ATHOL — The Athol Daily News recently sat down with the Athol area YMCA’s Associate Executive Director Matt Talbot and Sports Director Zachary Skinner to discuss the upcoming happenings at the local YMCA. The Athol Area YMCA is planning several new things, such as a travel soccer team, while also introducing Skinner, who recently joined the Y. The following are all the new happenings at the Athol area YMCA.
Introducing team North Quabbin United.
The Athol Area YMCA announced the formation of the North Quabbin United, a travel soccer team for local soccer players. The program will offer two teams for boys in grades 3 and 4, one team for girls in grades 3 and 4, two teams for boys in grades 5 and 6, one team for girls in grade 5 and 6, one team for seventh- and eighth-grade boys and one team for seventh- and eighth-grade girls. Tryouts will be held July 30 through Aug. 2.
“They’re going to have competitive matches no matter what,” said Talbot. “The goal of this is to have as many people participating as possible and giving them a competitive balance.”
Teams will play four home games and four away games. Home games will be hosted at Athol High School. Away games will take place anywhere along Route 2, which includes Gardner, Leominster, Fitchburg, Tyngsborough and Hudson as a few possible locations.
Participation will cost $85, with a total of $129 when factoring in the cost of one uniform.
The Athol area YMCA has named Matt L’Ecuyer and Steve Ringer as the coaches of the boys 3-4 teams, Backy Lanoue and Madison Truehart of the girls 3-4 team, Kurtis Graeff of the boys 5-6 team and Dennis Parse of the girls 7-8. Boys 7-8 and girls 5-6 still do not have a coach named.
All coaches are certified through the United States Soccer Federation, the official governing body of soccer in the country.
The Athol Area YMCA announced Zachary Skinner as the new sports director.
The Athol area YMCA officially announced Zachary Skinner as the new sports director, a position in which he has now been in for three months.
This is a salaried position working with the youth sports and soccer programs.
In addition to directing the sports programs, Skinner will run a coaching clinic for the recreational soccer program. This is to ensure coaches understand how to elevate play at of participants at each level while instilling confidence those players to be able to grow in the program while still having a fun time.
Skinner graduated from Franklin Pierce University in 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management. He has worked at the YMCA of Winchendon in the past.
Skinner still holds a full-time position as a Computer Analyst outside of his role with the Athol area YMCA.
Athol Area YMCA recreational soccer makes changes to formatting.
The format of the Athol YMCA recreational soccer program is changing this season. Previously, participants were assigned to a team and competed each week on that team. Now, the Athol Area YMCA will set up two to three fields and will have directors break participants up weekly, allowing for teams to change every week.
“Instead of having Athol Savings Bank versus Athol Credit Union, those teams will naturally rotate through,” said Talbot. “We separate based on who is there and pinny up instead of having a set team against another set team and having that team never winning a game that season.”
The reasoning behind this, according to Talbot, is to have the program fall more in line with the American soccer way of thinking as well as an attempt to prevent past problems of not having enough participants show up from one team and, thus, needing directors to find players from other teams so those that showed up still get to play.
The soccer program will host a jamboree on Sept. 8 for all participants. This will allow directors to get a sense of each player’s skill level and will allow them to better pick teams during the season.
Tryouts will take place on July 30 and Aug. 1 for boys in grades 5 through 8 and girls in grades 2 through 4. Tryouts will take place on July 31 and Aug. 2 for girls in grades 5 through 8 and boys in grades 2 through 4.
Practice schedules changing, too
Practice schedules will change for the recreational soccer program this season. In the past, teams were given a specific practice day and time. Although the exact format is still not confirmed, but practices will now consist of children per grade rather than per team. Multiple coaches will attend each session.
“For example, we could have fifth (grade) through eighth practice on Mondays and Wednesdays at 5 to 6 p.m.,” said Skinner about possible practice plans. “All you have to do is make one practice a week and it works out really good for parents too because some parents can’t make it one day but can make others, so I think they will really enjoy that too.”
Group practices will focus on skills and upgrading abilities.
Coaches will still receive a team to coach on Saturday games.
“This will be beneficial because you won’t have the individualized coaching thinking of ‘my team is in it to win it,’” said Skinner.
Athol area YMCA looking for soccer referees
The Athol area YMCA is looking for soccer referees ages 12 and up. Candidates will have the opportunity to referee Nashoba Valley soccer games, the league in which the Athol Youth Soccer Club participates in.
Referees will need certification and can receive it through the YMCA’s “grassroots program.” In this program, referees will be placed onto a field and shown how to ref a game, which also gives them the chance to see if they like reffing. Referees make $25 per game while assistant referees make $10 per game.