Fox Chapel Area Youth Soccer League helps bolster area high school programs

Talk to any high school soccer coach at Fox Chapel, Oakland Catholic or Shady Side Academy about their success, and they are likely to reply that it all starts at the youth level.

The Fox Chapel Area Youth Soccer League has proven to be a training ground for some excellent athletes over many years. The Fox Chapel boys program, for instance, has made the WPIAL playoffs 23 consecutive seasons.

This past fall, the program served about 900 boys and girls, nearly all residents of the Fox Chapel Area School District.

“I think that the club’s been around since 1984 and it’s a youth-based club,” said Douglas Grimsley, an Indiana Township resident who has been the organization’s president the past four years. “It gives a chance for the children to grow through learning soccer. It’s an overall fun element as well. Even the high school-aged kids come back and have a team with the rec club. It’s a volunteer organization and it’s a healthy organization as we try to keep the costs low compared to other sports.”

The program starts at 5-and-under and progresses through the ages when the more skilled youngsters can join a club program at around age 10.

Said Grimsley: “We’re very lucky to have such great volunteers who have a passion for the sport and spend enormous time with the kids. We have a competitive aspect and a rec-friendly aspect. We try to partner with the middle school and the high school program to ensure that we’re providing the quality player for them.”

One of the highlights of the fall soccer season is the Moonlight Madness tournament. It’s what amounts to a “friendly” with other community recreation programs on Saturday evenings in late October. Portable lights are set up and the matches are 20 minutes each.

For players below the club level or others who are not progressing as much, it’s an opportunity for, perhaps, the only soccer tournament they will ever experience.

Grimsley coached 13 years in the program before moving to an administrative role.

This past year, a summer camp was held for the high school girls and the younger-aged girls that featured Julie Simic from the German National Team, who still coaches the 17-under players there, and Nicola Wexler from England’s Arsenal football club.

“It gave our girls a different perspective on the sport and hopefully make our program stronger for the girls and boys,” Grimsley said.

The levels for boys and girls are Under (age) 6, U 7/8, U 9/10, U 11 and older along with the D4 competitive travel league.

The Fox Chapel group and similar organizations are governed by PA West Soccer.

The Indiana Township Middle School fields are the main complex for the program.

“We partner with the townships and we’ve devoted considerable resources into making the fields playable,” Grimsley said. “We also utilize fields in O’Hara and Fox Chapel proper. Before I joined the group, we spent club assets on the restrooms and concession stands.”

The league also offers a spring program.