For nearly 20 years, the volunteer coaches of Tri-City Soccer Association have been teaching young athletes sportsmanship, physical fitness, and the fundamentals of the sport.

This fall, Tri-City is taking its soccer instruction to the next level by hiring Louisa Lakos to work with both players and coaches. A graduate of the University of Oregon, Lakos played Division I college soccer for the Ducks in the Pac 10 Conference, and participated in the Olympic Development Program in Washington. She has experience in both playing and coaching for premier teams (youth soccer’s highest level), has coached both girls and boys in a wide range of ages, coached high-school varsity soccer and conducted summer soccer camps around the West.

"We brought Louisa in to be a role model for the kids and to help train the kids, but more importantly, to train their coaches so that we can increase the level of play at an earlier age," said Marc Meyer, U16 girls’ coach and president of the Tri-City board.

"The parents are willing to help, but they feel like they don’t know how," Meyer explained. "Most of us grew up playing football, basketball, baseball, and don’t know anything about soccer. Louisa’s experience gives her credibility we don’t have, and the fact that this is a paid position enables her to give it her full attention, which is something that volunteer coaches can’t do."

Lakos will provide skill development for all age groups, teaching coaches new techniques, drills and games that she hopes will help them develop skilled players with tactical knowledge. She’ll also spend time on the field with the players to demonstrate the skills many of them have, up to now, only heard about.

"I really want to concentrate on all-around fitness to play soccer," she said. "It’s a mental game as well as a physical one. I want athletes to have agility, coordination, balance and stamina, but I also want them to have a tactical awareness of why they’re doing what they’re doing. I hope they’ll be able to see the options occurring on the field.

"You don’t just go out there and play. It’s a thinking game."

The non-soccer skills that children acquire by participating in the sport are important to Lakos as well. "They develop friendships. They make a commitment to a team. They learn a work ethic, sportsmanship, a good attitude and respect," she said. "Soccer helps to develop a well-rounded person."

A positive attitude is a big part of her game plan. "I want to be making sure that when they’re out there on the field, everything out of their mouths is positive and constructive. They should be encouraging each other, congratulating each other on what they’re doing well."

Toward that end, she will emphasize talent and skill, not the score, with the players and with the coaches.

Tri-City accommodates male and female athletes between the ages of 4 and 18, and currently has 400 registered. Enrollment is higher during the spring season, and last year, nearly 600 athletes participated in soccer through Tri-City.

For that reason, a big part of Lakos’s job is to train coaches in what the younger athletes need to learn now to be successful later. "I want to be a sounding board for coaches, a resource," she said.

Her time will be allocated proportionately based on the numbers of athletes in each age division, which means that much of her focus will be on younger players and their coaches. (Numbers drop off in the older divisions as students also become eligible to participate in school sports.)

Over the past two weeks, she has met most of Tri-City’s volunteers through clinics, meetings and practices. She’s described to them her intent to focus on basic skills – ball control, shooting, thinking – and her goal of consistent skill development throughout the organization, so that athletes can utilize those skills while on the move in a game setting.

Conditioning is important too. To the casual spectator, soccer may look like a kicking game, but in a typical college-level game, athletes run 5-7 miles. U6 games are not nearly that intense, but that age is when the training begins.

Youth soccer starts out on a small scale, with small groups of young players learning the basics of the game in a setting that is essentially non-competitive. As they grow, new skills are introduced and games are scheduled against teams in other communities. By the time Tri-City athletes reach high school, they’re competent in the game.

"One of our goals is to feed good athletes into the high-school program, but in order to do that, we need to start building a foundation of skills at the U6 level," Meyer said. "Our coaches need to give them sound fundamentals at a young age, before they learn them wrong."

Lakos has been hired as head coach for the fall season, and Tri-City would like to extend the position to full time, with winter indoor skills clinics and other events. The board hopes to make enough money from two annual tournaments to pay for a year-round coach while keeping registration fees affordable for area families.

"In order to expand this program, we have to support it financially," Meyer said. "Durango already does this. Grand Junction does it. This is what we have to do to develop athletes who can compete with other area programs."

Tri-City’s registration fees, which cover both spring and fall seasons, are among the lowest in the state, at $36 for the youngest players and less than $50 for older students. That pays for coaching education, balls, goals and nets, referee fees, Colorado State Youth Soccer Association insurance and administrative fees, and, this year, $9 per player to bring in a coach of Lakos’s expertise.

Lakos has been impressed by many aspects of Tri-City’s program.

"To see this number of youth athletes in a town this small enjoying the game of soccer is phenomenal," she said. "The coaches are receptive, willing to learn, working to better their coaching skills. You have a lot of good people here."

The facilities at Parque de Vida, too, earned high marks. "It’s beautiful; it’s great! I was impressed. The players like to come out to a facility that’s well-designed and well-maintained."

It’s a great place for kids to learn soccer, and Louisa Lakos is here to help.