ERIE, Pa. – TOPSoccer, a community-based program training and team placement program for young athletes with special needs, will begin its 20th year this spring in the Penn State Behrend Junker Center after a two-year hiatus.
The men's and women's soccer teams work side-by-side to promote good health, awareness, and basic soccer skills that child participants carry with them throughout the year. The program's goal is to pair a child with at least one student-athlete for four weeks to participate in activities such as ball handling, shooting, passing or the occasional fun run around the gym.
Head men's soccer coach Dan Perritano and women's head coach Patrick O'Driscoll have designed a free program to bring the opportunity of learning and playing soccer to any boy or girl who has a cognitive or physical disability.