WESTFIELD – In order to develop a strong soccer program for Westfield’s youth along with leaders for our community, a program has been developed in which the very youngest and the oldest of our youth work together through Westfield United Soccer Club and Westfield High School for their mutual development.
It all started several years ago when Westfield United Soccer Club, embarked on a journey to strengthen the entire youth soccer program in Westfield, realizing that this would be a long-term project in which it would have to start with the very youngest players.
Under direction of Westfield High School girls’ soccer coach Keith Saltmarsh, also a board member of WUSC, the town is now in its fourth year of a highly successful mini-camp program which gives boys and girls from ages 5-8 the opportunity to learn the basic skills of the game in a fun environment.
Friday nights are designed to work on ball skills and drills, while Saturday morning games give the kids their first chances to play in a low-key game in which they can learn to apply the skills taught on Friday evening. The entire program is set up to teach the children to love the game of soccer.
Westfield is one of the only towns in this area to host such a program which typically takes on about 125 children per session. The success of the program relies on having enough qualified staff to provide a good coach-participant ratio.
Perhaps most interesting in this whole concept is that the program reaches across the ages to utilize Westfield’s high school soccer players to coach the younger kids. It is a win-win situation. In coaching the younger children, the student coaches actually become better players themselves while becoming a part of the future success of Westfield soccer. Additionally, it is an opportunity for them to perform community service by helping to develop the community’s youth. Each student coach receives a letter from WUSC for their college application.
While each of the student coaches are already skilled soccer players, prior to working with the mini camp participants, they are required to take the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Level II Coaching Course designed to help coaches implement developmentally appropriate training games to improve skill levels in a fun and safe environment for players 5-to-10 years-old.
In short, they learn how to teach young kids and how to have fun with them.
A coaching course, sponsored by WUSC and WHS athletics, was recently held at the high school. Gary Cook, NSCAA CT State Director, member of the National development staff, and boys’ coach at Wilbraham & Monson Academy was the lead instructor.
Utilizing young volunteers from WUSC U9 girls and boys teams, Cook demonstrated coaching techniques, communication, and fun with the players. Most of these U9 teams who volunteered to help the student-coaches learn coaching techniques, actually started their young soccer careers a couple years earlier as mini camp attendees. In all, there were 26 coaching participants, 13 eighth graders (10 girls, 3 boys) and 13 high school age participants (all boys).
The program has been designed to put the youngest and oldest youth together so that each can learn from the other.
Now more than ever, people are short on time. It is the time of adult and student-volunteer coaches that make programs like WUSC so successful.
