Highlights

WHY SOCCER?
We believe that soccer is the ideal developmental physical activity for young children as they prepare for life and future athletic development because…

• It combines cardio-vascular conditioning, motor skill development and spatial/inductive reasoning – it truly becomes a game of “human chess”
• It creates “unstructured creative play” situations within a structured system and when properly coached can closely replicate “pickup” environments from the past
• It is a game that is often referred to as “its own teacher”. If the players are just allowed to play – the complexity of the game can be adjusted by changing the rules on the fly and the players learn what to do simply by playing. The need for experienced coaches at this level is not a requirement.
• It is the most popular sport in the world – a world that is becoming smaller everyday and could be that common element that helps our children communicate in the future with other cultures
• It is highly physical but its focus is on physical control of one’s motor skill around others and not on physically colliding with opponents
• It is truly inexpensive to play and more approachable for children from all economic backgrounds

KEY DOCUMENTS

• Program Design Goals (what we seek to achieve from our program)
• Program Design Techniques (how we will achieve our goals)
• Targeted Skill Sets (how we will attempt to measure player progress)
• Program Descriptions by Age Group
• Team Formation (how we form teams)

DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS
There are certain concepts that we try to reinforce at all levels of our program. Our primary concern as an organization is to create environments where our players can attempt and perfect skills over time that will better prepare them to play the game when they become older and its complexity increases. Therefore, we use the following statements to guide us through the execution of the program:

• As many “touches” on the ball for all players as possible at every training and match session through and including U12. We are asking our players to do with their feet what most sports do with their hands – and this cannot be done without lots of repetitive work with the ball and feet. Running up and down the field without engaging the ball is not soccer. That is simply running! So many of our programs will utilize small-sided games in both training and matches to reinforce this frequency of touch on the ball.
  
  
• Group players by grade and school (and by playing style, technical skill and commitment in U12 and above) to ensure an appropriate developmental environment. We have found that these groupings maximize an individual player’s motivation to play which translates into faster skill development. However, we also realize that players are individuals and progress at different rates so we work to provide flexibility in this system to adjust the environment for a particular player when necessary.
  
  
• Minimize the need to travel for training or competition whenever possible. If the only choice for appropriate competition is to travel to another location, then so be it but we will be creative in using our own local infrastructures to create the appropriate levels of competition whenever possible.
  
  
• Supplement our volunteer coaches with the strategic use of for-pay licensed coaches to help mentor our volunteers and reinforce appropriate coaching technique through demonstration, observation and feedback.

PROGRAMS
During any given season, each of our programs will generally have 1 match per week and 1-2 practices per week. It is possible for there to be more matches or training sessions but this is the average. In the Sentinels Only league, we have great flexibility in accommodating our members’ requests. There is less latitude within the other leagues but we do our best to match the requests of our members with the requirements of the leagues.