Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club U9 Landsharks Dominate Weekend Matches

Congratulations to the AMSC U9 Landsharks on a fantastic weekend of soccer.

Join the Aberdeen/Matawan Girls Soccer U11 Team United

The team has won several local tournaments, including the Hazlet Columbus Day Classic.

Registration Now Open for Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club's Friday Night 'Futbol'

The season will start on Friday, April 19.

Aberdeen Matawan Travel Soccer Team Seeing Double

It's not a trick of the eye; this AMSC U-11 team has three sets of identical twins.

Parents and coaches on the sidelines of the soccer field often have trouble telling which player is which as the girls run by in a blur of matching uniforms, knee socks and ponytails. At Strathmore Field, however, parents and coaches face an even more challenging task - telling apart three sets of identical twins on the same team. This season, the Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club U-11 Travel Team welcomed their third set into the league, making nearly 50 percent of their thirteen player team identical twins. "You would think we're collecting twins," said Coach Joel Miller with a laugh. Anna and Sara Maragarites, 10, were the first set of identical twins to join the travel league with the Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club about four years ago, …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (6)

Matawan-Aberdeen Kids to be Newest Group of Peer Buddies

Peer buddies offer helping hand to special needs or physically disabled athletes

Pencil in hand, a Matawan Aberdeen Middle School student leaned over a worksheet with her jaw set in determination as she attempted to trace alphabet letters reflected in a small mirror. Gab, who will be an eighth grader this fall, leaned in even closer to the mirror as she then tried to draw a smiley face and despite how slowly she went, the lines still looked shakey and out of place. "It was really hard. I just tried to focus," Gab said. The exercise was just one station during Melinda Jennis' Pathways to Exceptional Children training session held at Cambridge Park Preschool. Matawan and Aberdeen students also attempted to balance on a Bosu ball while trying to catch a balloon, play soccer with their legs inside of a potato sack, bead a …

• Photos (4)

Registration Open for Phoenix Soccer

Phoenix Soccer offers young athletes with mental or physical disabilities a chance to participate in sports

Registration for Phoenix Soccer, which is run by the Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club, is now open. Phoenix Soccer is open to athletes ages five through ten who require a little extra attention to learn and participate in sports due to a physical or mental disability. Each athlete is partnered with a volunteer buddy who participates in the sport alongside them. The buddies are local children ranging from 9 to 18 years old and have completed Melinda Jennis' Pathways for Exceptional Children training, according to Kim Radvanski, the director of outreach for the AMSC. This is the program's fourth year. The fall 2012 season begins on Sept. 22 and runs for six weeks. The team typically meets once a week on Saturdays. Click here to register on the …

• Photos (1)

Students Become Track Stars with Help from Peer Buddies

Phoenix Runs is a new program that helps children with disabilities participate in track

Two young athletes run faster and faster toward the finish line at Matawan Regional High School's Barry Rizzo Stadium on a warm Wednesday evening. With each step their smiles widen, knowing that in just a few moments they will burst through the yellow ribbon and celebrate completing another lap around the track. The athletes are not competing against each other, however. They are a peer buddy and a runner, traveling hand-in-hand toward the finish line as part of the Phoenix Runs program. Phoenix Runs launched this year as an extension of the Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club's Phoenix Soccer program. Like the soccer program, the track team is designed for children with special needs or physical disabilities who require a little more attention …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (7)

Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club Begins New Spring Program

The program is designed to just let children play soccer creatively

Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club is kicking off Spring 2012 with "Friday Night Futbol," a soccer program designed for children to just get out and play. Andy Ginsburg, the vice president of recreation for the Aberdeen Matawan Soccer Club (AMSC), said that at a U.S. Youth Soccer Conference he recently attended with other members of AMSC, he learned the difference between American players and European and South American players. "American soccer players, because we start training so young, we basically teach them how to react to every situation in the game. American players are reactionary. But Europeans and South Americans are participatory players, because they don't have the organizational coaching we have. They're just given a ball and told …

• Photos (1)