Cary Soccer

The Cary Defenders Girls Teams participate in the Illinois Women's Soccer League.  The Cary Defenders Boys Teams participate in the Young Sportsmen's Soccer League.  Our U8 Youth Academy participates in local games and tournaments all under the Illinois Youth Soccer Association.

Started in Fall 2004, The Youth Development Academy was a natural progression from our fall U8 clinics and training methods. It is the foundation of Cary Defenders FC with a curriculum aimed at instilling a "Passion for the Game" and developing each child's technical, psychomotor and psycho-social skills.

All training is based on instilling a foundation of technical proficiency for future successes. We place a high priority on teaching players dribbling moves to beat a defender, completing passes, and receiving the ball with direction and deception.

Click Here to read a more detailed explanation of the Youth Development Academy.

Training within this program focuses on the skill development of the individual player and working on their technique allowing them to become proficient in this area. Focus on the 5 fundamental techniques (dribbling, passing, running with the ball, shooting & control) and how to utilize this in their game will be the priority and how to utilize these in 2v2, 3v3 & 4v4 small sided games. This will provide the players with a solid base knowledge at which to start their soccer careers!

While a majority of training still emphasizes skill development, at the U11 & U12 age groups small group tactical concepts become part of the curriculum. Teaching is done primarily in the 4v4 format and the goal is for every player to master 1v1, 2v1, and 2v2 tactical concepts. Players will be exposed to various positions at this age group and all teams will play using zonal principles along the backline.

Cary Defenders FC believes in developing the whole player, not just technically and tactically. To that end, the Athletic Performance Program has been developed to aid in speed, power and endurance enhancement. To develop each player and team mentally, competition is a vital component to the training and playing environment. Players are held accountable for their responsibilities to the team, including giving maximum effort at every event.

At the U13/U14 age groups, technical and tactical training are equal parts of the curriculum. Players continue to be exposed to more than one position and different formations as part of the long-term development of the individual player. Teaching is done in 4v4 and 6v6 formats with tactical focus increasing to 3v3 and 4v4 equations.

Training for players selected for this program will be geared toward preparation for participation in college soccer. Players who opt for this program will need to be prepared to make a significant time commitment to soccer training and competition to participate as a member of Cary Defenders FC.

Players are expected to have a high standard of technical proficiency as tactical concepts become a much larger portion of the curriculum. Teaching is done primarily in an 8v8 format.

Winning and the pursuit of State, Regional, and National Championships is much more important at these age groups. To that end, result-oriented situation play (i.e. being a goal up/down, playing with a man up/down) is taught and team formations are chosen based upon the personnel of each team. This is only possible if players are prepared at the younger age groups to play in a variety of systems and formations.

At the U16 age group, league and tournament selection is made with the goal of providing maximum exposure to college coaches.