The SYC Youth Developmental Program (U5-U12) is expanding its training curriculum, consistent with US Soccer guidelines for youth player development. Mark Heilbrun (macheil@att.net), Director of Training and Youth Technical Director, has been working with US Soccer and the Virginia Youth Soccer Association (VYSA) in developing training curricula to move our program forward on the technical level. Mark is also focusing on an advanced program both for junior and senior goalkeepers within our Club.
Three important pieces of the SYC developmental program are (1) Mini-kickers for our very young players, many of whom have not played organized soccer before this year; (2) Monday Night Training (MNT) for players ages U6 - U12, who are either preparing for travel soccer or who may have chosen to remain in House soccer after U9; and (3) our "street soccer initiative."
Please note that to attend any of these training events, the participants must already be registered with SYC House or Travel soccer in order to participate. An SYC email blast will be sent to registered SYC families of the appropriate age group(s) with the registration link.
The "entry level" for our SYC soccer program is organized House soccer. To accompany our House soccer program for players at this young age, we offer our Mini-kickers program on Monday afternoons (4:00pm-5:00pm @ Hooes Road) where players receive professional instruction with Tamir Linhart’s GOLDENBOOT trainers. All Mini-kickers receive an SYC t-shirt and new size 3 soccer ball. Mini-kickers is a program that SYC supplements in its entirety for our very young players. As part of the program, players will learn skills based on different themes introduced every week. Children will develop a basic understanding of each element of the game of soccer through games and activities. The 6 week program is designed around the concept of learning through fun games and play. (dribbling, passing, shooting, receiving the ball, 1v1 moves, footwork and team work).
The “Monday Night Training” aspect of training curriculum is meant to provide continuing skills training for House players following their first year in organized soccer. Professional trainers have tailored their instruction to each age level within the U6-U12 range, and the trainers follow well-established US Soccer-approved technical training methods. An emphasis is placed during Monday Night Training upon individual development and a greater comfort level with the overall game of soccer. There will be a $30 charge for 6 sessions of Monday Night Training, and this will be offered on six consecutive Monday evenings (excluding Columbus Day) from 5:00pm-6:00pm at Hooes Road Park. Registration is limited to 100 participants in order to appropriately structure trainer to player ratio.
SYC will offer its developmental "Street Soccer Initiative" this Fall for the U9 age group. The street soccer program, which focuses on individual technical skills and decision-making with minimal coach intervention, will be offered on six (6) consecutive Monday evenings (excluding Columbus Day) from 6:00pm-7:00pm pm at Hooes Road Park. The program, which is conducted by professional trainers expert in youth development, will cost each participant $30. Space in this program is very limited so please encourage interested participant to respond promptly (no later than 13 September) to secure a space.
Finally, we will offer a course of instruction in Goalkeeping technical skills on four Saturday afternoons (Sept. 18th, Sept. 25th, Oct. 2nd and Oct. 16th) from 4:30pm – 6:30pm. at Greensprings (Elseth) Field. Two of these sessions (Sept. 18th and Oct. 2nd) will be exclusively for House Goalkeepers U8 and above, while Sept. 25th and Oct.16th are for Travel Soccer. There will be a tiered charge assessed to each participant for these sessions (Single session ($15), both sessions ($25)).
If there are any questions, please feel free to contact Mark Heilbrun, Director of Training [
macheil@att.net].
