The Vikings Academy is a program for children ages 4 to 8 years old focused on soccer fundamentals and skill development. An academy is a concept that is based on professional soccer club systems from around the world. The emphasis is on developing players and FUN!
Academy coaches focus on improving the individual player’s technique. Building a strong foundation of skills and good habits will provide lasting benefits to each player’s development. The development environment within the academy will allow players to be creative, learn and enjoy playing the game. Players will develop the “feel” for the game through non-competitive games played within their group.
The academy is players train in small groups. Each group has players of similar development progress. Players who are new to soccer will be together to begin their journey; while experienced players will be grouped with other players of equal development progress. This will allow players to feel comfortable within the groups, each group to develop the same skills and increase the players' development rate.
There is no set timeline for players to move through the development stages. Players will be moved between groups at any time during the season or between seasons. Coaches and the academy director will be in communication with anyone switching groups. Groups within each development level will be split on age to ensure safety and athletic parody. For example, the new-to-soccer 4 and 5 year olds will be a group while the players 6+ new-to-soccer will be together.
The weekend sessions will be a mix of games and practices. The players who are early in their soccer development will train and scrimmage at the end of each session. The more advanced players will have weekend games on a larger field to better prepare them for our travel program.