TOPSoccer

Click Here to visit US Youth Soccer's Official TOPSoccer Web Page...

Brett Thompson, National Staff Coach, and Missouri All-Stars at the 2007 US Youth Soccer Workshop TOPSoccer demo in St. Louis. TOPSoccer a Hit in Cincy! CLICK HERE to see a news story run by WXIX - Channel 19 in Cincinnati, Ohio about Cincinnati TOPSoccer getting kids into the game. TOPSoccer Program in Kentucky on Fox Soccer Channel! CLICK HERE to see a clip from the US Youth Soccer Show that was recently shown on the Fox Soccer Channel about a great TOPSoccer program in Elizabethtown, Kentucky!  For more information, please contact Bryan Brooks, Director of Marketing and Communications for Kentucky Youth Soccer at bryanbrooks@kysoccer.net.

About TOPSoccer...

PURPOSE
The TOPSoccer program was created to train young people with disabilities in a caring coaching environment to play soccer; to serve as a feeder program to recruit, assess and train players to participate in competitions offered by existing sports organizations for people with disabilities; and to mainstream higher ability players onto regular youth soccer teams.

PHILOSOPHY
By providing a community-based training and team placement program for young people with disabilities, organized by a youth soccer club, any boy or girl, age 8 to 18 who has a mental or physical disability will have the opportunity to learn and play soccer and become valued and successful members of the U S YOUTH SOCCER family.

DESCRIPTION
TOPSoccer was designed not as a competitor to the programs run by other sports organizations for people with disabilities, but rather as a complementary program that works hand in hand with organizations like Special Olympics to expand the overall training and competition opportunities for young people with disabilities. 

The TOPSoccer program often works as a feeder program: recruiting, assessing, and training new soccer players who would benefit from opportunities sponsored by these sports organizations. Many of the sports opportunities currently offered to young people with disabilities are school based. However, many parents of these young people would like their child to participate in the same community sports program as their non-disabled brothers and sisters - to wear the same club uniform, play at the same fields, go to the same awards banquets, and if appropriate, play on a non-disabled team. TOPSoccer can fill this need. 

The TOPSoccer program has also helped introduce the Unified Soccer Camp in many areas, a concept developed by Special Olympics. The Unified Soccer Camp brings together disabled and non-disabled soccer players in a positive and fun environment, hopefully breaking down social barriers through a common love of the game.

A basic TOPSoccer program consists of two vital components. The first is a field site where soccer players with disabilities can receive high-quality training to help develop their soccer skills. Training sessions could include activities such as scrimmages, small-sided games (3 v 3, 4 v 4) and tournaments.

The second component of the TOPSoccer program is an ongoing player assessment process that places participants in the most appropriate playing situation, including placement on non-disabled, intramural and club teams, or involvement in programs established by other sports associations for people with disabilities (i.e., Special Olympics).

FINANCIAL GRANTS
Through a generous grant from the Soccer Industry Council of America (SICA) and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) U S YOUTH SOCCER is able to provide mini-grants to new and existing TOPSoccer programs, through their State Association. Grant applications are reviewed and a limited number awarded based on the applicant's outline, goals, objectives and ability to meet the guidelines and criteria set forth by US YOUTH SOCCER.

For Information on TOPSoccer Activities or Programs in your State, CLICK HERE for the Region II State TOPSoccer Chairperson directory.  

If your State TOPSoccer Chairperson is not listed on the directory, please contact the Region II TOPSoccer Chairperson, Bob Riggs, at rriggs@kansasyouthsoccer.org.