TOPSoccer Continues To Impact Special Needs Children Across Indiana
Indiana Soccer Association is excited to announce that the TOPSoccer program is impacting lives. To date, Indiana Soccer has 14 clubs that have active TOPSoccer programs. Some programs occur in spring, others in the fall, and several have summer and winter programs.
ISA wants to acknowledge and congratulate the following clubs for their efforts to deliver the incredible soccer program: Bloomington Cutters, VCYS Terre Haute, Indy Premier, Butler/Dynamo Indianapolis, Zionsville Youth Soccer, Columbus Express Soccer, Fort Wayne Sports Club, Michiana Echo Soccer Club, South Central Soccer Academy, Jr. Irish, St Francis Soccer Club, Indiana Fire Academy South Evansville, Greenfield Area Soccer Club, & Southern Indiana United (SIU Clarksville, IN).
TOPSoccer is a community-based training and team placement program for athletes with disabilities, organized by youth soccer association volunteers. The program is designed to bring the opportunity of learning and playing soccer to any players, ages 8 and older who have mental or physical disability.
Our goal is to enable the thousands of young athletes with disabilities to become valued and successful members of the Indiana Soccer and US Youth Soccer families. Most of the coaches, buddies and administrators volunteer for these programs and many of the programs are free. ISA covers the player fees for these athletes as long as they are registered through GotSport’s Indiana TOPSoccer programming.
Joy Carter Indiana Soccer TOPSoccer Staff Liaison: “TOPSoccer has been one of the most rewarding and impactful experiences of my lifetime. I will never forget walking away from the first TOPSoccer game I attended crying with so much happiness at what an impact TOPSoccer had on the athletes participating. Another memory I recall is walking off of a field after a game and a friend coming up to me. He said, “Joy, what were you doing over there?” I replied, ‘oh that was a TOPSoccer game’. I explained the program to him and he declared, “I have never seen you with a bigger smile on your face.”
That is what TOPSoccer is...a program that brings tears, joy and smiles to everyone around it.
Each month Indiana TOPSoccer will feature one or two of our programs. This month, we will feature a club that is relaunching their program...Greenfield Area Soccer. With the diligent help of two ladies, Katie Lester and Becki Prigg, this program has already started taking off. Lester commented about the program, “TOPSoccer has created a pathway for soccer inclusivity in Hancock County. For several years, parents have approached GASC staff about a program for their disabled child. We were able to work together as a club to relaunch TOPSoccer, and our first season back has been incredible. We have 16 athletes participating this season. Not only does TOPSoccer allow more athletes to be involved, we have had over 25 volunteers helping in a variety of ways. TOPSoccer provides for opportunity, and it has been a joy to watch our athletes play each week.”
If you club has interest in starting a TOPSoccer program, contact Joy Carter (joy@soccerindiana.org)
Find out more about our TOPSoccer programs: https://www.soccerindiana.org/topsoccer-clubs/