Liberty-Benton Eagles Soccer

Every kid plays.

A free, year-round soccer home for every kid in our district — boys and girls, first touch to varsity. No tryouts. Nobody turned away.

Sign up a kid Back the program
  • Freeevery season
  • K–8boys & girls
  • Year-roundnever goes dark
  • Run by Eaglesvarsity & coaches
Kids of many ages in yellow, blue, red and green pinnies spread across the Liberty-Benton grass field at a session, with the district's red barn and tree line behind.

Liberty-Benton

This is our district,
on the ball.

Real kids, real field — grassroot to varsity, right here at home.

Our mission

The LB Soccer Academy exists to give every kid in our district the chance to fall in love with the game, grow real skill, and become future varsity Eagles — free of cost, starting young, and coached by our own community every step of the way.

Our vision

  1. Every kid plays — free and welcome, from day one
  2. All year round — no gaps, no lost kids
  3. Grow them early — keep them forever
  4. Love for the game — grows with every touch
  5. Endless touches — every kid, a ball, every session
  6. Skilled and confident Eagles — built one year at a time

One idea, start to finish:
we grow our own.

The kids in our district are our team — today's second-graders are our varsity in ten years. So we get more of them playing soccer, younger and better, and keep every one of them all the way to game night under the lights. The best soccer nations already proved how. We copy it, right here.

  1. 01

    Start young

    The kid who falls for soccer at eight is the varsity starter who never quits at sixteen.

  2. 02

    More touches

    Every kid, every session, on a ball. No lines, no laps — the ball is the coach.

  3. 03

    Make it cool

    Train Tuesday, stand in the high-five tunnel on game night. Being an Eagle becomes the thing to be.

Seventy percent of kids quit by fourteen.
Almost always, it's the cost.

Cleats, club fees, a ball, a ride — pay-to-play quietly prices kids out of the game right around the age they'd become good at it. We can't make elite club cheap, and we don't try. We do something simpler and fully winnable:

In our district, getting priced out of club never means getting priced out of soccer. We are the free floor underneath the whole thing.

  • Free to play — nobody turned away, no forms, no shame.
  • A free gear closet so cleats are never the reason.
  • Funded by local sponsors — not by families.
  • Run by our varsity players and trained coaches.

One ladder. Neighborhood to varsity.

A kid never leaves the program as they grow — they climb it. Same words, same game, same Eagles, from their first touch in kindergarten to their last home game as a senior. That continuity is the whole point.

  1. K–2

    Grassroot Eagles

    They leave loving it.

    45 minutes of pure play. Coordination, ball love, and goals — fun is the curriculum. Coached by varsity players the little ones look up to.

    45 min · weekly
  2. 3–5

    Eagles Academy

    Where players are made.

    The skill-building engine: dribbling, passing, 1v1, small-sided games — thousands of touches on a real 8-week curriculum that deepens every season.

    60 min · weekly
  3. 6–8

    Next XI Eagles

    Training like varsity.

    Our actual system — shape, patterns, set pieces, our vocabulary. By freshman year, walking into varsity feels like coming home, not starting over.

    75 min · 1–2×/wk
  4. 9–12

    Varsity Eagles

    Home.

    Game nights under the lights, a packed house, and a roster stocked with kids who've been Eagles since they were eight — playing a system they've known for a decade.

    The dream

You don't have to choose.
Keep your team — we're the part in between.

The Academy isn't another team to join. It's free development layered on top of whatever your kid already plays. Rec and travel stay their home for games — we're where Eagles coaches add the things a game schedule never has time for, and we work in the gaps, never against them.

What your kid keeps
  • Their rec league
  • Their travel club
  • Other sports & their weekends

Their home for games and competition — unchanged.

What the Academy adds
  • Real technique & ball mastery
  • Creative small-sided play
  • The Eagles system & words, learned early

The development a game schedule never has time for.

How it fits your week

  • Off-season first

    We run heaviest in winter, over breaks, and in the mid-summer lull — right when rec and travel go quiet.

  • Off-nights & weekend mornings

    We live in the slots the leagues don't use, so we never fight for the same spot on your calendar.

  • Right where kids already are

    After-school clinics and quick skills sessions at school — little to no extra driving added to your week.

  • Drop-in, not lock-in

    Come to the sessions that fit. No season-long commitment, no roster to be cut from.

Play rec or travel for the games come to us for touches in the gaps get on the field on Eagle game nights. Always in the pipeline, never forced to pick.

The Standard every coach carries.

Five non-negotiables, posted where every coach can see them — the same at every age, from a kindergartner's first Saturday to a Next XI session. It's why the sessions work.

  • Touches

    Max touches, always. No lines, no laps, no long lectures. If a kid is standing still, the drill is wrong.

  • Brave

    Praise the brave, not just the skilled. We reward the kid who tries the move and loses it — we build players who want the ball.

  • Play

    Every session ends with a game. Games are why kids come back. We always finish playing.

  • Youngest

    Our best, most energetic coaches go with our youngest kids. That's where love of the game is built.

  • System

    One vocabulary at every age, so an eight-year-old and a varsity starter speak the same soccer.

  • And above all — every kid known by name. Being known is the number-one reason a kid comes back.

Never miss a session.

Add the schedule to your phone once. Every training and playing session — plus any change — shows up automatically, no group texts to dig through.

Add to calendar

Text & email alerts

Storm rolls in? You'll know first.

We send session reminders and urgent weather/cancellation alerts through Remind — they reach your phone, text, and email. Sign a kid up and you'll be prompted to turn them on in one tap. Want alerts too — a grandparent, carpool driver, or helper? Join here.

Keep every kid in town playing

Local businesses make it free.

The program is volunteer-run, so effectively 100% of every dollar reaches the kids — gear, field costs, and keeping the whole year free for every family. Your name goes in front of the whole town at every packed home game, and it's tax-deductible.

No kid sits out over cleats.

The gear closet is a simple promise: a bin of cleats, shin guards, socks, and balls that any kid can take — need some? take some. No forms, no questions, no shame. It travels to every clinic and session, so a kid who owns nothing still plays that day.

Grab gear for your kid Donate outgrown gear

Questions,
answered.

The things families ask most. Still wondering something? Just ask us.

How much does it cost?

It's free — the year-round program costs families nothing to play, ever. No child is turned away for cost, and if gear is the barrier, our gear closet covers cleats, shin guards, and balls, no questions asked.

What ages and grades can play?

Kindergarten through 8th grade, boys and girls, in three age tiers — Grassroot Eagles (K–2), Eagles Academy (3–5), and Next XI Eagles (6–8) — so a child can grow through the whole pathway.

My child has never played before. Is that okay?

Absolutely — that's exactly who we're built for. Every tier meets kids where they are, starting with the basics in a fun, low-pressure setting. No experience needed, ever.

What if we can't afford cleats or a ball?

No child is turned away for gear. Our gear closet — stocked by community donations — provides cleats, shin guards, and balls free of charge. Just ask an organizer. It's confidential and judgment-free.

Is it for boys or girls?

Both — equally. It's one program and one standard for the boys and girls sides alike. Kids are grouped by age, not gender, and everything we run serves both.

Will this conflict with rec league or other sports?

No — the Academy is built to be in addition, never instead. We run in the gaps (off-nights, weekend mornings, and the off-season) and coordinate the calendar so kids can play multiple sports without burning out or being forced to choose. Many kids do both.

We already play travel or club. Is this instead of that?

Not at all — keep your club for games and competition. The Academy layers free technique work and the Eagles system on top, in the slots your league doesn't use, so your kid keeps developing without ever having to pick one over the other.

How do I sign my child up?

Fill out the quick form below and we'll place your child in the right tier for their age and experience, and send you the schedule for their group. That's it.

Get your kid on a ball.

One short form. We'll follow up with the tier, schedule, and field for your child's group — and answer anything you're wondering. Free to play, nobody turned away.

  • Takes about a minute
  • No payment, no commitment to sign up
  • Session reminders & urgent alerts by text and email
  • Gear help available if you need it

Here as a business? We'd love your help keeping kids playing. Pick “Sponsor / partner” below, or email athomas@Liberty-Benton.org.

This is how you'll get urgent weather and cancellation alerts — no app to download.

Signing up turns on alerts. You'll get session reminders and urgent weather/cancellation notices — one tap after you sign up turns them on for your phone, text, and email. Message rates may apply; reply STOP anytime.

The year your child graduates high school — grade this fall in parentheses.

Which program?

So we can plan sessions around your kid's schedule — we run in the gaps, never instead of another team.

By signing up you're just saying hello — we'll reach out with details, no payment needed.

Soccer involves inherent risks, including injury; The LB Soccer Academy, Liberty-Benton Local Schools, and its coaches, volunteers, and staff are not liable for injury or loss during participation. Players may be photographed or recorded, and those images may be used in Academy and school materials, including social media. Questions? Email athomas@Liberty-Benton.org.