Peachtree City Lazers Soccer Club

Peachtree City Lazers Soccer Club having any fun. We try to keep it challenging for them and teach them new skills so they get better tactically and technically.” soccer clubs in the state of Georgia. In recent years, they have turned In addition to the increase in quality, Esmond has seen an their focus to the recreational side of the game and are breaking some new ground in how it is presented. The club also has a partnership with impact on the club in terms of growth and retention. He said, “We’ve grown by 20% in the last 4-5 years due to this. It’s showing. AFC Lightning for select players, a TOPSoccer program, and a 7v7 We’re hoping we can be a benchmark and show people that ‘Hey, we league for adults. should be doing this too.’ Dan Esmond joined the club in 2006 and became the Director of The club also introduces its older players and graduates to coaching. Coaching in 2011. During his tenure with the club, overall participation Esmond said, “We’ve had some of our own kids that are recreational has increased from 2300 to 3600 annually. Prior to joining the club, players already obtain their national coaching licenses and coach teams Esmond spent five years with the United Soccer League managing the themselves. Some come out to help after they go to college. We’ve been Super Y League and the Super 20 League. One significant change Esmond has been part of is licensing all of their very fortunate. We always tell the kids, ‘If you can continue to play as recreational coaches. It is quite the undertaking and he saw the importance an adult, and go back and coach your kids better than we’re coaching you, then we’re all doing our job.’” of it as he was transitioning into the Director of Coaching role. Peachtree City Lazers have also been very thoughtful in who they Esmond said, “In 2011, an opportunity came along to just build the bring into the club as coaches. The licenses are great, but Lazers also rec program and it was a chance for me to challenge myself. I started doing that. As we went along, volunteers became harder and harder to prioritizes bringing in quality people as Esmond explains, “We do not come by. The coaching levels dropped and we’re improving. In our own believe in just kicking the ball around. We put a man or woman with community, we decided to go out and help these coaches go out and get a good background and wants to help the kids, but also wants to get to know the kids. We want them to know that we care about them. It’s their licenses. We reimburse them for getting their national licenses. definitely helped our retention rate and getting the kids to come back. We now have U4-U19, every single kid is training by a nationally licensed coach. Every week, we try to give them the knowledge to keep It’s not only skill-wise, but it’s life skills. We want them to get better wanting to play. If they’re not learning anything, they’re definitely not and keep playing more and more.” PEACHTREE CITY LAZERS IS ONE OF THE OLDEST YOUTH