Birdville Area Youth Futbol Alliance

Good evening.

I wanted to update all of you on the field maintenance that is going on at Green Valley this week. As most of you are aware right now we are in the middle of our field maintenance window where no activity is scheduled at Green Valley. This window is needed to get the fields mowed, overseeded with rye grass, and allow close to two weeks for the seed to germinate before we play on the fields again on the 23rd.

With all the rain that we have gotten in the last week every time the crews attempted to get a mower/tractor on the fields they were too wet and created ruts on the field. At this point it looks like our rye grass will be applied beginning at 7:00am tomorrow morning.

This leaves us with some problems based on the germination time needed for the grass and our activities scheduled beginning on Friday night at Green Valley.

We have discussed several options with the city, and none of them are perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but bottom line is that we need to get the rye down this year, and we have to have time for it to germinate and be ready for play in the Spring. This is a major factor in our fields being in good condition in the Spring.

With all of that said I wanted to let you know what steps we are taking to work through this issue.

1. We are working with some of our partner associations to see if we can move games over to their fields at the same times.

2. We may move a couple of fields to other locations for a day to allow field closure while still allowing play to go on.

3. We may play some small number of games on certain fields just where they are.

4. If no other options exist a game may need to be rescheduled, maybe a small shift in time or to another day. We would not force a time change on you, but you may be asked if a different time works. If not we would work with the teams to find an appropriate time. (we hope to severely minimize this option)

I wanted you to be aware of whats going on now, as as we get agreement for other association we will move games on the schedule. If we move a game we will communicate to you that it was done and where. We will not be expecting you to keep looking to see where you game is, but we didn't want you to be in there checking and see you were playing a game in KSA against another BAYFA team and wonder what was going on.

We will continue working hard on this issue and should have a pretty good sense of what is happening in the next couple of days. We are hoping to minimize any impact to all of you with the exception of a short drive to a different field.

Our make up picture day is next Saturday, so if a game is moved we will schedule picture in time for you to get to your playing location. You should have all gotten a note from your commissioner asking if you still need pictures taken. If you have responded to them you are good, if you haven't gotten a note, or have not responded please let me know by Thursday evening so we can get all plans finalized.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you for your cooperation as we work through this important field maintenance issue.

Darren

There is some standing water on a few fields, which we hope will dry off with the wind, and efforts tomorrow morning to roll any puddles out so as not to impact play that much.

Please understand that in a perfect world we would wait and only play on warm sunny days, but with the impacts of the rain so far this season we are getting to be in very difficult shape.

If there are many more rainouts we will not be able to get games played.

Our thought process now is that it will be better to play on a field that is a little wet, or a little muddy than to not get games in by the end of the season.

There is no perfect answer to this situation, and discussions can be had on both sides of the issue. We will contine to monitor fields to ensure safety and will plan on playing all games as scheduled this weekend. Please check the rainout hotline or the website before your game though in case something happens tomorrow that changes this decision after play has started in the morning. We don't anticipate that, but anything can happen at this point (like more storms tonight).

Our fields will then be closed beginning Monday the 12th through Friday October 23rd for overseeding of rye grass. Any damage to the fields from this weekend should be able to be rehabilitated by the 23rd.

It is supposed to be cool in the morning, so please dress your chilrden appropriately. If you are playing away please check that associations rain out information, links can be found on our rain out page at www.bayfasoccer.com.

Thank you for your understanding as we do our best to allow all the kids to have fun and play soccer, even if their uniform gets a little dirty.

Darren

I wanted to updated the Presidents blog as we are busy getting ready for our Fall 2009 season.  Time passes quickly and it is only a week and a half away.  I will apologize in advance for the length of this blog update.  It has been a long time since the last one.  I will make a concerted effort to keep this section much more current and relevant.

As many of you know that have been in the association awhile we are way ahead of the game in several aspects this season especially with our uniform processes that have allowed us to receive, distribute and fix many uniform issues well before the season starts.  I know I am very happy not to be waiting on UPS to drop off 50 boxes of uniforms, and have to get them to Green Valley to be sorted and passed out the Friday night before the season starts.  I am sure this is a positive thing for you and all your players as well.

Your commissioners have worked very hard this year to make sure we have everything handled quickly and efficiently.  I would like to thank them for those efforts (Shea Wiseman U5 and U6, Wayne Apple U9 and U10, April Quinichet U11+, and our newest commissioner Paul Landry at U7 and U8.

Registration Numbers

We shared with the coaches at the coaches meetings that we had numbers issues this season as has almost all associations in the Northern Mid-Cities area.    We have worked to be flexible and make accommodations to meet all financial situations.  It is important that children who want to play soccer have that opportunity, whether the economy is struggling or not.  Through these efforts we are almost back to last season’s numbers with registrations still coming in every day. 

Online Registration

Online registration has been a great success this season.  We had over 50% of our registrations were handled through the online process.  We will continue to focus in this area to increase participation.  This is the fastest, easiest, and least labor intensive way to get registered quickly and accurately.  It also allows us great flexibility with scholarships, payment plans, invoicing and tracking.  Your willingness to work through this process with us is appreciated.

Website

You will notice a different look and feel to our website.  Tracy Landry has volunteered to work on the website for us.  We are excited about the changes that have already been made, and will be working to ensure that content is concise and timely and meets your needs.  If you have any suggestions for the website or content you would like to see please shoot us a note.

Roster Sizes

Some teams will have less players than in the past this is partially due to us working to decrease our max roster size in many age groups.  This is important for us to work on to ensure that all playing opportunities are available to teams.  We don’t play at the recommended playing sizes in many age groups, but if a coach wants to go to a tournament we don’t want them to be prevented from doing that because of the size of the roster the association created for them.

Academy

Some age groups are smaller than others due to other sports and even soccer influences.  Academy soccer has created a shortfall in the U9 and U10 age groups.   We will be working to set up an internal academy program that will allow for additional development and game play for these ages without some of the costs associated with the regular club academy’s.  We will be getting information out on this, but we need your help for this to be successful.  The efforts this year weren’t fielding enough players to make a game day roster.  Our Director of Coaching Ken Harmon will be putting some more information together on this in the near future.

Volunteer Efforts (concession stand, field marshal)

We are working to enhance our volunteer program which includes field marshal and concession stand duty.  We have made many changes in the concession stand to make this  process much easier, and we have enhanced our field marshal program to include procedures, maps, schedules, referee assignments…etc.  Your help and participation when your team is scheduled is greatly appreciated.

We are also working to enhance our concession stand offerings, so if any of you have any suggestions please let us know and we will see what we can do.

Fields

We have been working with our partners at the City of North Richland Hills, and as you will see the field conditions at Green Valley will be very good for the Fall Season.  Field maintenance is an ongoing issue for all cities and associations.  To enhance this effort we will be closing the Green Valley Fields from October 12th – October 23rd to allow for over seeding of Rye grass.  This is a very important step that will ensure that in the Spring that we are playing on decent turf.  We appreciate your understanding of this possible break in games.

Game Day Conduct

As always thank you in advance for your conduct during the games.  We are working hard with our referees to ensure that they are meeting dependability and competency standards.  We have been very successful on dependability, and there has been very few games where there was not a crew in place.  There may be times that from your perspective the referee crew didn’t handle things as they should.  If that happens, let us know and we will work to take care of additional training or eliminating assignments after the fact.  Please understand that though some calls may not be the best, you would be hard pressed to find a referee that was intentionally calling against one team to change the outcome of a game where the score is not kept.  Please also make sure that if there are concerns that they are handled appropriately and not by yelling or making comments at the referee.  We will handle all referee issues, but it makes it tough if you were ejected from the game, or we have a report from parents or field marshals that there was inappropriate activity on the sidelines.   We are all here for the kids to have fun.  We get worked up at times (I do as well), please make a concerted effort to handle things correctly so we can develop our young referees and get them ready for the next levels.  We have way to many quit now because they don’t like being yelled at for 60 minutes.  Most of us don’t want to be yelled at for an entire U7 game for $14.00.  We shouldn’t expect a young referee to do that either.

Player ID Cards

Two seasons ago we started the coach ID program that requires all coaches to have their coach ID with their picture on a lanyard during games.  This has been very successful.

This season we are starting the process of having player cards with pictures for all our players.  We are starting this with our NMCSL Division A teams.  We will be generating cards, and will be doing spot checks at the fields for these players.  This is a direction that is important at the higher levels, and we want our kids and our association to be ready if this becomes a widespread implementation.  If any of you want to go ahead and log into your player account and upload a picture feel free to do that (many of you have already), that will put us that much ahead of the game.

Player Development Program

We are in process of developing a vendor lead Player Development Program.  As soon as we have information available on that we will get it out to everybody.  We highly encourage participation in these programs, as it does make a great deal of difference in playing ability at all ages.

Futbol de Calle

Pick up games will continue this season, but will be on Monday nights from 6:30 – 8:00.  We had several requests to change this from Wednesday nights to eliminate any conflict with church so we will try Monday.  Please come out, let the kids get some touches in small sided games.  Let them work on creativity in their play without having the pressure of parents, coaches, grandparents watching them closely.  This is a great time for the kids to just be kids and try to develop the passion for soccer that is rampant in the rest of the world.  Adults we will have fields for you to play as well.    Come out with your kids, let them play and head to a field and have some fun yourself.    Coaches if you can avoid running practices during this time it would be appreciated so players can take advantage of this additional developmental opportunity.

Communications

Though we work to ensure that we handle communications appropriately this is one of the areas that no matter how well it is done, can always have some improvement.  We have had some issues this year on roster sizes that were not communicated well by the association an have caused some frustration.    If  you see areas where we are falling short please let us know so we can correct them as quickly as possible.

I think I will call it good for tonight.  I know there are more things to talk about, and the more I sit here the longer this gets.  I will save that for the next installment which should be out in a much more timely manner than past updates.

The board thanks you for your help and support.  We are here to allow all the children to play soccer, develop, and have fun.  If there are things we can improve on please let us know.

See you next Saturday.

Darren

To: All BAYFA Members
Good morning. We are well into the swing of things for this season, and there are a few recurring themes that we have seen both in BAYFA and in NMCSL.

I wanted to take a moment and share a few of these with you and ask for your help with these issues.

1. Quality and Availability of Referees - Currently in North Texas there is a referee shortage. Plano Premier League cancelled 30+ games on the first week of the season because they did not have referee's available to work them. We are working to recruit and train quality referee's but we need your help.
A. We have to grow our young referee pool. We have many young referees that refuse to center games over U6 because they get yelled at too much by parents. Last season we had many issues where profanity was used toward referee's and this season we are seeing an increase in yelling amongst parents and coaches across the field. This puts a young referee in a very difficult situation. They get frustrated, then they don?t want to ref anymore. Then we get complaints because the referee's are not experienced or are not calling a U7 game the way they should. It is important to remember that soccer play at these ages is about development and so is the reffing. Score is not kept, so the handling call that a parent believes should have been called is not the end of the world. I would bet that none of you would accept $12.00 for you, your wife, or your son or daughter to be called some of the things our referee's have, or be treated like they have been in the last two seasons.
B. Referee Assigning: We have moved to a new online referee assigning system. If you are a referee and have not signed up yet please follow this link and get registered. http://www.gotsport.com/asp/officials/register.asp?AssignorID=78. There will be some glitches here, but in the long run it will offer us access to a larger pool, and make the assignor job much easier to accomplish. We appreciate your understanding as we work through this.
C. As a parent, coach, and referee I can assure you that the game looks much different from each position and role. Please be cognizant of this fact, and if you would like to help out please let us know and we can get a class scheduled for you to go through the training and get licensed. We could really use more adult referee's in the area.
Please understand this is not just an issue here, but is one that that the soccer community as a whole is dealing with as soccer gets more intense at the younger ages. Other NMCSL associations are experiencing the same things and are taking additional steps with their zero tolerance policies as well.
For more information on our Zero tolerance policy please see our by-laws under the coaches corner section of www.bayfasoccer.com

2. Our marketing in the Hispanic community has paid dividends and we have many more Hispanic players in the league than ever before. As that has happened we have seen an increase in racially inappropriate remarks on our fields and the other associations fields towards Hispanic players and teams. I am pasting below the text of an email that I sent to all NMCSL presidents about this situation earlier this season. I want you to be aware of it, and know that it is not accepted at other associations and it is not accepted here. Please help us in this area, as I don't want to be getting complaints from other associations about our parents and coaches, and I don't want to hear them on our fields from our parents and coaches. All associations have promised to deal with these situations quickly.
Some situations in the first two points have come close to a violation of Texas Penal Code 42.01 (Disorderly Conduct: ie. Language, Gestures, Threats). Please remember that the standard that is set by the code is greater than what we consider acceptable within the association. The association uses the NTSSA Parents Code of Conduct (rule 11.2 in the North Texas by-laws http://www.ntxsoccer.org/Bylaws/ntssa_rules.pdf) for situations like this. Items that fall on the wrong side of proper behavior and up to the Texas Ordnances will be handled under the Parents Code of Conduct and could result in A&D hearings within the association or NMCSL.
NMCSL Presidents:
Good evening. I just got back from a game at our fields that had an incident after the game. We will be working through all the corresponding issues that are associated with it in the coming days. I wanted to drop all a note as we have seen a trend that I wanted to see if we could have some help on.
We have had a lot of comments this season and last about Hispanic players in our association. We have had coaches tell players to "go back to Mexico", we have had coaches ask our coaches "where they got all the Mexican kids", we have had parents make derogatory comments about Hispanics, or comments about some of them not speaking English on the field. I think the specific comment was "I thought we were in America, don't they know they should be speaking English".
These comments are difficult for our players, and they are not something that any of them should have to put up with.
Our territory is 4 cities. At least 1/2 of that area is largely Hispanic. We offer bi-lingual registration, we offer all marketing materials and registration materials in Spanish and in English. We have a board position that is Director of Hispanic Marketing. We have and will continue to market to all soccer players in our territory, including those that are not Caucasian. Any help that we can get in making sure that these players have a positive experience as they work their way into North Texas Soccer Community would be appreciated. We believe that them playing in an organized format like North Texas offers, and the opportunities associated with it are worth the additional costs and the additional work that we incur.
In the future I will shoot a note to each one of you when I get a complaint. It is something we have just looked past up until now, but it is getting to the point that it is not fair to these kids for us to continue to handle in this manner.
I appreciate your help.
Darren

3. Spirit of the Game Rule - for those playing in NMCSL this has been a huge topic for you. NMCSL has a spirit of the game rule that indicates that if a team is up by over 6 goals they should be making adjustments to not continue to run the score up. Contrary to what some of you have been told it is not the referee's job to enforce this, it is up to the association after the fact to find out what happened, and ensure that there is compliance with this effort. I don't want to get into a debate on the pro's and con's on this as that won't be very beneficial. Please do what you can to ensure compliance, and if you have a lopsided game please be prepared to let us know what steps you took to change up, let other kids score, not run the score up?.etc.

Now on to the good stuff:

4. BAYFA teams have been doing very well in NMCSL this year. Our U9 teams are playing at a very high level compared to the other U9 teams . There have been some seeding issues this year and we will work on finding a way to better seed teams, but it is a testament to your coaching that these teams are playing well. Please continue to develop your players at all levels including taking advantage of skills and other developmental opportunities. Skills do matter. Just watch the replay of USA v Brazil.

5. Concession stand seems to be going fairly smoothly. Please remember that if you are scheduled we need to have team representation there. We have had to shut it down a few times, and that is money that we can't get back on product that we have already purchased.
The entire board is working hard to ensure that all our members have a safe place to play soccer. We want the environment to be fun, and to be developmental and competitive. If you have any suggestions on things we can work on please let your commissioner know and we will see what we can do to fix the problem or enhance the playing environment.
Coaches we appreciate all that you do to get your teams trained and ready for games. It is a huge time commitment and it is appreciated. Your work goes into these kids lives far beyond the 4 hours or so a week that you spend at practice and games.

Parents, thank you for juggling your schedules to get kids to multiple practices and games for multiple activities each week. Your efforts are appreciated by the coach and the rest of the team.

Please let us know if there is anything that myself or your board can do to help you out.

Darren

Registration has begun and we are getting ready for the Fall Season.  There has been a lot of work throughout the off-season that we hope will enhance your soccer experience this fall. 

1.  Watauga Fields - We are working with the city of Watauga on field items, and construction on the restroom facility is underway.  We plan on having some form of concession availability at Watauga on Saturday's this year.

2.  Concessions - we are re-working our concession menu, and will continue to offer popular items from last year such as ice cream, cappuccino, and chicken biscuits.

3.  Registration- we will continue to take credit cards at all registration venues.  Bi-Lingual registration is available at Green Valley.  We have switched to a different online registration tool.  This does not charge the $7.00 per transaction fee that the last service did.  This will help make online registration accessible to all.

4.  Coaching Education - we have scheduled an G and F clinic at Green Valley in August.  Dates are on the league Calendar.  Contact John Tweet if interested in signing up.

5.  Referee Education - we have scheduled a Grade 8 and a Grade 9 referee clinic as well this season.  Parents please consider taking the Grade 8 clinic and working some games.  Working as a referee even on the younger games provides a different perspective to the game, and helps as you participate with your children in their games as well.  

For those players that have already turned 12, please consider becoming a referee.  It is a good way to learn more about the game, and earn some money in a safe environment.  Doesn't get much better than to earn some money participating in the sport that you love.

6. Uniforms - the new uniform styles have been picked and the initial order has been placed.  Coaches you will be getting a note from your commissioner if your color was not available, and to get the jersey numbers that your players had last season.  We need the jersey numbers for your team so as soon as registration closes and team formation is done we can make sure we get the appropriate size and number matched up and the uniforms in quickly.  If we do not get this information from you we will be ordering sequential numbering on your teams uniforms.

We are excited about the fall season, and are working to make sure that it is a very positive season for all involved.  If you have any thoughts, questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know so we can continue to improve the program in our association.

Darren West
President
Birdville Area Youth Futbol Alliance

The season is just around the corner, and I wanted to take a minute to fill you all in on some information for the Spring Season.

We are very excited about some of the things going on this Season, and hope you will be as well.

1.  Schedules and Communications:  Schedules have been generated and games have been moved to field times.   The online schedule should be the correct schedule at all times.  That is not to say that games will be moved regularly and that you have to keep checking there, they will not be moved without knowledge and approval from both coaches.  Please use the online schedule as the most current version.

March 10th, March 17th, and April 7th are all blacked out on everybody's schedule.  This will accommodate both weekends of Spring Break and Easter weekend for the first time ever in our association. 

2.  Skills sessions:  Skills for all players from U5 - U19 are of major importance.  This season we will be handling U5 - U12 Skills differently than we did last season.  This season a 6 session package will cost $20.00.  This is $3.33 per session, and is much lower than you will be able to find anywhere else.  By doing it this way we can get a good gauge on the number of coaches needed, and make sure we are staffed appropriately.  There will be a table at Green Valley on opening day for skills sessions registration that will have all the dates.  Sessions will be on Friday's from 6:00pm to 7:00pm.  Please consider this opportunity for your children.

Speed and Agility sessions will be held by Chris Hall of Quickstrike training on Wednesday nights beginning 02/28/2007 at the Green Valley complex.  Speed and Agility helps for all sports, not just soccer.

Ages 10 and under 5-6pm, and ages 11 and up 6-7:30pm
Cost is $10.00 per session paid at class.

3.  Concession Stand Up-Dates - We have had a consistent concession stand menu for many years.  This season we will be partnering with Chic-Fil-A, and will be serving Chicken biscuits on Saturday mornings.  We will also be selling fresh hot chocolate, and 2 flavors of Cappuccino.  You won?t need to make a stop at the gas station on the way to the fields any more.  We will also be selling Dreyers ice cream shortly after the season starts.  If any of you have any suggestions for additional concession stand items please let us know. 

The Concession schedule will be online and we will try to get reminder emails out each week.  Please help us out by making sure that when your team is scheduled that you have representation. 

4.  Camps - We have entered in to a contract with MLS Camps and will be offering 2 summer camps this year.  1 individual skills camp for all ages, and a team strategy camp for teams that are in the TOC age groups.  More information and dates will be available shortly.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to make improvements to the association.

Thanks for all your help and support.

Today marks the 1st day of registration for the Spring Season. 

The off season has been a little hectic this year but I wanted to provide some information about the Spring Season that some of you may be interested in.

Registration:  Registration at the Green Valley soccer complex begins tonight at 6:00.  It will go every Thursday and Saturday in January.  You can register during regular business hours at the Watauga recreational center, or you can register online at www.bayfasoccer.com.

U5/U6 Divisions:  In the Fall season our U5/U6 divisions were pushed back several weeks because of low numbers in the U5 age group.  We believe those low numbers were a result of some of our marketing material not being delivered as it was intended.  The door to door marketing is huge for us in the U5 age groups, and many areas of our territory were missed.  This season we have assurances from the vendor that all problems have been taken care of, so we believe that our numbers will be back up in these age groups.  Whether this is the case or not we will not push back the start of the season. We made the best decision we believed we could at the time, and it turned out to be a fairly poor decision.  Please accept our apologies for this.  This season we will not have to try to squeeze games into less weeks.

Scheduling:  This Spring we have a season under our belt for our online scheduling and scoring system.  We believe we have some of the bugs worked out, and have some things in place to not schedule heavily on Sundays as we did last season.  I can't guarantee you won't have Sunday games at all, but these should primarily be rainouts.  Scheduling should be much better this season.

Watauga:  We will be beginning our 2nd season with Watauga.  We are working on the goal size differences at U5, and will be very cognizant of Sunday games at Watauga until restroom facilities are available.   We will also be looking to provide picture service at this complex as well to make it easier for everybody on picture day.

Skills:  I don't really know what to say here, I guess we are needing some help from all of you.  Last season we had incredible turnout for skills.  The first 4 weeks we had at times close to 500 children in attendance.  An average for the 4 weeks was probably 300 or so.  Once we switched to a nominal fee our numbers dropped to 20 - 30.  We believe that skills are an invaluable program to offer at the associations fields.  If you have any suggestions on how we can format that this season please let us know.   We have to have some type of commitment from folks to get the right number of coaches out here. 

Speed and Agility:   We will again be offering weekly Speed and Agility sessions.  Details on these should be available shortly.  The participants from last season really enjoyed these sessions, and they do make a difference in all athletic endeavors.

Pictures:  We are in the process of reviewing bids for our picture vendor.  If there are any outstanding issues or problems from last years pictures please let us know and we will try to facilitate their resolution.

Coaches:  Coaches Clinics schedules should be available soon. Your commissioner will be working with you to make sure that you have the required licenses for your age groups.

NMCSL:  I sent a note to all the NMCSL age level coaches about new rescheduling procedures.  Another note on NMCSL is that there has been a request made from at least one new association to join NMCSL.  If this happens it will be bring new competition to our playing league at the ages of U13 and above.  This would be a huge benefit to our association, and our teams that have played the same teams over and over for close 5 and 6 years now.  That vote is to take place tonight.  We will share the results with the coaches as soon as they are available and they can pass the information along as it could mean travel to different fields for some of our teams.

If you have any questions thoughts or concerns please let us know.  Please take the time to think about skills, and offer some suggestions.  There was benefit in them last season and we need to find a way to make them accessible again.

Darren

Subject:        U:  Couple of items

The season begins tomorrow, and just wanted to send a reminder on a couple of items.

1.  Game Fields are for games only.  This is a city rule, not an association rule.  This season we have seen a huge amount of people at the fields, and are having to ask people to leave the fields almost every night.  Coaches, this does jeopardize our relationship with the city. 

I have regular conversations with the city about other people using the fields, and we are working hard to take care of that.  We can't however continue a good relationship with the city when we have so many people that are not following the rules within our association.

I understand as a coach you want your kids to be able to see what they will be playing on.  We are all in the same boat, but we are being put in a situation of having to come and talk to folks every night.  It is really not how I want to spend my time, and I don't think you want to hear the same thing over and over either. 

2.  Watauga Fields - (7901 Indian Springs Rd, Watauga 76148)  I have heard some concerns about us having to play at new fields.  I wanted to give you guys some background on this to share with parents if they are unhappy.  The association is working to expand our registration base and establish relationships with each of our territory cities.  As we began that process Watauga was just finishing the plans for their new fields, to be ready this fall.  They were shopping around to sports associations they had relationships with  to find someone to run a soccer program for them.  We came in after a group had been chosen, but at that point it seemed to be bogging down.  Watauga contacted them, and let them know that they were changing course, and that we were going to run soccer.

We needed this for several reasons:
        1.  Watauga was going to have soccer - another soccer program decreases our registration base.
        2.  No other association can be under North Texas Soccer in this area - Though there are frustrations with being under North Texas, it does provide us with a lot, and we know that we can offer a better soccer experience than anybody else out there.

        3.  Field utilization - each season we have situations where our fields need to be shut down.  By having another location we can handle those items, and the maintenance closures without having to skip weeks.  As you can see by the fields at Green Valley, and the ones you will be playing on in Watauga, they are in very good shape.  We have worked hard on our relationship with the City, and they have been working hard for us.  We want to make sure we are doing what we need to do to make sure that maintenance periods are accommodated so we can continue to play on good fields.

        4.  This allows us another location for when we run a tournament.  We have no imminent plans, but we would like to do this, and field space for tournaments is very difficult to come by.

Watauga is working to increase their offerings to their citizens.  We can help them do this, and also expand our registration base with access to folks in the rec center, utility bill mailings, and parks flyers.  This is a win/win for us and Watauga.  They are working hard on their fields, and I believe you will enjoy the facility in the coming seasons. 

There will be walking trails, playground, and future plans for lighting that we will be working with them on.

3.  Uniforms - We have had some glitches with the uniforms.  Nothing overly major, but there will always be some.  We appreciate your cooperation, and understanding as we get all of these fixed for you.  We will fix those situations where uniforms don't fit.  Please make sure that you are making all adjustments possible with what you have before you tell us what you need different. 

4.  Concession Stand - You will be notified by your commissioner when you are scheduled.  Please make sure somebody from your team is there.  It is not fair when a team is schedule and nobody shows up.  We had a huge problem with this last year, which caused people to miss their kids games and the stand to be shut down.  We don?t wan to explore punitive measures like other sports associations do.  It is only an hour, but the profits help us to pay for additional opportunities like the skills sessions tonight.

Coaches, have a good first game this weekend.  We are looking forward to this season.  We have great uniform kits, we have excellent fields to play on, we have great volunteers like you guys, incredible development opportunities going on every Friday night in September for free, and great parents that help you and us out.   

Please let your commissioner or another board member know if you have any questions or concerns.  We are here to serve our members, and I think we can have a great season if we work together on issues as they arise.

Thanks for all you do, as a board we appreciate it.  The parents, and the children on your teams do as well.

Darren

The Fall season is just a few days away, and there are some things that I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of.

1.  Skills -  Skills begin September 8th at the Green Valley Complex.  The first 4 weeks are free.  Coaches, please encourage your teams to go out there, and if you are looking for activity ideas, please attend yourself and take notes of what they do.  We will evaluate participation and make a decision on what we can do in the future.  This is a great opportunity for development for all players, no matter what the age.

2.  New Fields - U5 - U10 will have another field in their rotation.  This season we will be playing at the new fields in Watauga off of Indian Springs (right next to the Watauga Rec Center).  The fields are numbered from the left to the right facing the fields.  1: U9/10.  2:  U7/8  3:  U6  4:  U5.  We are working on a map for these fields, and hope to have it online shortly.

3.  Playing Formats:  We are trying to meet the spirit of the small sided format without taking what we believe to be a trip down a very wrong path.  Formats will be as follows:

U5's 3v3
U6's 5v5 one of which is a keeper
U7's 6v6  one of which is a keeper
U8's 7v7 one of which is a keeper
U9's 7v7  one of which is a keeper
U10's 8v8 one of which is a keeper
U11+ 11v11 one of which is a keeper

Before I get a lot of emails on this and how can you play with 6 at U7, and the numbers just don't work out.  We are doing the best we can to ensure that your roster is at an acceptable limit under North Texas rules, but still allow you to play the way that you would like.  North Texas would like us to be playing 4v4 without a keeper at U8, and 6v6 with a keeper at U10.  We don't believe this is correct, and from our conversations with many of you we believe we are on the same page.  We are phasing this process in so no age group has to take players off the field as they move up.  We are not perfect in our process here, but there is a method, and hopefully we will be successful.

4.  Schedules:  Schedules will be online this season for all age groups.  Your email addresses are very important as if there is a change you will be notified via email, and if a game is moved you with receive an automatic notification.   Tentative schedules for U7's and U8's will be online hopefully today.  They are not final until you are notified as such.  Schedules for U9's and up, you will receive schedules like you normally do until we get them uploaded to the new package.  If you are coaching more than one team and your NMCSL schedule conflicts with what is showing for the U7's and U8's please let me know and I will get it fixed.  If you are coaching a 2nd team in U5 or U6 please let me know and we will get that taken care of as we schedule them. 

5.  Scoring:  Scoring for NMCSL playing teams will be updated by dialing a toll free number, and inputting the score.  You will need the game number and event number, and PIN number for this, and we will be providing that to you once it is finalized.

6.  Uniforms:  You will be notified as soon as we have a date for uniform pick up.  We will have them at Green Valley, and it will be your responsibility to get them picked up.    Please work with us on the uniforms.  We need to try to make the sizes and numbers work.  If there is a number that is wrong on a size we will not be recording a kit.  We will however fix issues where a uniform just won't fit a player.  We do ask that you shuffle your numbers around if this is the case as this is a cost that the league will just have to eat if we have to reorder.  We will work with each coach on a case by case basis for these.

        A.  Traveling teams - you are getting a home and away kit.  Please use them as such.  light is home, dark is away.  Home team changes in the event of a conflict.  At 9 they can start learning some responsibility in bringing both sets of jerseys with them to games.   That is part of the growth process that they will gain through being involved in soccer.

7.  Uniroyal sponsorship:  With your uniforms you will be getting some information and certificates for NTB.  The card will be good for a free soccer ball at either of the NTB stores listed on the form.  Also during September NTB will donate 2.00 for every tire that is sold to the organization.  Please coaches pass these out to all of your players.  There will also be a VIP card for discounts at NTB.  We are trying to become more active in the community and for that participation is required.  Also, click on the link on the web page and register for free gas.  I know we can all use that.

8.  U5/6 - For those of you coaching younger teams as well, the U5/U6 season will be starting September 23rd.  You will still get 10 games, but we wanted you to have as much time to practice before the season started as we could.  Some flexibility on game scheduling will be required, but we were working to try to increase our numbers at this age group as they were significantly reduced from the season before.

9.  Communications - We will be working hard this year to make sure you receive all the information and communication that you need.  If you have any questions ask your commissioner.  If you are at the fields, ask any board member.  If you are having problems getting an answer, pick a board member you know and shoot them an email.  We will be working to make sure you get answers quickly, and we ask your help in giving us time to figure some situations out.  We are here to serve the children and the association.  We intend to make the best decisions possible for them.  We are not perfect, and we ask that you are considerate of the time that some of these items take. 

Thank you all for the time and effort you put in so the children on your teams can play and have a positive experience.  We know you put in a lot of hours, please know that it is appreciated.

Darren West
President
Birdville Area Youth Futbol Alliance