Sept. 22, 2005

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DAYTON - Student-athletes on the University of Dayton women's soccer team teamed up with TOPSoccer for a clinic Wednesday at Yankee Park in Centerville. Sponsored by United States 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.

"We had a great time getting to interact and teach them the game of soccer," UD sophomore Jen Leslie said. "It was such a rewarding experience for me and the team to be able to pass the game of soccer on."

The program is designed to bring the opportunity of learning and playing soccer to any boy or girl, ages 4-19, who has a mental or physical disability. The goal of the program is to enable the thousands of young athletes with disabilities to become valued and successful members of the US Youth Soccer family.

"It was refreshing to see the enthusiasm of all the kids that were out there playing," UD head coach Mike Tucker said. I felt very proud of our young ladies and how they were interacting with the kids. You can tell they were out there for their enjoyment and know they would like to do it again."

The South Dayton TOPSoccer programs trains on Wednesday nights in Centerville.

"These kids had such a great time and you can see it in their faces," Tucker said. "You get more hugs in that hour spent with them than you get in a year."