This registration is for anyone interested in playing soccer for the 2022 season.
When registering your child please keep in mind that we will need volunteer coaches for each group. If you are able to coach please mark coach on the questions during the registration process.
Itty Bitty (3 & 4 years old) (50-60 minutes max 1 day per week) The mission of the Swanton Recreation’s Itty Bitty Program is for all of the kids to have fun, make friends, and learn some soccer skills that will help them should they decide to continue to the next level. Our goal is to introduce them to basic concepts like dribbling and kicking while making it fun enough that they want to keep playing as their bodies and minds mature. Coaching children under six years of age presents some additional challenges due to their immaturity, short attention span, and less developed muscles. Our frame of mind will be to go down to their level of thinking rather than trying to bring them up to ours. Here are the principles that will be followed: Practices and Matches will be kept fun. Coaches will introduce Skill Based games during practice. If practice is fun, the kids will want to participate. Maximized touches on the ball, per player in practice will be focused on. Standing around during practices and drills will be kept to a minimum.Coaches will minimize lecturing. The more movement for the children the better.Lots of small sided games will be played. 3v3 is ideal for this age group. Our goal is to allow as many touches as possible on the ball each training session or game.A high degree of concentration will be placed on improving individual skills, i.e., dribbling, trapping, shielding the ball, shooting, getting around an opponent, etc. Passing will develop naturally if you play small-sided games, but it will not be highly emphasized at this age. Skills will be broken down into smaller components. For example, passing may be learned by one child rolling the ball to another, who will then try to pass it back. Then have the children slowly push the balls with the inside of their feet and finally have them pass it back and fourth at regular speed. Children will be encouraged to practice at home for 15minutes on days they do not practice. Parents will be encouraged to participate in warm-up exercises with their own child. This allows the coach to teach the proper technique to the parents so they can enforce proper technique at home. Skill development will be implemented into soccer related games. Players will have the ball at their feet for the majority of the time. Success is related to the attempt, not the outcome. As a program, we get excited about the attempt, not the outcome (if the attempt is genuine the outcomes will continually improve). This does get difficult because we as coaches (and parents) are conditioned to see the end results. An emphasis on technique rather than speed will be followed. At this age there will be less focus on progression than with the older groups because they are too young to put several skills together successfully and will not stay focused if there is too much down time in between drills.
Pre K-K (4-5 years old; 60 minutes, 1 day a week) The objective of Swanton Recreation’s Pre K-K level is for all of the kids to have fun, make friends, and learn soccer skills that will help them should they decide to continue to the next level. Our goal is to introduce them to basic concepts like dribbling and kicking while making it enough fun for them to continue playing as their minds and bodies mature. Our goal with this age is to introduce important soccer terms and phrases while working on basic skill development. Practices and matches will be kept fun. Practices will include games that cause players to learn skills, not “drills”. If practice is fun, kids will want to attend each day. Coaches will work to maximize touches on the ball per player. Long lines and down time will be avoided. Players will be split into 3 or 4 stations each week to work on specific skill development with one of the coaches for 8-10 minutes per station. Each coach will be responsible for a station with players waiting for direction to go to the next activity. After stations, players will meet with their coach and teammates to play a game against one of the other teams. A small sided game with pop up goals will be used with the sidelines as the goal lines. Each team will have 4 players on the field at a time with no goalkeepers. (4x4 no GK’s)(20-25 minute games) Our goal is to have players receive as many touches on the ball in each training session and/ or game. A high degree of concentration will be placed on improving individual skills, i.e., dribbling, trapping, shielding the ball, shooting, and getting around opponents, etc. Some passing will develop naturally if you play small-sided games, but passing will not be highly emphasized at this age. Skill development will be implemented into soccer related activities. Players will have the ball at their feet for the majority of time. Success is related to the attempt. not the outcome. As a program we should get excited about attempts vs. outcomes ( if the attempt is genuine the outcomes will continually get better.) An emphasis on techniques rather than speed will be followed. Progression should be less of a focus than older groups and will lose attention if there is no variation with skill development.
Grades 1-2 1 practice a week for 60 minutes and 1 game per week (2- 20minute halves) The objective of Swanton Recreation is for all the participating children to have fun, make friends, and learn more about soccer skills that will help them should they decide to continue to the next level. Our goal is to introduce them to basic concepts like dribbling and proper kicking while making it fun enough so they want to keep playing as their bodies and minds mature. Our goal will be to introduce important soccer terms and phrases while working on basic skill development. A sense of team, individual improvement, and an understanding of the game will be the focus of the coaches at this level. Each team will have a coach and assistant/parent helper to conduct practices and games. Teams will play full field when playing games with age appropriate goals. Each team will have 6 players on the field with no goalkeepers (6 vs 6 no GK’s)
Grades 3-4 (1) 60 minute practice and 1-2 games per week The objective of Swanton Recreation is for all of the children to have fun, make friends, and learn some soccer skills that will help them should they decide to continue to the next level. Our goal is to build on the basic concepts like dribbling and kicking and make it fun enough so that players want to continue playing as their bodies and minds develop. Coaches will continue to incorporate important soccer concepts of the game while working on overall team chemistry and respect as well as personal skill development. Each team will have a coach and assistant/parent helper to conduct practices and games. Teams will play full field when playing games with age appropriate goals. Each team will have 6 players on the field plus a goalkeeper (7v7 which includes a goalie).
** POSTED SCHEDULES ARE TENTATIVE. ONCE COACHES HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED TEAMS A MORE DETAILED SCHEDULE WILL BE POSTED **