Suburban FC has rolled out a schools program across our communities this spring, sending club technical staff and coaches into local schools to deliver PE-integrated soccer sessions, donate equipment, and support teachers running their own activities!
The program is being led by Syd Kennedy, a long-time Suburban FC player who now plays professionally for the Halifax Tides. Kennedy has been on the ground for the first wave of school visits, working directly with students through their regular PE blocks.
“This is the club I grew up in, and these are the schools right next door to it,” Kennedy said. “If we can get more kids playing, not just in club programs, but in their gym class on a Tuesday morning, that’s the whole point!.“
What the program looks like
- Suburban FC visits are built around the existing school day, not added on top of it.
- Sessions run during scheduled PE/gym class blocks, with the club’s technical staff delivering rotating activities adapted to each age group and level
- There is no cost to the school / players
The program kicked off this spring with visits to schools across the Suburban FC communities, with this program open to any school in the area that wants to take part!
Each partner school receives a Suburban FC support package that includes equipment, balls, a school flag, registration/participation information for families, and exclusive registration incentives for students. Suburban also provides cones, pinnies, and portable goals as needed, and works with schools leads & teachers on session ideas they can run themselves after the visits.
All sessions are aligned with Canada Soccer’s Player Development framework – Active Start (K-1), FUNdamentals (Grades 2-4), Learn to Train (Grades 5-8), and Soccer For Life (Grades 9+) – so the activities map onto what teachers are already working toward!
Why the club is doing it
The school program sits inside a broader push to make soccer more accessible in our club’s area. Suburban FC sees it as serving several goals, from growing participation at the grassroots level, giving teachers another set of hands and ideas for developing young players/athletes, building community connection, and supporting the schools themselves!
The delivery model is intentionally flexible. Some schools work better as full-day rotating visits that touch hundreds of students in one day. Others – those with strong leadership and room for a longer relationship – get a multi-week block that allows for developmental progression. Junior high and high schools, where gym time is tighter, can opt into a targeted time-window model that runs over three to four weeks.
“We didn’t want to walk in with a fixed program and tell schools to fit around it,” Kennedy said. “We asked what would actually work for them, and built from there.”
Aligned with national and global initiatives
The Suburban FC schools program runs alongside two larger programs that have provided resources to the club.
The first, the ‘Canada Soccer in School’ initiative – our national governing body’s program for embedding soccer into the school day, supplying training and resources to clubs and educators delivering grassroots soccer (learn more here canadasoccer-schools.com)
The second, the ‘FIFA in Schools’ project – the global federation’s school-based initiative, which has donated some balls to Suburban FC to support the program.
Suburban FC’s approach builds on those frameworks at the community level – putting the people, the equipment, and the curriculum-aligned sessions directly into local gyms and schoolyards.
What’s next
The club plans to expand the program in the fall, with the goal of making school visits an annual fixture and identifying ongoing points of contact at each partner school. Longer-term, Suburban FC wants to build a clear pathway from school participation into community soccer – and to show up for school events like Spring Flings, activity days, and end-of-year tournaments. With the attention on soccer in our communities & countries at an all-time high with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, this is only the beginning!
For Kennedy, the project is also personal. “Every kid I worked with this week is someone who might walk past our pitch in three years and decide to try out. Or might just keep playing pickup with their friends. Both of those are wins!”
Schools or PE teachers interested in partnering with Suburban FC can contact the club directly – syd.kennedy@suburbanfc.ca
