Two of FYSA’s TOPSoccer Programs have been recognized by US Youth Soccer and awarded grants for the 2008 year. Gainesville Soccer Alliance Top Kickers program and Oldsmar Soccer Club TOPSoccer were chosen from Florida.
Gainesville Soccer Alliance Top Kickers program serves families in the Alachua County area with a program every Sunday morning. They aim to integrate able-bodied and disabled kids with a core group of volunteers from the University of Florida and in the year they have been in play registration has grown to over 40 players.
Begun in March 2006, the Oldsmar Soccer Club TOPSoccer program focuses on enhancing the lives of young athletes with disabilities and also teaching able-bodied members of the Oldsmar Soccer Club the value of volunteering as TOPSoccer buddies. Oldsmar Soccer Club TOPSoccer plans on using the grant funding to better achieve their goals and mission to reach as many special needs children as possible and to let them enjoy the experience of soccer.
This is the 11th annual grants program cycle from US Youth Soccer and a total of $85,000 in grants were awarded to 14 TOPSoccer and 14 Soccer Start programs for 2008. US Youth Soccer TOPSoccer (The Outreach Program for Soccer) is a community-based training and team placement program for young athletes with disabilities, organized by youth soccer association volunteers. The program is designed to bring the opportunity of learning and playing soccer to any boy or girl, who has a mental or physical disability.
