Moose Mountain Soccer has recently completed a very successful spring soccer season! This year we offered a seven week soccer program to youth ages 3 - 8 years of age and had 83 kids participate!! Of the 82 children, 34 were registered in the Under 4 category which is a Parent & Tot group, 38 kids were registered in the Under 6 age group and 10 were registered in the Under 8 age group.
Soccer contributes to the well-being of children by engaging them in the sport while teaching them basic movement skills. Our role as parents in the early years (U4-U8) is to allow the children to develop a love for the game. They will only do this if they are allowed to express themselves, to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. To try all the skills of soccer, and to grow within the game without pressure. If our young players only run up and down the field for 45 minutesmake some good kicks and some not so good ones, but they enjoy the whole experience. They are doing a great job and our children are keeping fit and healthy! We at Moose Mountain Soccer encourage them to have fun and to simply try their best!
We had six individuals volunteer to coach (Danielle Benjamin, Shawna Cudmore, Sherri Haddow, Britainey Laiss, Natalie Miller and Mike Waelchli) and truly appreciate all the time and effort they put into planning our sessions and attending the training clinics. The coaches definitely made the season fun for the children!
Practices and games were held at the Carlyle soccer field located prior to the entrance of the Lion's Park. The children were engaged in soccer "play" while developing the ABCs of movement: agility, balance, co-ordination and speed as well as running, jumping, twisting, kicking, throwing and catching. The Under 4 Parent & Tot group completed their sessions with the comfort of a parent and/or guardian present to encourage player success- the objective is to get moving and keep active.
This season our Under 8 team had the opportunity to engage in some games with the Wawota Soccer club. Unfortunately the many thunderstorms that we have had this spring eliminated the chance of the team participating in a soccer tournament in Whitewood.
As with any outdoor sport we did have a few occasions where weather conditions were not optimal but we had a dedicated group of children AND parents that braved the various weather conditions and came out to play.
We held a year-end wind up party for the players on Saturday, June 16, 2012. Due to the erratic wind and rain storms we have been having we opted to hold it at the Lion's Park Pavilion. During the morning all the kids had the opportunity to display some of the soccer skills they have learned this season while scrimmaging. The Under 6 teams had the chance to scrimmage against their parents; a good time was had by all! After the scrimmages the children gathered on stage to receive their participation medals - and what a great sight it was to see all the children proudly wearing their medals!
We are very proud of each and every child that participated in our program and thank the children and parents both for coming out this season; we look forward to seeing you all next year for another great soccer season!
If you would like more information on our soccer program and/or interested in being involved in the board or coaching staff please contact Natalie Miller at (306) 453-2680, via email carlyle.soccer@gmail.com or find us on Facebook under Moose Mountain Soccer!
