Our Vikings Academy for 4-year-olds to 2nd graders is a program we evaluate yearly to ensure we are meeting the needs of our younger players and ensuring we are preparing players for travel soccer.  As our younger teams are playing at higher division levels, we need to replicate some of what we are doing and the U9/10 levels back into the academy levels.  Starting in the 2025 fall season, we will be adjusting the academy program.  We will be doing three new things and keeping a lot of the program intact, as it is working to help us develop players. Our changes will be adding goals and goalkeepers to the pre-travel games, changing to grade-based groups to prepare for the 2026 changes for youth soccer, and refining the practice plans to fill some gaps we see in younger players in our travel program. Our travel year runs from Fall to Spring. We think our academy is a calendar year because we use our winter Futsal program to transition players to travel in a controlled environment. We are structuring our curriculum according to the yearly calendar. 

While we are making changes, the foundation of the program will stay the same.  We continue to have two levels within the program.  Pre-travel for players who will be making the jump to travel in the next 18 months. Pre-travel will have one practice a week and one game.  Early in the season, we will have 3-5 practice days before games start to allow us to split into even teams and allow players to acclimate to the new demands.   The remaining players will be in the academy, focusing on training and skill development.  The academy players will practice twice a week and scrimmage at the end of each practice to get some game play in each session.  The focus of these players will be on individual skill development, dribbling, ball striking technique, game play basics, and fundamentals of attacking and defending. 

 The academy group will be grades pre-k to first grade.  Each grade level will be split into two groups, orange and black.  Orange groups are all players who are new to soccer or have limited soccer experience outside our academy program. Black groups are the players with soccer experience mainly within or academy program.  All groups will have training plans that fit their skill level, with drills that are fun with fundamentals focus. The training plans are built throughout the season to ensure skills are built and developed, then used in a small-sided situation.  At the end of each session, groups will play a scrimmage with small goals with no goalkeepers as they learn the game.  All out-of-bounds will be kick-ins to not confuse players with the no-hands rule.

Our pre-travel group will see the biggest change with bigger goals and the addition of a goalkeeper for the games.  This change was focused on the complete preparation for players in their journey to travel soccer.  Using our Futsal program to help players transition to this change will help ease our academy players into that program.  We will try to play 5 v 5 in games, it will depend on season to season, by player sign-ups and parent volunteers.  Weekly training will be an evolution throughout the season from individual development to working in small groups.  We want to see spacing, passing, and basic teamwork understanding towards the end of each season.  

How are we different than other recreational programs?  We have a plan from 4 to 15 to help players grow.  While we need parent coaches to keep costs down and meet the volume of players we want to serve but we provide our parent coaches with a plan to execute and have people to help them develop players.  We truly mean and care about building fundamentals in all players.  We know everyone loves games, wins, and being competitive.  You cannot be competitive at higher levels without strong fundamentals and consistency.  Our commitment to development starts by eliminating games for our youngest players and preparing older academy players for competition with small-sided, lots of touches, games that force fundamentals over natural athleticism.  Our track record is proven in the competition level our U10 and under teams are playing, they are the first group to go through our academy starting at 4. We are continuing to improve and help more players be successful and enjoy their soccer journey.  We hope you join us!