SKY Soccer’s Pre-Academy Program grows local youth’s love for the game

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Every Monday and Tuesday night this summer, SKY Soccer has been providing its Pre-Academy Program, growing the skills of young athletes in the area, and this week News 40 Sports was able to stop by and see how things were going.

This specific camp gives kids ages 2-6 the chance to learn the fundamentals of the game in a fun and engaging way.

Sky Soccer holds the largest program in the state for this age group, reeling in roughly 500-600 kids during the season and having over 100 in attendance during the summer.

The young boys and girls spent this week building up their ability to dribble, use the sides of their feet and do other tricks while controlling the ball.

For one camper, her favorite part of hitting the pitch is to, well, go fast.

“ My favorite part of the camp is going fast,” said camper Ava Bell. “The reason why I learned is because they help me go fast and help me learn stuff.”

Besides going fast, SKY Soccer aims to teach these kids in a very personable way by using catchy games, something more than just your normal practice drills.

For those working the camp, learning each kid’s name is important because building those relationships leads to further engagement and experience in the program.

Many of the camp coaches were once the young athletes taking part in this very camp and seeing the circle of how the program grows each person from one age to the next is just a further display of SKY Soccer’s overarching goal.

“ Getting them moving and keeping them moving with different games like ‘Hungry, Hungry Hippo’ and different things like that, they get really excited about it,” said SKY Soccer and Mighty Kicks staff coach Ali Stevens. “It helps them learn even faster.”

“Our mission is to develop great soccer players, but also great people. One of the foundational things for us is making sure that we’re developing not just soccer skills, but life skills within our kids. Not all of our kids are going to be professional soccer players, but all of them are going to be people in our community,” said SKY Soccer director of coaching Zach Salchli. “We want to make sure that we’ve provided a positive experience that they can take out into the world and in whatever they do.”