Raiders Tryouts Start Monday

The Mahwah Raiders Soccer Club is holding tryouts for places on its fall 2012 youth soccer travel teams, Monday, May 21 through Thursday, May 24. Tryouts will asses players on skill, with a focus on scrimmage play, so that coaches can gauge how the kids interact with one another on the field in a team setting. For details, or to register children for a tryout, parents can visit the Raiders' website.

The Raiders Club is made up of over fifteen competitive travel teams playing in the Northern Counties and MAPS leagues. In addition to their travel play, the Club has rolled out a new Kinderkickers program for the fall for students aged 4 to 7.

Over 225 area athletes participate on teams across the program.

The Raiders travel teams are flighted to ensure that play is competitive and fair. Teams aim to have successful seasons, but the mission of the programs also focuses on developing values and skills. In order for players to be trained propertly, they have to play along other students at the same talent level, Ben Fuscione, coach of the U9 and U10 girls teams, said.

In addition to parents and coaches working with players, the Raiders employ professional soccer players to help train teams. "It gives us a really nice balance," Fuscione said.

The Parents Auxiliary, also headed by Fruscione, says its focus is on ensuring the quality of the program, particularly with regard to training and equipment. The Club’s high degree of interaction and dialogue between coaches and parents “really sets us apart” from other nearby programs that offer intense training and competitive play, he said. “We want to be competitive, but we want to be engaged and hear the perspectives of parents and coaches,” he added. 

One of his daughters in the program, Charlotte, a center mid-fielder on the U10 travel team, added that “soccer is a really fun sport to play with friends,” but at the same time the trainers in the program have helped “us do our positions better than we used to.”

To find out more about the program, or this week's tryouts, .

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