NWA Lightning Strikes "Soccer For All"

The merger of Bentonville and FC United to form Northwest Arkansas Lightning Soccer Club was really done with two specific things in mind. "It was a matter of sharing the quality of coaching and having a year-round soccer club — for coaching and teaching," said Tadeu Dias, NWA Lightning's director of coaching. Dias stresses that with the NWA Lightning "soccer is for all." All those part of this club find the focus geared toward developing individual skills, with hopes of ultimately putting them in position to enjoy success. "Teaching players is first and winning is second," Dias said. One of the first keys to getting NWA Lightning organized was aligning all club members, not just by age divisions and gender, but also by skills and capabilities. "There was such a wide range of unbalance between quantity and quality," Dias noted. "We had a lot of players at the recreation level. They had talent, but they didn't want to take the big step into competitive soccer." There are obviously some who do want to excel in a big way and others simply out to have fun. Regardless, everyone has a spot with the following categories: - Ages 3-5, Sparks - Recreational, under 6-18, Thunder - Intermediate, under 11-18, Flash - Competitive, Various age groups, Strikers - Storm, Adult Individuals on teams competing at higher levels generally spend more time away from home, traveling to Memphis one weekend, St. Louis the next and then back to Fayetteville. Whether it's those that are in the more competitive groups or teams designed for recreation, there's no doubt NWA Lightning is a popular choice with 2,000 members. With so many youth involved, ensuring they all receive more than enough on-the-field tutoring is pivotal. Dias explains a couple of things provide the necessary training and beyond. "We don't use our coaching staffs only on teams," he said. "They are in charge of age groups (for more consistency and control of the entire program)." Dias said it takes "1.6 million repetition" for a person to master skills, which is why the club implements additional professional training on Mondays and Wednesdays. Overall, Dias couldn't be more thrilled with the progress, not only of the Lightning, but all soccer organizations in this area. "All the clubs in Northwest Arkansas have done so much for the state," he said.