Springfield Area Soccer Association

- SASA wants to Thank all the Trainers, Parents and especially the Kids for making these first 4 weeks go by smooth.May 9th will be our next day of Soccer.

- Fields A (North of Concession Stand), Field B (South of concession Stand) and Field C behind field 14 are marked with paint as A, B, C 
-Field 14,15,16 are marked by Numbers on the nets of the goals

-YA week #6 will be on Wednesday May 9th

- All YA participants are invited to play 3 v 3 in our summer league. Deadline June1st to register. See the tab to your right for all info. Flyer has been attached for your convenience on the top of this page.

Any questions please contact Russ Bogdanovich at rbogdanovich@ddhomes.net  217-553-0051 or Chris Owsley at socceroz3@comcast.net 217-553-9514

U5-U8 SASA Youth Academy

Who this is for?? Our SASA Spirits Youth Academy is for boys and girls who love soccer and wish to learn more about the game and improve their ball skills. SASA provides a safe, fun environment for the players to practice and play under the guidance of the finest coaches and teachers of the game in Central Illinois.

How it’s designed?? The SASA Spirits Youth Academy uses ‘player pools’ instead of the old and antiquated team system. The ‘player pool’ method has been an outstanding success in developing creative, skillful players who have an enhanced love of the game and their club instead of just playing for a team.
The SASA Spirits Youth Academy focuses on the development of EVERY player, instead of teams at these young ages as recommended by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) in their ‘Player Development Guidelines’. This focus is also strongly recommended in the coaching license courses run by the USSF and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

Why you should join?? The main reasoning behind the development of individual players is that in the past there has been so much focus on creating winning teams, that the players’ technical skills have never developed enough to be able to carry out the tactics needed to play at the next level. After all, there are NO tactics without technique.
It is the individual ball skills, creativity and love of the game that will create exciting soccer players who can play on successful teams and this is why the SASA Youth Academy works better in helping players reach the next level of play.
Each age group will practice in gender/age specific groups if the numbers allow it, where we encourage all our players to play without any fear of making mistakes and to express themselves positively on the soccer field. Our coaches challenge all of the players to get better and improve and teach sportsmanship and good values to the players in the process.
 
SASA…Our coaching philosophy is to guide the players to the answers of the many challenges that the sport provides so that they have a better understanding of soccer, instead of throwing all the answers at them and expecting them to remember them.

Who will oversee the academy? Russ Bogdanovich- former Springfield College in Illinois and Illinois College Men's Soccer Coach will oversee all aspects of the SASA Youth Academy along with all our coaching staff which includes former semi-professional and collegiate players and qualified teachers.  ALL our parent coaches specialize in working with and developing young players.

When and where: we will begin the SASA Youth Academy on April and it will be every Wednesday night starting at 6:00pm. Each Pool of players will train for 45 minutes and then they will play a game for 45 minutes. All Academy training and Games will take place at SASA Soccer Complex.

Here is the age group info for the U5/U6/U7/U8 boys and girls:
U5 boy or girl:   Must be born on 8/1/06 or later
U6 boy or girl:   Must be born on 8/1/05 or later
U7 boy or girl:   Must be born on 8/1/04 or later
U8 boy or girl:   Must be born on 8/1/03 or later
 
If you are interested in your child participating in any of our U5-U8 programs please fill out the forms and send them in, or have any questions, please feel free to contact the Youth Academy Director- Russ Bogdanovich, either by email rbogdanovich@ddhomes.net or call 217.553.0051