By By Tim Cottrell
YMCA Youth Soccer is having one of its most successful seasons.
With only a few makeup games left to be played this week, the 135 players spread through 13 teams in four age groups have a lot to be proud of.
Ross Terry, Program &Facilities Director for the Atmore Area YMCA, said it has been a great season.
"We've got 135 kids out there this year," he said. "We have age groups of 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and a traveling squad of 13-18-year-olds. The traveling squad hasn't played yet, but we're working on some games with Brewton, Mobile, and a couple of others. We've got four teams in the other three age groups."
While the season may have been going for nearly two months, Terry said it would be a bit sad to see it end.
"We're going to wrap up Tuesday," he said. "We've just got a couple of rainouts to make up. We'll give out trophies to everybody. We don't keep up with scores or standings. We just went out there and played. All that mattered was the kids having fun. Last night (Thursday) it rained, but we still went out there and played and had fun."
Terry also wished to thank the many volunteers who have helped make this season a success.
"I appreciate all the parent's help," Terry said. "We've had great help from volunteers this year. It's hard to find good coaches – really hard – but the volunteers have done a great job for us this year."
With soccer season winding down, Terry was beginning to turn his attention to other areas of the YMCA sports programs.
"This is just about done, so we're about to go into a little bit of a dead period," Terry said. "Basketball registration is going to start in November, and it'll run through December. We should start playing that in January. We usually have as many as 150 or 175 playing basketball with us."