The Princeton Soccer Association (PSA) is an incorporated nonprofit organization that has been dedicated to serving the needs and interests of soccer players in the Princeton area since 1976. Our programs are directed toward boys and girls between kindergarten and high-school age are designed for children at all points along the spectrum from the beginner who plays just for fun to the serious player who aspires to reach the highest levels of excellence in the sport. A recreational program, known as House League, is run on Saturday mornings for our novices and casual players. The traveling team program is more competitive and involves substantially more commitment from players and their families.
PSA is a cooperative effort among very experienced soccer professionals, parental volunteers, and players. The parental volunteers are the backbone of PSA. Volunteers do nearly all the organizational work and much of the coaching, our effort would collapse without their constant support. The players, however, are the focal point of everything we do.
The basic tenet of PSA is that the long-term moral and athletic development of players comes first in all decision-making.
There is plenty of room in PSA for differences of opinion and emphasis, but we do try to maintain consensus on the overall objectives, principles, and methods we are committed to as a club, so that each team is pulling in the same direction. Toward this end, each team answers finally to the club as a whole. No team in PSA operates as a separate fiefdom, under the rule of a single parent or independent council. The club itself, operating democratically under its by-laws, sets policy, runs tryouts, creates teams, appoints coaches, and so forth. Joining the club involves agreeing to abide by the club’s philosophy and rules.
Our philosophy holds that young players should be empowered to think for themselves while the game is underway. They not only have more fun but also make better progress as players when they are permitted to improvise on the field without too much interference from adults. While they need guidance and occasional criticism from their coaches, it would be opposed to the spirit of our program to consign players to rigidly defined positions within a system. We are trying to develop improvisers who are skillful with the ball, alert to what is happening around them, connected to their teammates, intelligent in their decision-making, and able to deal with the physical and moral demands of tough competition. Our hope is that the young people involved will benefit not only as athletes but also as individuals--precisely because we accord them respect as decision-makers from the very beginning and hold them to high standards at every point along the way.
