Our Philosophy

MLSA endeavors to provide quality programs and resources that move players along in their development of the four pillars of soccer: technical, tactical, physical and psychological.

We understand that children participate in youth soccer for a variety of reasons and we have a mission to the community and every child to offer programs that encourage and energize every player, regardless of ability. We want to provide programs that are conscious of the need for structure, yet balance development and competition with seasons of free, unstructured play.  

We want to grow players, future coaches, passionate fans and avid participants.  We want to educate and include parents in the game, assimilate and promote developmentally sound soccer education and honor the game and each other as a community, a teammate, a referee, a teacher, a student or an opponent. 

We have the goal to simultaneously compete at the highest level without losing our focus on the kids and community and providing opportunities for players of all ages and skill levels. The MLSA recognizes that children have other interests and supports those pursuits! In fact, we believe that young children need to move in different ways and across disciplines to avoid injury and burnout, build different proprioceptive and movement abilities and promote enjoyment.

We recognize that the most important aspect of youth sports is the opportunity to teach important life-lessons learned through teamwork, effort, responsibility and commitment. MLSA also understands that children learn from, and are influenced by, the adults involved in our organization. Therefore, we demand the highest standard of behavior from every board member, director, staff member, coach and volunteer.  

An emphasis on parent and fan behavior is also important. We all must model patience, sportsmanship and positivity for our children keeping in mind the larger goals of intrinsic motivation, development and enjoyment over winning.

In order to accomplish our mission and philosophy, the club has placed great emphasis on the following:

  • Long term development of all players, recognizing developmental differences between kids of the same age. 
  • Providing both recreational and competitive levels of training and games to fulfill the needs of every player regardless of their current position on the player-development continuum, which we recognize is different for every child.
  • Conducting developmentally appropriate training sessions during the course of the year.
  • Offering a year round program for both fall and spring players with programs that recognize the importance of structure, training and free play.
  • Inspire our coaches to further their soccer education.
  • Encourage parents and coaches to work together to foster a positive and motivating experience for all players.

Thank you and welcome to “The Beautiful Game.”