What is Northwest Kiwanis Youth Soccer? A major emphasis for Kiwanis is youth and our soccer program is intended to provide a positive team experience for the youth in our community. Our program stresses participation, sportsmanship, @500 children participate each year. We are a recreational program and have leagues for both boys and girls. Coaches for the kindergarten program are high school soccer players.
What does my child receive? Each child is assigned to a team, plays at least half of each game (except due to injury or misconduct) and receives a team shirt and soccer ball.
What is the cost? The cost ranges from $20-$85, depending on the league and season.
Who is eligible to participate? The Northwest Kiwanis Club primarily serves the communities of Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff. Boys and girls in Kindergarten through 6th grade, who live in, or go to school in, our service area are eligible to play.
What are your policies regarding information privacy, refunds, etc.? Our privacy policy is available here. We do not offer refunds unless soccer participation is unavailable because we have reached capacity. You can read more about our Rain-Out policy here.
How can we reach you? We respond promptly to contact forms or our email, soccer@northwestkiwanis.com. We do not have a dedicated telephone number for soccer, since we do not have full time staff.
First through sixth grade leagues:
Our 1st – 6th grade program has girls and boys leagues, divided into 1st/2nd grade teams (Bantam I League), 3rd/4th grade teams (Bantam II League) and 5th/6th grade teams (Intermediate League). New teams are formed each fall. If your child plays in the fall, you do not have to register again for the spring. Why do we go by grade – because most children prefer to play with their classmates.
When are our seasons? For grades 1 – 6, we have a fall season that runs from the third week of September to the end of October or the first week in November and spring season that runs from mid-April until late May.
When and where are the games? All games for 1st – 6th grade, in both the fall and spring, are on Sunday afternoons. The Bantam I girls play games at Ray Buck Park in Grandview, The Bantam I boys play at Northwest Park in U.A., the Bantam II girls and boys play at Thompson (Lane Rd.) Park in U.A., and both Intermediate Leagues play at Sunny 95 Park.
When and where are practices? For the 1st – 6th grade teams, each team has 1 – 2 practices per week. As we have 44-50 teams, we do not tell the coaches when and where to practice. The day and place are at the discretion of the coaches, but, since the teams are based around schools, coaches usually try to practice close-by.
When do I sign my child up? We accept sign-ups for the fall program starting in June. The registration deadline for fall is the first week of August. If your child registers and plays in the fall, he/she is automatically on the same team in the spring. The spring sign-ups for grades 1 – 6 start in early February and run through the middle of March – but are on a space available basis only.
Where do I register? When registration is open for the 1st – 6th graders a link to register is on our website, www.northwestkiwanis.com
Do we need coaches? Our coaches for 1st – 6th grade are primarily interested parents. We require about 50 – 100 coaches each year. For this program to function, we need interested parents to be head or assistant coaches. We can assure you that coaching children is both fun and rewarding.
When should I here from a coach? In the fall, the coaches receive their rosters between Wednesday and Saturday, the week after Labor Day. Do not expect to hear from them before the 8th – 10th of September. In the spring, the coaches will call in late March for new sign-ups.
Does Northwest Kiwanis accept requests for certain children to play together? We are, to the best of our knowledge, the only local sports program that will take requests. Requests left in the comments section of the registration will be read and all reasonable and possible requests are honored. However, in order to achieve grade balance among teams, to form teams when not enough parents volunteer to coach, and other administrative reasons, not all requests can be honored.
Can a player change teams? With a program of this size, it is administratively unmanageable to allow changes of teams once assignments are made except under very special circumstances. Unless there has been an administrative error (e.g., a parent coach has been assigned to a different team from his/her child, brothers in the same league are assigned to different teams, a boy is assigned to a girls team, etc.), we do not allow changes of team assignments.
Kindergarten program:
Our K.I.D.S. (Kindergarten Instructional & Developmental Soccer) program has about 150 – 200 kids each year and is geared to the way kindergartners think. The sessions are one hour per week and there are four weeks. During the first 30 minutes the children will be part of a team of 6 – 7 kids and learn 1 – 2 skills each week. The parents will also learn these skills in a separate area. The last 30 minutes will be a scrimmage game against another team. One hour is about all that any 5 or 6 year old is going to focus on any topic. We have two time slots each session.
When is our season? Our kindergarten program is a spring only program from mid-April to mid-May.
When are the games? The spring program for kindergartners is on Saturday mornings.
When and where are practices? For the kindergarten program, each session is one hour on Saturday mornings. Each Saturday has two time slots – 8:45 AM and 10:15 AM. You can request a specific time period, but, as space in each session is limited, these are filled based on the registration date and time.
When do I sign my child up? The kindergarten sign-ups start in early February and run until the end of March.
Where do I get an application? Registration is on our website at www.northwestkiwanis.com
When should I hear from about when and where to come? For kindergartners, we will send a letter to you in early April explaining the program and telling you which time slot to come for.
Kiwanis Soccer Buddies:
“Kiwanis Soccer Buddies” is specifically designed for children in grades K-6 who have special needs. Each child will be paired with a high-school- aged mentor who (a) has soccer experience and (b) has received focused training on partnering with children who have special needs. The goal of the program is to give children with special needs the opportunity to learn soccer skills in a fun setting. The program is co-ed. Each of the four sessions will be conducted in the following manner: the first 30 minutes will involve general fitness and soccer skills, and the remaining time will be devoted to a scrimmage. Every effort will be made to (a) pair each child with a suitable mentor and (b) conduct scrimmages with children of similar size. At least one parent or guardian of each participant will be expected to remain in attendance for the entire hour of each session.
When is our season? Our soccer buddies program takes place in the Fall from the second week of September to middle of October and in Spring from early April to the end of May.
When are the games? The spring program is on Saturday mornings.
When and where are practices? For the soccer buddies program, each session is one hour on Saturday mornings Fall from 9-10am and in Spring from 11:30am-12:00pm. Participation will be limited to the first 24 registrants.
When do I sign my child up? The soccer buddies sign-ups start in February and run until the end of March.
Where do I get an application? Registration is on our website at www.northwestkiwanis.com
When should I hear from about when and where to come? All parents will be asked to attend a meeting to receive their child’s soccer ball and T-shirt. Further, the special needs of each participant will be discussed privately with the staff of Northwest Kiwanis Soccer. At a separate meeting, each of the mentors will be provided with special training by Dr. Kevin Gorman, Director of Student Services for the Upper Arlington School District. The purpose of this meeting is to provide mentors with the basic knowledge of working with children with special needs in a recreational setting. It is the intention of Northwest Kiwanis Soccer that all of the mentors will receive service credit for the time that they devote to the program.