St. Albert Public students will get to practice the beautiful game this fall through a new partnership with the city’s soccer association.
St. Albert Public announced the launch of its new Soccer Academy Jan. 8. Similar to the district’s recreation and hockey academies, the program will see students divide their time between academics and on-field soccer instruction with professional coaches.
Greater St. Albert Catholic has had a soccer academy since the early 2000s.
St. Albert Public’s version is unique in that it involves a formal partnership with the St. Albert Soccer Association, allowing students to use the association’s facilities and coaches, said Jeff Paulus, the teacher heading up the academy and the association’s technical director. He believed this was one of the first times that a Canadian school board had partnered with a youth sports organization in this way, adding that such partnerships were common in Europe.
“This now gives (students) time during the day when they can touch the ball,” Paulus said, while also teaching students the academics and social skills they don’t get in a traditional sports club.
Paulus said the academy should also free up family time for students they otherwise might spend at after-school soccer practices.
Paulus said soccer academy students will spend most of their time in regular classes but head out to the soccer pitch twice a week for training. Students will get off-field training in other sports, leadership, and physical education once a week.
St. Albert Public superintendent Krimsen Sumners said the district had planned to start this academy several years ago but delayed it due to the pandemic. Paulus ran a “soccer academy” at Paul Kane from around 2007 to 2012, but that was more like an options course.
Sumners said the district will initially restrict the academy to Grades 4 through 9 students at Lorne Akins and Sir Alexander Mackenzie to gauge interest. The academy will likely cost $200 a month and will include busing.
The St. Albert Soccer Association is excited to enter this partnership and help young players boost their skills, said president Kevin Jones. Soccer is very popular in St. Albert, with some 5,000 players enrolled with the association in any year.
Sumners said the board will hold an open house on the academy later this term, with the academy starting this September. Questions on the academy should go to Paulus at [email protected].
