Just For Kicks
by Jill Cousins
Even though her husband was a soccer coach at Lake Brantley High School at the time, Vicki Kirby did not consult with Danny Kirby before signing up their son Tyler to a neighborhood soccer league in the fall of 1999.
It was understandable that Vicki would want their three-year-old son to get involved in the sport. Soccer had always been a big part of their lives. When they were both students at Lake Brantley, Danny played four years of soccer for the Patriots and Vicki was a team manager. Danny would go on to become Lake Brantley’s longtime boys’ soccer coach, and he was inducted into the Lake Brantley Athletic Hall of Fame in September 2024.
“She came home one day and told me she signed our son up for soccer,” recalls Danny, who reconnected with Vicki at their 10-year high school reunion in 1988 and married her the following year. “I said, ‘Three-year-olds can’t play soccer!’ She said, ‘Well, I signed him up to play, and we’re going on Saturday.’”
Unfortunately, the experience was miserable for everyone involved. Danny didn’t want to coach three-year-olds, but got talked into it anyway, because there were no other volunteers. At the first practice, 20-plus toddlers were running around aimlessly. There was no organization, and at the first game, the league owner and a grandfather got into a physical altercation.
“We had a horrible season,” says Danny.
“It was absolute chaos,” adds Vicki. “I told Danny, ‘We can do a thousand times better than this.’”
Starting Off on the Right Foot
And that’s exactly what the Kirbys did. Combining Danny’s soccer expertise with Vicki’s business and organizational skills, they launched Seminole Youth Soccer in the spring of 2000 and have not looked back since. Starting with about 200 kids, ages three to eight, the recreational league now boasts around 1,000 boys and girls each season (fall and spring). This spring, the Kirbys will celebrate Seminole Youth Soccer’s 25th anniversary.
Unlike some youth sports leagues that offer highly competitive play and travel teams, Seminole Youth Soccer focuses on fun as much as fundamentals. Now offered to kids in preschool through ninth grade, the league has brought joy to countless children and their families, creating lifelong friendships and a positive experience for everyone involved.
“Our goal is to provide the best experience for the kids,” says Vicki. “We don’t want them to be Olympic athletes; we just want them to have fun.”
It’s Not Whether You Win or Lose
The kids in the league still enjoy healthy competition, but to keep the tone of the games less serious for players and families, there is no official scoring. The league also has no tryouts and no requirements for practice attendance, and all players get a fair amount of playing time.
Many of the league’s players go on to participate in soccer in high school and beyond. Others, like Tyler Kirby, now 28, play for several years and then pursue other passions. Some kids leave to play on competitive travel teams and then return to Seminole Youth Soccer to have a good time playing with their friends.
Seminole Youth Soccer office manager Chelsea Dill is a former Lake Mary High School player whose sons Mason and Wyatt both played in the league.
“I loved it, especially when my boys were younger, because every game was a win,” says Chelsea. “At the end of the day, my kid had no idea how many games he won or lost, but he knew he had fun out there and made new friends.”
As for the future, the Kirbys are hoping Seminole Youth Soccer continues to grow and provide more family enjoyment for the area’s kids and their parents.
“We hope it will continue,” says Vicki. “We didn’t work this hard for it to stop now.”