By Larry Stover
Stover lives in Valley Grande and is pastor at Praise Park Ministries Church of the Nazarene.

While college football is on the minds of most Alabamians, soccer, the world’s most popular sport, continues to grow at the youth level in the United States. Valley Grande Baptist church is organizing their Upward Soccer program for the 10th year. It is all about introducing “young athletes to the game at an early age and quickly enabling them to build their skills, speed, strength, and stamina. The vision of Upward Soccer is to see players develop mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially, into total athletes who excel both on and off the field.

Valley Grande Baptist church is located at the corner of Highway 22 and County Road 16, across from VG Pharmacy, in Valley Grande.  With tryouts this week, registration forms and fees need to be dropped off at the church office between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday or brought to tryouts.

The cost will be $55 and includes a player’s jersey. Shorts or pants and cleats are the responsibility of the parents.

Evaluations will take place on Tuesday, August 25 and Thursday, August 27 at the Soccer field next to VG Baptist church. They will take place from 5 until 7 p.m. both days. Everyone who participates must attend one of the evaluation sessions.

Upward Soccer is for boys and girls age four though those entering the sixth grade. If you have questions about age level participation, please call the church office.

The practice and game schedule are as follows: The first practice will be Monday, September 14.  The first games will be played on Saturday morning, Sept. 26. Games are played every Saturday morning until Oct. 31.

Their end of season “awards celebration” will take place soon after the season ends.

There are many aspects of Upward Soccer that are very appealing to parents.  There is one practice and one game per week. After evaluations teams are chosen according to the score they make in that process, with all teams having a balance of talent. A unique substitution system that regularly rotates players in and out of the games ensures that every child plays in every game.

Age appropriate character and skills are developed throughout the season.

I enjoy being a part of a community that cares about children.

Especially, it is great to be involved in the spiritual community that cares for the holistic development of children as well.

Athletes will not only learn the skills of soccer, they will have weekly devotional times and earn merit for their excellence:  physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Personally, besides the games and seeing so many friends from the community, I always look forward to the homemade cinnamon rolls at the “Pepsi wagon.”

It makes life “Simply Beautiful.”