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Sports

RAVE Soccer Provides Exercise and Excitement

The program, which finishes its season Aug. 14, allows individuals 8-years-old and older with physical and/or mental disabilities to enjoy the sport and spend time with friends

Chances are if you catch Mike Carlson leaving the soccer field on a Sunday night, you’ll be greeted with a big hug.

The Inver Grove Heights resident, who plays weekly alongside his friends, can’t hide his big smile or his enthusiasm after exercising for an hour on the pitch.

“A lot of Special Olympics-type athletes don’t have a chance to get hard exercise like this unless they’re in an environment that makes it fun,” said Dave Carlson, Mike’s father. “So without a situation like this for soccer, they’d be at home watching TV and eating snacks. This is the best thing for them.”

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Mike Carlson plays for the RAVE TOPSoccer team, a community-based soccer program for children and adults above the age of 8 with physical and/or mental disabilities. The RAVE draws individuals primarily from Apple Valley, Eagan and Burnsville but also has residents of Lakeville, Inver Grove Heights, Rosemount, Savage and Farmington on its roster.

Each week from early-June to mid-August, eight teams from five TOPSoccer locations near the metro meet at the Lexington-Diffley Athletic Fields in Eagan to play a game or two. The RAVE and its approximately 35 athletes, break into two teams each week to compete.

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Their final game of the season is Sunday, Aug. 14.

TOPSoccer is not affiliated with Special Olympics Minnesota. Instead, it is run through the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association and gives individuals with disabilities a chance to play soccer throughout the summer. RAVE coach Jeff Pricco said there are an estimated 120 players in the Twin Cities area that compete for TOPSoccer teams, including Coon Rapids, Stillwater/Lakeland, Northfield, Eden Prairie/Shakopee/Edina and the RAVE squad.

It allows longtime friends to spend time together and have fun, like Joey Blurton and Tiffany Norton. The Eagan natives, now 24 and 20 years old, respectively, went to school together and decided to start playing soccer when they were younger.

Blurton said he enjoys playing forward or defense, but the best part of playing for the RAVE is the people he’s with.

“I get to be with my friends here a lot,” he said.

Coaches Meghan Mike and Anne Satterstrom, volunteers who began working with the RAVE three years ago, said seeing players of all ages, abilities and backgrounds coming together and having fun makes it an enjoyable experience.

“Seeing these kids out there smiling, having a blast,” Satterstrom said. “Even if they aren’t winning at the end of the game, they’re always out there having so much fun.”

Across the board, from Eastview graduate Nolan Anderson to Burnsville resident Emily Pricco, members of the RAVE program—win or lose—leave the field excited about the opportunity to play.

After Sunday’s matches ended, the RAVE lined up to shake hands with their opponents, then huddled together to do one last “Go Team” chant before they headed home. The chant, like the smiles on their faces, said it all.

“I’m not even sure who won tonight, and that’s kind of secondary,” Dave Carlson said. “I think both teams are claiming victory right now, which is great.”

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