Liliana Vignovic, 8, blocks a shot during a two-day soccer camp for special needs children put on by the Seneca Valley Soccer Association’s Tops Soccer program at Grahm Park in Cranberr Twp. Saturday. According to Tops Soccer chairperson Carrie Weinreich, the association “hopes to build the camp into an 8-week soccer season for these kids...” Harold Aughton/Special to the Eagle

CRANBERRY TWP — On the fields of Graham Park, children with special needs played alongside Seneca Valley coaches and friends during the first TOPSoccer special-needs camp Saturday morning.

The Seneca Valley Soccer Association held the event hoping to partner with the national program by U.S. Youth Soccer.

Carrie Weinreich, who coaches the girls’ traveling soccer team for the Seneca Valley School District, said the TOPSoccer program encourages clubs to create inclusive environments for learning the sport.

“They want to provide opportunities for children with physical and mental disabilities to play soccer in a relaxed environment,” she said. “Today is about the basics of soccer, the fun aspects of soccer.”

The program served as a test run to eventually offer a full season of soccer activities and scrimmages, according to Weinreich.

At various stations, children from kindergarten through fifth grade were taught to shoot, pass and goalkeep, as well as play the games Sharks and Minnows, and Red Light, Green Light.

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