On most weekends, DYFN's youth players can be found competing, chasing results and rankings. But on Saturday mornings at the Trotter's Crossing Complex in Mount Laurel, a different kind of soccer takes center stage — one measured not in goals, but in smiles, high-fives, and small breakthroughs.
TOPSoccer — The Outreach Program for Soccer — is the official community-based training and team placement initiative for young athletes with physical or mental disabilities, run through New Jersey Youth Soccer and US Youth Soccer. Unlike traditional competitive leagues, its emphasis is squarely on development, meaningful participation, fitness, and self-esteem rather than winning.
Its signature feature is the Buddy system: every TOPSoccer athlete is paired with a trained volunteer — often a local club or high school soccer player — who provides dedicated one-on-one support throughout each session. Buddies complete a free training course, offered statewide through New Jersey Youth Soccer with sponsorship from RWJBarnabas Health, that prepares them to create fun, safe, and inclusive experiences on the field.
For DYFN's volunteers, the buddy role flips the usual script. Players accustomed to being coached become mentors themselves — learning patience, communication, and empathy in ways that no drill or match can teach. Among them is Izabella "Izzy" David, who participates as a buddy with the Mount Laurel, NJ chapter, arriving each Saturday to guide a younger athlete through dribbling and shooting — and leaving having practiced leadership.
That experience compounds. Players who volunteer as buddies carry those habits back to their own teams: encouraging struggling teammates, celebrating effort over outcome, and understanding that character on the field matters as much as skill. Izabella is an example and a role model — one of the DYFN players showing what it looks like to give back to the community. In serving others through the game, DYFN's athletes are establishing themselves as the kind of role models youth sports is meant to produce.
The Mount Laurel United TOPSoccer chapter — the first established in New Jersey — welcomes children with special needs, ages 5 to 13, from any township at no registration cost. Sessions run Saturday mornings from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. at the Trotter's Crossing Complex on Walton Avenue. Volunteer buddies ages 11 and up are welcome, and the program provides community service verification letters for students who need them.
For DYFN families looking for a way to give back through the game their children love, the path is simple: register through Mount Laurel United's website, complete the free buddy training, and show up ready to make Saturday mornings matter.
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