Practice Soccer Skills This Winter With The Menace
Just because the colder temperatures and snow have settled into Iowa does not mean soccer needs to end! Do you have a child who would like to brush up on their soccer skills and meet some new friends this winter? You are in luck! The Des Moines Menace is offering Winter Junior Menace.
Winter Junior Menace
Winter Junior Menace is for boys and girls, ages 3 to 9 years old, and occurs at locations in Des Moines, West Des Moines, and Grimes. This program is designed for all ability levels and they definitely encourage beginners! This is a great program to learn basic soccer skills if your child has never played before.
One of the benefits of their program is that they accept registrations on a rolling basis for each season. No deadlines to worry about and they accept walk-ups the first night at each location (unless a location has been announced as being “full” due to capacity limits).
2024 Winter Junior Menace Schedule
Monday Nights in Des Moines
Location: MVP Sports Center (4600 Park Ave. Suite 4, Des Moines, IA 50321)
Dates: Mondays: January 8th – February 19th *Make-up Date: February 26th
Times: Ages 3-4: 5 to 5:30 p.m.; Ages 5-9: 5 to 6 p.m.
Tuesday Nights in Grimes
Location: Ignit Sports & Fitness (200 SE 37th St. Grimes, IA 50111)
Dates: Tuesdays: January 9th – February 20th *Make-up Date: February 27th
Times: Ages 3-4: 5:30 to 6 p.m. | Ages 5-9: 6 to 7 p.m.
Wednesday Nights in West Des Moines
Location: Walnut Creek Campus (1020 8th St. West Des Moines, IA 50265)
Dates: Wednesdays: January 10th – February 21st *Make-up Date: February 28th
Times: Ages 3-4: 5 to 5:30 p.m. | Ages 5-9: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Register for the 2024 season here!
What Can You Expect?
The Des Moines Menace strives to provide the best youth soccer experience in our community, promoting a healthy, active lifestyle while encouraging the children’s enjoyment of the game.
- Environment: Coaches will try to create a fun atmosphere for players to meet new friends, develop their skills, and be challenged by other players from around the metro.
- Curriculum: With the guidance of our professional coaches, they base their program activities on a curriculum provided by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). This curriculum focuses on skill development at age-appropriate levels.
- Structure: Players will come one time per week to Junior Menace for seven weeks. They have built-in make-up days as part of this year’s schedule in case of inclement weather.
What Makes Des Moines Menace Different?
Each Junior Menace site is led by a licensed soccer coach, which means they have taken soccer courses sanctioned through state and national soccer organizations. At each site, they also have assistant coaches who are currently playing soccer in high school, at a select club level, and at the college level and they utilize their current Menace players when they are available.
Their program is based off of a national curriculum geared to teach soccer skills and development to players in the 3 to 9 age range. They feel this is an important part of what they do because their program is based on national guidelines and best practices. It also helps educate their coaches about what to expect mentally, developmentally, and physically from players in the age range of their program.
The Des Moines Menace Values
The Des Moines Menace values your time and money.
They are a 501c3 not-for-profit organization, so they try to keep the cost of their program as affordable as possible. The cost of each player’s registration goes to cover the cost of jerseys, equipment, payment to coaches, supplies, field/gym rental, and maintenance expenses.
If parents want to get involved and volunteer alongside their coaches (they encourage it!), but understand it doesn’t work for everyone to help out and volunteer. They staff their site locations with enough paid and volunteer coaches so parents don’t have to worry about helping out with the program.
