House League Weekly Division Feature
Week of June 15th, 2009

 This week’s highlighted division is U7, in which there are 4 sections – 3 of them being boys – of active children, all of whom are looking to come out of this season with something more than winning. Some say that you should start your kids young and to build a competitive spirit, and they might be right because some of these kids aren’t messing around!

 On Monday, June 15, 2009 at 6:30pm, the U7 Boys Div. A took to the fields at Bradstock Park where Forest was playing Sky Blue and White was playing Royal. The boys were tenacious and intense, clearly looking to be developing a better concept of the game of soccer and realizing just how great it feels when you win and score goals! When asked what was so great about having kids this age involved in soccer, father of his son Eric playing for the Forest Green team said “His older brother is in soccer too, playing rep and he’s learnt discipline. Eric is picking up on it too…"

“He plays year round and likes it… it helps it’s a lower cost too. It gives him a good foundation,” he continued “Especially with team sports and working together. Both kids do well and take pride in scoring, and are doing things I couldn’t do at that age, so that is very encouraging.”


Now flipping over to the girl’s side of the U7 age group on the same Monday evening at Palmer Park, where Navy was playing White and Red was playing Purple – although a sense of competitive drive was present, it didn’t seem to be as obvious as with the boys. Still, the 7 year old girls’ sense of the concepts involved with the game of soccer was clearly foundationally present in a developmental sense. Most of them were running in the right direction and there were just minor things that they had to be reminded of, like being outside the box on a goal kick or how to throw in the ball once it went out of bounds.

 Anna, mother of 7 year-old Alyssa said “It [soccer] helps keep her physically active while giving her confidence in achieving goals as part of a team. It’s great because she’s participating with her friends while being involved in her community.” Although not quite ready to compete at the Confederations Cup recently being playing in South Africa, it seems that Richmond Hill may be housing the world’s next Ronaldinho or Marta!