The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Youth soccer alive and kicking
League draws 230 players for fall
When girls and boys take the field for Lorain Youth Soccer, there are at least two kinds of goals.
There are ones made of metal and strung with netting, set at both ends of the field.
The other goal is to have fun.
The Lorain Youth Soccer Association has about 230 players learning to run, dribble, kick, defend and sometimes score.
The skills are written into the league’s mission state- ment.
So are leadership, accountability and the teamwork needed to be a positive representative of soccer and Lorain.
“The program has grown considerably, especially in the last maybe four years,” said association President Doug Kidder.
He also coaches and fills in mowing grass, finding misplaced cleats, hauling mesh bags of soccer balls and scrimmaging with players as needed.
Coming to play
The association, operating with volunteers, has existed for years, ebbing and flowing in size.
In late summer and fall 2018, there were enough players for five super-little teams and nine teams, with players ages 7 to 14, competing in Lorain County league games.
The league’s home fields are in the sea of grass behind Lorain Horizon Science Academy, 760 Tower Blvd.
“It’s like a second fulltime job,” Kidder said. “I’m here seven days a week and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. These kids are almost like my own sometimes.”
Many of the children are from Lorain, but Lorain Youth Soccer is not exclusive to the city. Players come from Amherst, Sheffield Village or Sheffield Township and other surrounding communities.
“We don’t exclude anybody. We actually had a whole team come over from Amherst,” Kidder said. “If they’re within our guidelines for ages and they can come to practice, they can come play.”
There are spring and fall sessions, with occasional camps, clinics and winter team play at Lost Nation Sports Park West on Leavitt Road.
Getting started
The program starts with small players and grows with them.
The youngest players, ages 4 to 7, play “in-house,” against each other. League Junior Vice President Danielle Santos coordinates the program in addition to being a coach.
The children learn basic skills to get moving in soccer and have fun while doing it.
On one field, Santos had players even younger practice by standing with their backs to the field.
She threw their balls into the field, then signalled to the group to turn, run to their ball and dribble it to the goal. There were no defenders, just excited budding soccer players dodging each other.
An acre over, teams of 6and 7-year-olds clad in yellow and blue shirts moved the ball up and down the field in a make-up game. The youngest teams often play on Sundays, but on Oct. 4 there was a makeup game.
“This is fun just because they’re so darn cute,” Kidder said.
For the youngest players, coaches get on the field and referee the game.
Play stops when the ball rolls out of bounds or the players run out of their shoes — something not uncommon in matches.
“There’s always some kind of stoppage for shoes, tying shoes, shoes coming off,” Kidder said.
The league has a plastic bin loaded with spare cleats. They were donated by parents whose children outgrew the shoes, which still were in decent shape, Kidder said.
The tote holds spares for children who forget their shoes or if families need them.
Growing with the game
At about age 7, the players develop more foot skills and start learning team tactics. The league does not stress specific positions, but encourages all the players to learn about offense and defense.
The game grows with the players.
“So as the field gets bigger, so does the number of players and the length of the game,” Kidder said.
Most of the coaches have their own children or relatives in the league and most are former players.
“Just about everybody has played or grown up around it,” Kidder said. “Especially once you get up around the upper levels … we’ve all got a pretty good background in soccer from way back when.”
A Piqua native who moved to Lorain in 1988, Kidder started playing soccer at age 5 and played Lorain soccer since his family came to the city. He played in his junior high school years and then for Southview High School, where he graduated in 1999.
“I grew up in this,” Kidder said. “I played Lorain soccer ever since we moved here.”
Practice on the field
The coaches are Ohio Youth Soccer North certified. During the county league games, they guide their players from the sidelines.
But practice is another story.
Kidder said he and his fellow coaches will get in the mix with players during skill drills and scrimmages.
On Oct. 3, Kidder, Santos and two other coaches take the field with about 17 of the players, ages 7, 8 and 9.
It’s serious play and there’s much to learn.
Don’t just kick to kick the ball.
Instead of bunching up around the ball, spread out and pass.
Goalies must learn where they can move in the box depending on where the players are.
At 7 p.m., it’s time for water and a lap around the back field to finish the night.
“Pretty much everybody coaches right on the field so that they’re in it,” Kidder said. “We can direct traffic and actually work the drill with the kids to show them specifically how you want it run.”
It’s a formula that seems to be working.
This fall, Lorain Youth Soccer’s teams for ages 7 and older scored invitations to the Lorain County tournament scheduled Oct. 20 in Oberlin.