TOPSoccer is open to children of all ages. (Photo courtesy of ENYYSA)

The TOPSoccer committee is preparing for the Long Island Junior Soccer League spring season, which will kick off in April.

The program has grown by leaps and bounds since the Huntington Boys Club and Massapequa Soccer Club kicked off programs in 1978. Those clubs started the first soccer program ever for children with special needs, not only in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association but in the world.

TOPSoccer stands for The Outreach Program for Soccer, an innovative program run by volunteers, which provides a safe and fun environment plus an opportunity for the child who deviates from the average kid in mental, physical or social characteristics and requires modified educational practices and services in order to develop to his or her potential. Using the slogan of “Come Play With Me,” there are 28 LIJSL clubs with TOPSoccer Programs from Queens to the East End of Long Island:

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“Our TOPSoccer players are the nicest and most loyal people that you will ever meet,” LIJSL TOPSoccer Program chairperson Ann Marie Toth said.

Andy and Marlene Kasman of the Commack Youth Soccer League, received the 2018 Marg McGory Award at the LIJSL convention March 9. The award is for individuals who makes a huge difference in the LIJSL TOPSoccer Program.

The two highlights of the spring season are the third annual Commack TOPSoccer Festival Saturday, April 28 at the Burr Intermediate School and the LIJSL TOPSoccer Tournament and Barbecue Saturday, June 2 at Plainview’s Peter Collins Soccer Park, where TOPSoccer has been playing since the 1980’s. Both events kick off at 9 a.m.

For more information or to register your child for the LIJSL TOPSoccer Special Children’s Program, call Ann Marie Toth at 516-694-3567.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.