New soccer practice up and running

A new approach to the Strathmore Minor Soccer Federation (SMSF) has players and parents buzzing with excitement around town for a new season.
This new training method has trickled down from Canada Soccer and Soccer Alberta, and works with getting kids more involved than your run-of-the-mill house league soccer practice.
“These new practices are all designed around getting the kids touching the ball more often,” said SMSF president Mark Shorhen. “It used to be one parent or coach would run a practice for 15 kids and had them practising different skills. We have changed it up and have a number of junior coaches working with our grassroots coordinator to work on those same skills but with different stations in a more fun way of learning.”
The new training practices began May 7 and runs every Monday night. Starting at the U4 level at 5:30 p.m., the clinics also open their doors to the U10 and U12 levels later in the evening, as the players compete in drills and rotate through a series of drills that keeps them active and engaged while they are on the pitch.
“We have had a great response from the practices after just one week,” said Shorhen. “We have over 200 kids running around for a couple hours, developing their skills and having fun at the same time. It’s really quite a sight to see.”
The practices are held at the Ranch Market Fields behind the Walmart and will run for the duration of the soccer season. While Shorhen says they are near capacity, there is still room for a few more kids to register and learn soccer skills in a new format.
The skills developed each Monday night will hopefully produce plenty of great soccer talent in the years to follow and one day can run the competitive local teams.
This year, there are three teams that compete in Calgary leagues. There is a U11 and U13 mixed team, along with a U19 program that commutes to Calgary to face stiffer competition.
Locally, even with the growth of the Munchkins program, the SMSF numbers are basically right on par with their numbers from last year. This year, they are down one member and sit at 234 registrations.
“We were worried that our numbers were going to be down because of a long winter and the start of the Munchkins free program, but we managed to hold our own and that was a great surprise to start the year with,” said Laurie Stephens, the administrator for SMSF.
As always, a great local option for families that don’t want to commute to the city for games is the District League, where players play in town or in Chestermere. The District League is home to a pair of U10 teams, a U12, along with a U4, U6 and U8 team in the grassroots program.
The District teams will be competing for just over a month, culminating in the league-wide wrap-up tournament June 23 at the Ranch Market Fields. There will also be a mini tournament for the U6 and U8 programs May 26.