| Saratoga AYSO |
THE KICKER |
| September 1999 |
| INSIDE THIS ISSUE Letter from the
Commissioner |
LETTER FROM THE COMMISSIONER As usual, with a lot of work by dedicated volunteers, we have begun our 28th Fall Season. Our Opening Season Tournament was characterized by experiences similar to past years. These include:
Hopefully all of us have experienced the thrill of the day, felt the anticipation of a fun season, and looked forward to the satisfaction of contributing to such a family-oriented program. We hope you have a great season. If you are ever disappointed by a call or by some activity not running smoothly, remember that Saratoga AYSO depends on its committed and dependable volunteers. Remember, In the end... It's for the Kids. What It Takes Each new season brings familiar challenges along with new ones. To run a well-organized program takes the tremendous effort of a committed group of volunteers; however, instead of trying to thank each individual, I would like to take the opportunity to recognize what it takes to make a program so successful. Hopefully, this information will help us appreciate the amount of work it takes to run Saratoga AYSO Soccer and provide ideas of where you might help out. The Regional Board The Regional Board frames up policies, estimates the number of players, designs the supporting organization, identifies fields, negotiates contracts, determines the budgetary requirements, and develops a calendar. These efforts result in our outstanding Policy Handbook, the Annual Budget and Calendar, practice field assignments, and hundreds of volunteer jobs and descriptions. The Board must plan and document our monthly Regional Board Meetings, as well as participate in monthly Area Meetings and annual Section and National Meetings. In addition, Board Members, as well as division managers and key chairpersons must be recruited and trained. In response to the National Child Protection Act of 1993 and the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997, National AYSO has expanded its training program to ensure that both children and volunteers are protected. This means that some members of your Board commit to more expansive training to become Certified Regional Trainers, as well as provide more training to our volunteers. To support a fairly constant Registration process, we require preparation of the database, pre-planning in terms of dates and volunteers, communication via school newsletters and newspaper articles, recruiting of volunteers for the early assignments, printing of job descriptions, processing of registration and volunteer forms, and tracking of player signups by division. Our Information System is further challenged by the need for constant updating of the database and generation of reports and labels. After we have conducted our registration days, Team Formation occurs. This involves evaluation of new players, the processing of all player registration forms to ensure accuracy, determination of special circumstances, (such as approved matches for siblings or for a coach with an assistant), finalization of the number of teams and players per team, as well as coaches, assistants, team reps and sponsors, printing of all required labels and forms, building of teams by assigning players while ensuring balanced teams and distribution of volunteers, generation of practice field assignments, and mailing of notifications to all players. During the summer there are Special Programs to plan and run, such as the MLS Camps player and coaching events. In addition, planning occurs for season events such as the three tournaments (Region 27 Opening Season and U12 End-of-Season, and Area 2J UI4G Post-Season) and four Player Clinics. Purchasing must ensure the availability of equipment for the teams (uniforms and sweatshirts), coaches, referees, and fields, as well as trophies and awards planned for the season and tournaments. Before the start of the season, some key organizations need to provide schedules and training. This includes Coaches/Assistants, Referees, Fields/Nets, and Snackshack. Much effort goes into building regional game and tournament schedules, the Referee schedule, and the Picture Day schedule. The Snackshack must be cleaned, equipment purchased or prepared, and inventory stocked. Fields and painting equipment must be prepared so that lines can be easily and accurately painted on a regular basis during the season. The sponsor banner needs to be purchased and hung at Congress Springs Park. As the season continues, sweatshirts are distributed, pictures are taken and passed out, referee/coach meetings are held, and player evaluations are completed. Throughout the season, volunteers ensure that Communication occurs through our website and Kicker and that game-standings are compiled and reported. The Treasurer manages our funds, ensuring timely receipts, payments, and refunds. As you can see, a significant amount of planning, recruiting, training, and coordination is required. All this work is accomplished by parent volunteers. There is not a single paid position anywhere in Saratoga AYSO. All registration and sponsor fees go towards uniforms, fields, pictures, sweatshirts, training, and other expenses of running the league. When things do not go as planned, we need your help in resolving issues and trying to meet conflicting needs. If you think that something could be done better, or simply want to help out a little more, please contact any of the Board Members and volunteer your time and expertise to help improve our program. Seeing our children participate in a program designed for their development and enjoyment brings great satisfaction. How Many Teams? One of the key challenges every year is to determine the right number of teams. Our goal is to provide a team for every child; unfortunately this is highly dependent on having enough interested and qualified coaches. Because of the uncertainty in knowing the number of players and coaches who will register per division, we usually end up with some cases of teams with more players than we would like or teams without coaches. In both cases, significant amounts of effort are put into trying to recruit coaches by asking Assistants to move up, parents to pitch in to help, moving coaches between teams, and looking for non-parent coaches. In most cases, the efforts pay off and we are able to find a coach. If we are unsuccessful, then we may reduce the number of teams and re-distribute the players. This does mean larger teams with reduced playing time, but it is important for the players to have a positive coaching experience. If your team experienced any of these situations this year, we apologize. Your Regional Board is committed to the AYSO Philosophy Everyone Plays and will continue to strive to get every player on a team. This means that we need to find ways of retaining and developing coaches. If you have any ideas that will help us achieve these two objectives, please contact Mark Chapman, Regional Coach Administrator, or Mark Linsky, Regional Commissioner. Are You Interested? Do you have what it takes to be a Board Member? Your AYSO Region requires dedicated, motivated, team- and customer-oriented, flexible, decisive leaders to serve as Board Members. Although experience is very useful, we can provide training and mentoring to ensure success. If we have not made it easy for you to feel welcome or to be recognized as a potential Board Member, please make your interests known one more time to me or to any other Board Member. Although a lot of work is involved, It certainly has been a rewarding experience for me as I enter my 14th year in AYSO and 12th year on the Board. Again, have a great season and we'll see you on the field! Mark Linsky WORKING WITH THE CLASH Volunteer Needed We have the opportunity to establish a close relationship with the San Jose Clash and MIS Camps that will be mutually beneficial to both Saratoga AYSO and MIS Camps/Clash. Activities include camps and clinics for our children, clinics and mentoring programs for our coaches, referee clinics, Clash player appearances, Clash game events, as well as many other programs. The requirements for the position are as follows:
Please contact Mark Linsky at 741-1725 or mark_linsky@hp.com if you are interested or would like more information. SNACK SHACK SCENE Come and get your fresh, hot coffee from the AYSO Snack Shack as early at 7:30 am. It's tasty, hot and eye opening. Quite a deal tool Only $.50 per cup! Can you resist a fresh donut from Maple Leaf donuts on Saratoga Avenue? Sweet, soft and wonderful! Go ahead...break into your daily bagel routine and substitute a glazed, a sugar or a filled donut. Yummy! New to the Snack Shack this year is Iced Tea. Fresh brewed on site by your parent volunteers. We still offer Country Time lemonade too, at a bargain price of only $25 per 8 oz. cup. Kraft Foods has donated the Country Time to Saratoga AYSO. Please support this brand in the grocery store to show them how much we appreciate their support of our soccer program. The Snack Shack is a place to get refreshments AND is a major source of funds that go straight back into the AYSO local league. These funds help keep your registration fees down, put on clinics, pay f or league purchases, etc. Support your Snack Shack please! Support all those parents who work inside that building, serving your kids, buying the supplies from Smart & Final, slaving over a hot grill BBQ'ing those hamburgers, setting up the work schedules, buying boxes and boxes of Pepsi, making phone calls every Friday night, cleaning up the place at the end of the day...They all do their best to provide you and your children with special treats, an early breakfast, a lunchtime offering or a late afternoon pick-me-up. Comments? If you have a suggestion, are not happy with something at the snack shack or want to pay us a compliment (we really like compliments), drop us a note and leave it at the snack shack. We would love to hear from you. Snack shack hours are 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Saturday. FROM THE SAFETY COMMISSIONER:
Coaches have a number of responsibilities related to injury prevention and injury management. Coaches must:
DONATE OLD UNIFORMS AND SOCCER STUFF Families can donate used soccer clothing, shoes and equipment by bringing it to Congress Springs Park on Saturday or Sunday of Tournament weekend. There will be boxes near the Snack Shack to put stuff in. Be generous! Nov. 20, 21 In Memory of Jim Shaw I, like the rest of Saratoga AYSO Region 27, was greatly saddened by the death of Jim Shaw, I had the opportunity to interact with Jim and see his leadership during the recent play field discussions. Jim was a very active participant, during this difficult process of trying to determine how best to utilize our Parks and Recreation funds for youth field development. Jim asked questions to get us all to think differently and contributed ideas. Even though faced with complex issues of how to balance the needs of all Saratogans, there is no doubt that Jim had our kids at heart. We are very thankful for the time we had his leadership and hope that those who follow in his place remember the children of Saratoga as Jim did. Mark Linsky Saratoga Soccer Families Recycle Cans and Bottles! Green Valley Disposal has been kind enough to provide large blue recycling bins for our use during Soccer Season. Place all cans, plastic bottles, or glass in these bins. There are two of them in front of the Snack Shack for your use. Why pack those bottles and cans home for your curbside recycling? Recycle at Congress Springs Park! Please>>>>No Trash! IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS AT PLAYERS' CLINICS Become a better player by learning soccer skills from professional players and coaches. Major League Soccer conducts four soccer clinics to kelp all players refine and improve upon their skills. Players age 8 and up are encouraged to come to these Sunday clinics at Congress Springs Park. Coaches--bring your team to help improve their abilities and to learn new techniques and different ways of teaching specific skills. Clinics will be held from 2:00-4:00 p.m. on the following Sundays: Sept. 19--Goalkeepers Skills Clinic Best of all, these clinics are free! AYSO FAMILY DAY WITH THE SAN JOSE CLASH On Sunday Sept. 26, at 2:00pm, the San Jose Clash will be playing the Chicago Fire at Spartan Stadium. This Is AYSO Family Day! For groups of 20 or more, tickets are as low as $7.00. Teams also have the chance for team pictures, a parade, and lots of other player activities. Bring your team and family out to support the Hometown Team. Call James at (408) 260-6381 for I more information! See you there! |
last updated: 11/6/99