Bedford Soccer Kicks Off Fall Season Saturday

If you want to know the effect that the Bedford Youth Soccer Club's in-house program can have on a family, just ask one of its in-house representatives, Charlie Della Penna.

He has three kids, Charlie, who is in second grade and now plays in the travel program; and first-graders Elizabeth and Henry, who participate in the in-town program.

"Charlie plays soccer every day at recess," Della Penna said. "His favorite subject at school is recess and that's due to playing soccer every day. It's his favorite sport of all time and that's coming from a family that had never heard of the word soccer."

That's because the sport, which enjoys enormous popularity in Bedford, wasn't around Della Penna while he was growing up.

"I had never seen a soccer match," Della Penna said. "I came from Western Massachusetts, we played baseball, football and hockey and basketball. Then I went to Texas and it was just football and more football."

But on Saturday, Sept. 11 it'll be soccer, soccer soccer, as kids in pre-kindergarten through fourth-grade plus will start the fall in-house season in Bedford.

There are approximately 500 kids in the program according to Peter DiBiasi, who volunteers with the club.

"We start at a young level and we encourage parents to coach," DiBiasi said. "We supplement them with professional trainers. It's a good experience for the children and the parents. We also offer first-grade clinics and pre-travel programs for second and third graders as well."

DiBiasi said some of the goals of the program are for the kids to learn sportsmanship, fair play, get exercise on a Saturday morning and develop soccer skills.

"With the in-house program the kids play but they don't keep score," DiBiasi said.  "It's about running, playing with friends, making new friends, and listening to your coaches," DiBiasi said. "There is no capacity to keep score. We don't track scores, we encourage the parents not to talk about scores. There are no scoreboards or anything like that. It's a practice and a scrimmage between teams."

DiBiasi has two sons who play in the club, Peter, a fourth-grader, and James, a second-grader. Peter plays in the travel program after previously playing in the in-house program.

"They made a lot of new friends from it through interaction with other parents and other coaches," DiBiasi said. "It's taught them how to play, it's taught them how to shake hands at the end of every game, it's taught them about sportsmanship and fair play as well."

Those looking to volunteer their time can email bedfordsoccer@verizon.net for more information.

"Volunteers are absolutely essential," Della Penna said. "The more we can get would be wonderful. So if anyone has any time and would like to help us out, we would gratefully appreciate it."

Here's a run-down of opening day:

 Age Group                        Time                                        Location 

Pre- Kindergarten             9:30 - 10:30                               Cisqua

Kindergarten                      11:00 - 12:00                             Cisqua

First Grade                          11:00 - 12:30                             BVMP

First Grade mid-week     4:00 - 5:30            BVMP (Wednesday) starts 9/15

Second Grade                     11:00 - 12:30                              WPES

Third Grade                        11:00 - 12:30                              WPES

Fourth Grade & Older    1:00 - 2:30                                    WPES

Second & Third Grade Pre-Travel

Saturdays - 9:00 - 10:30   - BVMP

Wednesdays  4:00 - 5:30  - BVMP