referees or opponents. All parents must agree in writing that they will be positive, will get their kids to practices and games on time, and will not coach or criticize referees from the sidelines.

Our success is written in the smiles of our players and parents, and in the success Striker players have enjoyed in club, high school and college soccer. Please email or call us with any questions. We would love to have you join us!