OAK CITY SOCCER
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Mission Statement
Oak City Soccer is a non-profit organization which provides youth on the autism spectrum or with sensory processing challenges the opportunity to play soccer while fostering social skills and creating awareness and acceptance within the community.
About This Cause
Oak City Soccer is a dedicated group of individuals that work to support local kids with autism and sensory processing challenges. Together, our staff, volunteers, and board of directors collaborate to create a program that teaches our kids life long skills and allows them to thrive. Oak City Soccer was created by an occupational therapist and an autism family who were all soccer enthusiasts. They family and occupational therapist identified a need for a specialized soccer program to foster the fundamental skills needed for engaging in a team sport. The program was established to provide a safe and accommodating space for kids with sensory and social challenges by addressing gross motor skills, coordination, social skills, self-regulation, body and space awareness, sportsmanship, and technical soccer skills. Oak City Soccer has cultivated a place for these unique kids to feel welcomed and accepted, but also challenged. It helps to build their confidence and courage which carries over in to many other areas of their life. All children need and want opportunities to participate in life's adventures. Oak City Soccer provides the opportunity to engage in an activity that is commonly played all over the world by people of all ages, cultures, and status. We currently offer classes in Wake County, North Carolina. Our participants come from all over the county, as well as, several surrounding counties. We have served over 175 families within our first two years and are continually being asked to offer more classes and expand to more locations. Our hope is to continue meeting the needs of our community by growing with our participants. As their skills evolve so must our program to ensure a successful transition to a typical soccer league for individuals who select that path. We are in the process of training more volunteers and coaches to meet the needs of our participants as well develop a modified soccer league. **** Your support will help us continue to provide quality inventory and programming to our kids, raise awareness of our cause, and grow our organization in the following ways: SCHOLARSHIPS- Your donations helps us provide our soccer programming to children and families who need financial support to participate. We never want to turn a child away due to lack of personal funding. EQUIPMENT- We use a variety of soccer equipment and inventive tools for technique training, sensory activities, and obstacle courses during our classes. We also use therapeutic intervention tools like weighted compression vests, noise cancelling headphones, visual communications tools, and sensory brushes when needed. STAFF & VOLUNTEERS- Our staff and volunteers are the heartbeat of Oak City Soccer. Your support helps us keep supplies and support materials stocked and ready, as well as providing specialized training to continue to enhance our program. FACILITIES- Your donations help us keep the bills paid on the facility we rent for our classes and will help us expand to more locations in the Triangle and to create a modified league to facilitate our players transition to typical soccer programs. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT- We modify our environment and drills for our participants based on their individual needs. Your donation helps us create and maintain the content, materials, and communication devices needed to individualize these drills and meet the developmental needs of our participants. **** OUR GOALS: - To empower children with autism and sensory processing challenges to discover their strengths and celebrate their successes - To promote acceptance of all children and families within the community - To make soccer, or any team activity, less intimidating to those challenged with autism and sensory processing difficulties - To increase autism awareness in the Triangle community - To continue the ongoing fundraising needed to provide the high-quality facilities, equipment, staff and resources our children need