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A programming change by Whitehorse Minor Soccer has at least one parent threatening to pull her child from the league.

The change will see boys and girls in the tots program playing on all-boys or all-girls teams this season.

Anna Pugh said she was stunned to hear the local league, which houses an indoor soccer program over the winter at the Canada Games Centre, would introduce a program that will "segregate鈥� tot teams according to gender.

After registering her four-year-old daughter in the program last week, she is now threatening to pull her from the league if changes aren't made.

She believes the association should have advertised this change prior to registration, or at the very least conducted a parent poll.

"I thought we were long past segregating little children on the basis of gender,鈥� Pugh told the Star today. "It sets a backward precedent. As hockey and other sports move to a more gender-inclusive policy, Whitehorse Minor Soccer seems to be taking a step back in time.

"It's this idea that girls and boys can't be peers and equals, and how does that end up translating in their brains as they grow up if they're always told that they're different and separate and need to be separated? It's not a very healthy thing to be telling a small child. I think it's taking adult views of things and pushing them onto little kids.鈥�

But the local association's president Geoff Woodhouse said the change to gender-specific teams is aimed at helping both boys and girls get an early jump on the game.

"They're not playing games at that age,鈥� he explained. "They're playing skill development games. It's dribbling around cones, playing games like 鈥榃hat Time Is It Mr. Wolf' with a soccer ball, it's doing a bunch of different things getting them used to being on a gym floor with a soccer ball.鈥�

The initiative was presented by local Derric Lewis, owner of the The Soccer Shoppe in Riverdale. Lewis could not be reached by the Star for comment today.

According to Woodhouse, the decision to implement gender-specific teams is based on differentiated learning styles and attention spans between boys and girls.

"He would like to try splitting them up, and see if that works better,鈥� Woodhouse said of Lewis. "Now, is this something that we're married to? No. It's a trial.鈥�

Woodhouse said implementing the strategy in the youngest division was done simply as an entry point. All other divisions will remain co-ed.

"If we can have boys and girls coming in developing the basic skills, why not? They're both able to learn better, and this is not anything to do with one or the other. It's both. If they have different learning styles, then they will both benefit.鈥�

Woodhouse said the initiative is meant to keep girls playing the game into their teens.

"This is not meant to be the whole solution for that, but it may be part of it,鈥� he said. "It's just a piece of the puzzle, from our point of view.鈥�

Woodhouse said the league has received two complaints about the change, but also noted there are many parents in favour of the change.

"There are both minds here,鈥� he said. "We're going to give this a try. Do I expect it to be miraculous? No.

"There are lots of opinions on lots of issues. This is only one of them. We have had changes before where there has been strong reaction and have had people pull their kids before. That's fine. I fully accept the fact that there are people that have principles. Sometimes our league just doesn't match up with those.鈥�

More than 50 players are currently registered in the tots program for the upcoming season.

Pugh is a former minor soccer player and coach. She said in the past, the tots program has been coached by members of the territory's junior development teams.

The change to gender-specific teams is concerning to parents of both girls and boys, she said.

"They're doing it as an experiment. The way their theory goes is that because boys and girls learn so differently, maybe they need to split them up at age four so that will retain them in soccer throughout the whole of their childhood.

"My view is that's ridiculous,鈥� she said. "It's totally not founded on anything other than speculation. And having been a coach, the bigger problem is not giving boys and girls equal playing time or equal opportunities to develop later on when parent coaches become really concerned about who's going to win and who's scoring goals.鈥�

Pugh said that four-year-old soccer players have little to no concerns about gender and are still learning the skill of not picking up the ball with their hands.

"I think that it sends a really weird message, one not really founded on any science,鈥� she said. "They might have good intentions, but I don't think that they really have a strong enough reason to do this that it makes sense to do it. That's my view.鈥�