If you get out to Striker Park on Pouncey Tract Road for a 7 on 7 coed soccer game, you are likely to see one of the most curious Little League moments around – the kids will be on the sidelines screaming at their parents who are huffing and puffing around the field.

"Those kids are out there yelling, 'Go, Dad, kick it, kick it,' just like their parents might yell at them," chuckles Bev Carrey, recreation, adult and camps director for the Richmond Strikers Soccer Club. "A lot of the Over 40 teams are formed by parents whose kids play together on one of our youth clubs. Many are beginners who never touched a soccer ball in their life, but they get interested from watching their kids play."

With an enrollment of some 600 players in its Over 40 Coed League and its Under 40 Coed League, the Richmond Strikers Soccer Club offers a summer schedule and a fall schedule. The Under 40 Coed League is populated primarily by former youth league soccer players – male and female – who want to stay active while reliving those great soccer memories of their younger years. And the Over 40 Leaguers are generally lifelong soccer buffs who want a slower more genteel game with their pals.

The 7 on 7 format helps with that. Certainly it's more laid back. Games are held on smaller fields (40 yards by 60 yards) and there's no off-sides or slide tackling. Each game gets its own referee and the Strikers insist on a family atmosphere with no rough language or alcohol allowed.

For many recreational soccer players, their team members are the nucleus of their social life. Some of the more dedicated athletes will go year-round with the same teammates, playing on both the summer and fall Striker adult leagues, and then moving to indoor soccer at the Sports Center of Richmond (SCOR) or U-TURN Sports Performance Academy in the winter.

Often work colleagues form a team. "We get a lot of players from Capital One, Genworth, the YMCA. We've even had a team from a hair salon," says Carrey.

All games take place at Striker Park, 4801 Pouncey Tract Road on weekday evenings in the summer and Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the fall. Games are over by 10 p.m. at the latest, with the fall evening games played under the lights. The per-person cost is $100 per season. Summer season registration opens May 1 at www.richmondstrikers.com.

Mike McCormick, the communications director for the Sports Backers, moved to Richmond in 2007 from Washington, D.C., where he spent four years working for the White House Press Office. He is a former national champion whitewater kayaker and father of two.

LAST TIME OUT: A family affair leads to the National Duathlon Festival.