For St Paul's it's elementary!

If the standard of soccer players in southern Indiana is to improve, then more must get involved in the game at an earlier age.

One welcome addition to the area in recent years has been the New Albany Deanery Leagues for 3rd to 8th graders. Founded in 2006, it saw over 300 children form nine schools participate this spring.

Another worthwhile program which caters for students at an even younger age is the one at Our Lady of Lourdes in Louisville, which sees students from a number of schools grades 1 through 8 play each fall and spring.

The lone school involved from this side of the river is St Paul's of Sellersburg, which joined the league three years ago. St Paul's athletic director, Harold Davis, had been no stranger to the program, as his eldest daughter played in the same league 18 years ago.

According to Davis, over 100 children at the school -- K through 6 -- participated in soccer this year, which is approximately one third of the student population. Five teams play at Our Lady of Lourdes (K through 2), and four in the aforementioned New Albany Deanery Leagues in the spring (3rd-6th grades).

The program at Our Lady of Lourdes is committed to teaching the basics of soccer, with an emphasis on good sportsmanship, while developing children's confidence and self-esteem.


Logan Barber of St Paul's (center) takes on the St Francis of Assisi defense during a game at the Our Lady of Lourdes soccer league in Louisville this fall.

One of the coaches, Paul Barber -- whose daughters Grace and Logan are in kindergarten and second grade respectively at St Paul's -- said the league delivers on that in every way, and everyone at the school is appreciative to be a part of it.

"For me, the reward is seeing the transformation of the kids," he says. "Every year at our first practice I see two or three kids clinging to a parent's leg, fearful to participate. With each practice and kick, you can see the apprehension being chipped away. Also, because the fall soccer program begins at the same time as the first days of school, I think it helps ease the transition into a new setting, especially for the kindergartners. It is no surprise that the friends closest to my daughters at school are the ones they play soccer with."

Although St Paul's doesn't stress winning games, the school believes it does good job of coaching the game of soccer and competing.

"A lot of the skills we teach are similar to the ones kids are learning at soccer clubs such as Southern Indiana United, Net-Surfers, and Mockingbird Valley," said Barber. "The drills are fun and designed to develop skills with lots of ball touches, sparring, and scrimmaging. We encourage kids to have fun, play their hardest, and do the best they can. I feel like the word is out that soccer at St Paul's is fun, and kids as well as parents want to get involved."

For the soccer program to succeed at St Paul's, however, a high level of involvement from volunteers is crucial.

"Harold (Davis) and his wife Jan have done a great job running the athletic department, and their job is made easier by the number of people that give their time," says Barber. " There is no way St Paul's could provide this privilege without the help from many parents and volunteers. Also, St Paul's is fortunate to have the level of support from the community."

Barber said he hopes to see other schools from southern Indiana introduce soccer programs – especially public schools – to the point where a fun league could be developed for children K through 2.

"It would benefit southern Indiana and the soccer base here, that's for sure," he said.


Logan Barber of St Paul's takes on the St Francis of Assisi defense during a game at the Our Lady of Lourdes soccer league in Louisville this fall.


ENDS

For more soccer stories, check out Aidan Kelly's blog at www.socccerindiana.blogspot.com

Don’t kill the atmosphere!

In 2006,after my first year of covering high school soccer in southern Indiana, I noted some of my observations at the end of the season.

As I was doing some autumn cleaning at the weekend (my wife hates that I hoard newspapers), my observations flew off one of the cupboard shelves and clunked me in the head, knocking me off the chair and knocking a few whiskers off one of the cats.

It was interesting to look back on my first impressions and compare them to how I feel two years on, now that the 2008 season is in the books for the area's teams.

I'm glad the column revisited me because it reminded of something that has irked me greatly a couple of times in recent weeks.

The first issue I mentioned two years ago involved atmosphere at rival games. While obviously not in the same ballpark as that of basketball or football, it was nonetheless entertaining on first witness.

Most of it was good humored: Male cheerleaders and that kind of stuff. Maybe the seniors back then were more fun, or maybe gamegoers’ attempts to add a bit of noise and fun to proceedings is being halted in its tracks.

I can’t help but feel match night atmospheres all over the state are slowly being suffocated in the name of “sportsmanship” and nobody seems to be challenging the authorities to bring it back to life.

Prohibited at post-season games are noisemakers, sirens, cheerleaders, bands, balloons, banners, posters and tailgating. It's a wonder the two participating teams and the coaching staff aren't banned from games also, considering they are not adverse to having their say in the heat of the moment.

I didn't see anything in the rules about singing or being "too loud." Yet certain sections of the crowd at largely attended games were being told to pipe it down. So some matchups that started with a good atmosphere (it was encouraging to see the large crowd at the New Albany-Providence girls’ sectional game at Jeffersonville) went eerily quiet considering the numbers.

I didn't hear anything that sounded too offensive, but then again, in my younger days in Ireland, I was well used to being heckled by “supporters” and having eggs thrown in my direction from the sidelines by mischievous kids (I’m not making that last bit up.)

If there are troublemakers, throw them out. Nobody condones unsportsmanlike behavior. Otherwise, leave the fans be and allow them add color and noise to an occasion if they so wish.

I’m sure the authorities have their good intentioned reasons for banning what they ban, be it to prevent altercations or to comply with noise ordinances. (Remind me to tell you the story someday of the couple in Philadelphia who sued a middle school this year because its soccer games and practices were too loud). But there’s got to be a happy medium surely.

By the way, I would love to hear the views of those who have been involved in the area’s high school sports scene – not just in soccer – for many more years than this “blow in” has been around. Do you sense the death of the “atmosphere” is nigh?