I was tucking my 10-year-old son, David, into bed when he asked me, “Dad, do you think I’ll become a professional soccer player?”

So many thoughts began to race through my head – tryouts, coaches, travel, agents, development, networking, and, ultimately, that God’s in control. I put my face close to my sons and said, “I don’t know, but if you give it your best, and you’re lucky, you never know.” Of course, being a soccer fan, I then rambled on and on until he fell asleep.

One of the failures of US soccer, and US team sport, in general, has been that we’ve focused so much on organizing our kids into teams and clubs and traveling from such an early age that we’re not only burning our kids out, but we’re burning ourselves out. We’re forking over a lot of cash to what end? And to make matters worse, recreational leagues and pick-up play suffer as all the talented players are busy practicing, traveling or too tired.

Sandlot sports seem to be a thing of the past. But there’s middle space between recreational and club soccer that can ease the burden we parents feel to expose our kids to quality soccer. That’s why I’m excited that Dakota Dreisbach with Coerver Coaching, the world’s leading soccer skills program, is offering a free clinic to introduce you to a very reasonably priced soccer academy.

Developed by soccer experts analyzing the strengths of players like Pele, Maradona and Cruyff, it’s a program that has graduated the likes of Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben, Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge, and Borussia Dortmund’s Shinji Kagawa.

Dakota has one location, once a week, here in Lake Nona, where our budding pre-professional, superstar kids can learn soccer the way it’s taught abroad. Through a wide variety of games, the program instills valuable lessons, not only about how soccer is played but about persistence, determination, and that secret ingredient we’re all looking to mix into our kids these days – grit.

“A lot of the training is teaching them resilience, teaching them to not give up,” says Dakota, “that when they set their minds on something, there’s not always just one way to fix it. It’s an optimistic outlook.”

In fact, Coerver Coaching studies its graduates to see how they do in life. And since what they implement in their program is flexible growth and problem-solving styled learning (a must in soccer), a vast majority of their graduates are faring very well in the job market.

All that to say, here’s an option that can add some quality experience to what your child is already doing with his soccer club. Or, if you’re like me and don’t want to go the club route, expose him or her to the beauty and competitiveness of the game in a high-class environment.

Details: The free clinic is for boys and girls aged 7-12. So, bring water, cleats (running shoes will also work), and a ball if you have one. It will be at the North Shore at Lake Hart Recreational Field, March 9, 3-4:15 p.m.

Questions? You can reach Dakota at 866-819-5252, ext. 1, or visit www.coervermoves.com.