The soccer school started in early February 2009 and has grown in stature over the past eighteen weeks the last session taking place Monday June 29.
The Soccer School of Excellence caters for Children aged seven to 14 every Monday night between 5pm and 7pm the coaching is provided by fully qualified Irish Football Association coaches.
Also coaching on this project is local man IFA Primary School Coach Mark Dinsmore. Mark is currently employed by the IFA specialising with Key Stage 1 & 2 designing and delivering soccer coaching skills and programs in schools in the Moyle area. Mark is a vastly experienced soccer coach and is a keen footballer himself, as part of the community aspect of his IFA work he voluntarily coaches on the Moyle Soccer School of Excellence.
Other coaches namely, Steven Mc Garry, Martin Jamieson, Rory Gallagher, Jason Cunningham, Seamus Mc Ilroy and Darren Mc Killop also share their skills with the children at the soccer school.
These coaches all took part in an initiative run by Moyle District Council in conjunction with Big Lottery in 2006 when funding was provided for 23 coaches from the area to become qualified as IFA Level One Coaches. This has helped with setting up the systems to encourage the development of youth soccer within the Moyle area.
The session times for the Monday Soccer School program are as follows:
Age 7 & 8 years 5pm-6pm
Age 9-11years 5pm-6pm
Age 12-14 years 6pm-7pm
The sessions are booked in 10 week blocks and the cost is £30 per course pro-rata.
The Moyle youth soccer school of excellence was initially run as a ten week pilot to gauge interest within the area. The School of Excellence proved to be a resounding success and as a result the project was rolled out for a further eight weeks.
Four local friendlies were organised with Joey Dunlop Mini Soccer Team and Ballymoney United Development Squad, formerly known as Riada Soccer School.
The two younger age groups played over two consecutive Monday nights in what turned out to be very sporting and hard fought contests.
Ballymoney United are a well established squad and it must be said that the Moyle teams gave a very good account of themselves. We extend out thanks to John Fall, Gary Little, Ricky Mooney, David Cunningham, Craig Black and David Feeney for facilitating these matches.
The Ballymoney teams travelled on both nights in order to facilitate Moyles training night and for that we extend our thanks.
The eighteen week program finishes June 29th and dovetails into the Moyle Summer Soccer School.