The Warwick Firefighter’s Soccer Club kicked off it’s season recently for both its recreational and competitive programs at the Winslow Park fields in Warwick.

WFFSC has become one of the top youth soccer programs throughout all of New England, and with roughly 900 players and 36 competitive teams entering 2019, it is the largest club in Rhode Island for another year.

“Things are going great; we field 36 competitive teams this season which is the most in Rhode Island. This is the largest (youth soccer program) in the state, things are going well. We have some new coaches coming in and we will rely heavily on them. We hope that these coaches will love coaching as much as the rest of us do and will and help prepare the kids for the future whether they want to play competitively or not,” said WFFSC President Doyle Byrd.

2019 marks the 35th season of the WFFSC, and Byrd has been excited to see many players new and old help make the program as successful as it has been over the past decade.

“At 35 years now, since our first year in 1984, we’re starting to see a lot of people coming back to watch their kids, grandkids. A lot of them come back to coach, it’s good to those people come back and remain involved with the program,” said Byrd, who also credited the club’s strong, experienced board of directors as well in making the program elite.

“When I first took over the club it was much smaller, so to see it grow into what is now the largest club in the state is quite an accomplishment for everybody on the board. Some of the members have been here for over 20 years, pretty much everyone involved has been here for several years. It’s a strong group,” said Byrd.

Overall, Byrd and company hope to continue to watch WFFSC grow, and provide local children the opportunity to learn the sport, have fun, and make friends along the way.

“It’s for the kids, that’s why we do it,” said Byrd. “We like watching the kids play … we get a lot of satisfaction watching them play and have fun.”