St. Marys Minor Soccer offers new training as season approaches

By Spencer Seymour

St. Marys Minor Soccer is enhancing the training offerings in its arsenal ahead of the 2026 soccer season.

Brad Wittig, the association’s newly elected vice president, noted the new initiatives represent an increase in their ties with a well-regarded Stratford-based soccer training organization.

“It connects back to the Eddie McKenna Training Academy, who we’ve partnered with the last couple of years, which has been a really good success for us,” Wittig told the Independent. “Working with them has been really well received by both kids and parents, and so we’re looking to expand what we do with him, outside of the normal things.”

One of Minor Soccer’s new offerings is a series of pre-season indoor training sessions, which began on March 23 and is being hosted at St. Marys DCVI.

“It’s geared a little bit more towards the soccer enthusiasts,” said Wittig. “That’s not to say house leaguers couldn’t come, but this is going to be a lot more geared for a certain skill development and getting a bit of a fresh start on the season. It’s going to be about getting lots of little touches in and getting a bit of fitness in. They’re going to get a lot of passing work, and movement of the ball as well as taking advantage of space.”

Wittig added the closer confines of the high school gym will be utilized to do more work on ball handling and movement in tighter spaces.

“Because the indoor session is in a gym, space is limited, so it is a lot more touch work. You can utilize kids moving around in the space to receive a ball versus directly at their feet. With the way Eddie (McKenna) does things, it’s all about as many touches as you can get, which again, works well for a warm-up. We’re going to complement it with an outdoor version as well, which we will start registration for as the indoor version winds down.”

St. Marys Minor Soccer is also unveiling a week-long summer soccer camp, running July 6-10 with daily three-hour sessions running from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. for U9 to U14 age groups.

Wittig said the association is “super excited” to bring the summer camps to St. Marys’ youth soccer players.

“This is something that is working in Stratford, and it’s something I believe that can work here,” said Wittig. “This is geared towards the more eager soccer players who want to develop. It is going to be completely soccer focused, so there won’t really be any non-soccer games. It’s going to be fun and not straight running and training, but it will all be very soccer focused.”

Wittig added the goal is to sharpen the competitive soccer skills of local players.

“It’s just another way for us to do something else for the community, but at the same time continue to develop St. Marys’ competitive side,” Wittig said. “One thing we do really well is offer soccer for everyone, and none of those strategies are changing as we’re complementing the more competitive side of it.”

According to Wittig, the new programming and increased working relationship with the Eddie McKenna Training Academy reflect the goal of St. Marys Minor Soccer to offer a high-quality soccer program at the local level so players don’t have to go to larger centres.

“We want to bring more of a formal academy approach. Eddie (McKenna) comes from an academy background where, as a kid, he played in a lot of bigger cities where they had more formal, organized, academy-type systems, similar to what you find in Europe. He wants to bring that style to the smaller towns because in places like Stratford and St. Marys we lose players to bigger cities, so this is to show that, even in a small town, you can get high-level training.”

Wittig said both players and coaches are expected to benefit from St. Marys Minor Soccer building on their association with McKenna and his academy.

“First and foremost, the players get the immediate benefits. We have Eddie (McKenna) coming in this year, specifically to work with the tier-two teams on a scheduled weekly basis, whereas, in the past few years, it’s been more on an as-you-book basis. Tier-three teams will still be able to access Eddie, and he also offers one-on-one training.

“The other thing is coaches actually get access to Eddie, indirectly or directly,” Wittig continued. “Eddie brings a lot of really good drills when he comes, and he also has a tone and approach and is so good with the kids and gears things towards the age groups. Our coaching staffs can see that, and can all take the drills he does or the approaches he has and apply them ourselves. So, it not only helps the players, but also the coaches and takes some of the weight off their shoulders.”

Even as the local minor soccer association ramps up their additional programming, Wittig noted they are also committed to keeping soccer accessible to everyone.

“We are still one of the most affordable places to play soccer, whether you want to play house league or the more competitive level soccer. Some of the new stuff we’re offering, it does cost a little bit of money. But even still, we’re really focused on keeping it open to everyone and making it affordable, while at the same time, trying to bring as many players in as we can, whether they want to play a bit more casually on a Sunday afternoon, or if they want to take it serious and play three or four times a week.”