YMCA Youth Soccer League to Begin Saturday

The Silver Spring YMCA plans to kickoff its fall soccer league this Saturday. It will run until Oct. 16.

The co-ed league is broken up by age, and children as young as 4 and as old as 12 can sign up.  Age groups for teams are 4 to 5, 6 to 7, 8 to 9, and 10 to 12.

The age brackets are a guideline for creating teams,  but parents who feel their child's skill level is above the designated bracket may move their child up to the next division, provided an official YMCA waiver is signed.

Overall, the focus of the league is to build and improve skills, and to provide a safe environment for the kids simply to have fun. With steadily rising participation in the league in the last 20 years, these basic principles seem to have proved successful.

"Parents love it, and the kids come back each year," said Silver Spring YMCA athletic director Melvin Reed. "They participate in all sports, and it's always a pretty good turnout."

In addition to his duties as athletic director, Reed also serves as a coach in the soccer league.

"I supervise, coach, I do it all. I can't get away from that," he said.

While Reed is a YMCA employee, the majority of the soccer coaches are simply volunteers with previous soccer experience.

Practices for 6- to 12-year-olds will be held every Tuesday at the YMCA soccer field from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., while the 4- and 5-year-olds will practice on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Games will be held each Saturday at the YMCA soccer field from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.  

Registration can be completed at the front desk of the Silver Spring YMCA and costs $80 for members and $90 for non-members. For more information on the upcoming season, contact Reed at (301) 585-2120.

Keep up with local sports at www.twitter.com/patchsportsmd.