GCAA Soccer Question - Spring 08

Can anyone give me some information regarding the U6 Soccer league? I know there may not be a schedule yet but could you tell me approximately how many nights a week, durations (start and stop times), games, etc......I just need a better idea on the times to make sure this is something we could do.

I emailed the yahoo account listed on the website, but it was returned as undeliverable.

Any info would be helpful

Amy

 

The email address you need to send to is gcaasoccer@yahoo.com

Rec Soccer Important Dates:
Registrations End January 26
(No late registrations. Miss this date and your child can not participate, No Exceptions).
Coaches Meeting - January 29 at 7pm in the Ag Building
Draft Day will be Feb 2
Practices will begin on or around Feb 11
Coaches Meeeting - February 6 at 7pm in the Ag Building
Games will be played from March 1 - May 10
Team Photos will be done on March 8

Practice dates and times are set by the coaches. That schedule will be determined on Draft day. Before games start, teams get 1 weekday practice, 1 weekend practice. Once games start, then its 1 weekday practice only.

Games are on Saturdays only, unless one is to be made up on a Sunday because of rain. Games start at 9am and are usually over by 3pm-4pm.

 

One thing Grinder didn't mention, and although he knows alot more about this subject than I do, I wanted to let you know that there is no draft for U6, that is for U8 and up. How old is your child?

 

U4 and U6 will not have a draft, correct. They will be placed on their teams. Practice times for those leagues, though, will still be determined after the other leagues have their drafts.

 

Grinder - one question about practices. It's obviously still going to be dark by 5 in February, so will there really be a weekly and Saturday practice before games start? If so, how will we do this, I know in November it was very dark and there weren't lights on the field, or if there were it was very few. Also, my husband signed up to be a coach but hasn't heard anything from anyone, should he have been contacted by now? (he registered online a couple weeks ago)

 

Practices will be fine. There is still around a month before anything starts. Its not completely dark now till 530-545 and you gain a minute plus of sunlight every day so practices will be ok. Might not get the full hour in the first few weeks but after that its all ok. Same thing the GCAA goes through every Spring season.

Your husband will hear something before the 29th of Jan. Once registrations are over and they know how many of this and that that is registered, all the coaches will be contacted so they can attend the first coaches meeting, on the 29th.

 

He's four....I registered him but had the hardest time, it wouldn't accept his birthday (9/23/2003), said he wasn't old enough. I put in 2002 to get it to accept him and then sent an email to the gcaasports_cmi@yahoo.net so I'm hoping there won't be a problem.

Thanks for all of the information.....He's excited about playing and I'm anxious to learn more about how GCAA works, etc.

If the person who handles their web page, I would just suggest more info about the volunteer positions. Such as what team parents do, other positions that aren't self explanitory like the coach and asst coach. If I were to volunteer I want to have an idea of what I'm getting into before signing up. I would hate to sign up and find out later I couldn't do whatever it was. Especially for parents that have never been to or been involved in GCAA, we have no idea what is involved. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks!
Amy

 

I happen to know who does the website and I just passed that info along to him. They just redid the whole website, it's much better than it was, so it might still be in transition phase.

 

Amy,

Not sure if I replied to your email that you say you sent to the yahoo account. I have received a few emails to that account and have tried to respond to all that have come in. But I do want to make sure that you get the information you need.

First, for the registration of your son. This new registration system is set up to prevent parents from registering their children for the wrong age group. Based on the info that you provided in your post, your son should be registered for U4 (not U6). Since his birth date is 9/23/2003, he would have still been 3 at our age cut off date for this season of soccer (August 1, 2007). Even though your son is now 4, he was still 3 on our cutoff date... so he is still assigned to U4 (under 4). The soccer season consists of two sessions (Fall and then Spring). A season of soccer runs in line with a school year. The kids only age up to the next level each Fall. So if I have not contacted you directly via email please send another email to gcaasports_cmi@yahoo.com so that we may get your son in the correct age group. Parents should not enter incorrect birth dates for their children. The system is set up to make sure each child is assigned to the proper league.

Next, as the other person has indicated, we are using a brand new registration system and website for soccer. So we will continue to update the website and hopefully include additional useful information as we move forward. This is not an excuse but just an explanation. So check back often. We are moving to having our website become our primary form of communication to the parents.

As far as volunteering... we always need help. I suppose you could break it down to 2 main categories: sports and administrative.

Administrative roles include Board Member, sport Committee Member, or parent volunteer. Board Member is an elected position (elections are this coming Monday, Jan. 14). Being a Board Member basically requires you to show up to monthly (usually twice per month) meetings and be involved in key decisions for the direction the organization moves. As I have found out over the past few months, there is a lot more to GCAA than just showing up and playing sports. There is a lot of admin stuff that has to get dealt with. A sport (soccer, baseball, basketball, or softball) Committee Member is basically where you focus on a single sport. You work closely with a small group of people and focus on how that particular sport is going to be run. You also help prepare fields and help with fund-raising and may be assigned to be a league director as well as anything else needed to help that sport have a successful season. A parent volunteer is just letting us know that you want to help and what you want to help with. Then when it comes time to perform that task, we contact you and ask for help.

The sports positions are basically coach, assistant coach, and team parent. First off, for the safety of all of our kids, these positions do require a background check. Coach... well you're it... the one in charge of the team. But you are not on your own. For soccer we have a Director of Training... Joel Tucker. He is there to help coaches however he can. He starts the season with a free Coaching Clinic. He gives you some pointers on how to coach kids for your age group. Then if you want him to come out and give you some pointers during one of your practices he will do that. Assistant Coach... simply stated, help the coach. This is especially helpful with the younger kids. The coach usually sets up the drills and explains it to the kids. Then the coach and assistant coach do their best to get the kids to run the drills . The team parent is there to help the team and the coaches. For the younger groups (u4 and u6 especially) they will "babysit" the bench during the games. The coaches are responsible for reffing in these younger groups so it helps to have a parent to help keep the non-playing kids under control. Also the team parents may organize after-game snacks. In some cases the team parents may help the coach maintain the team webpages.

That's the basics. I agree that this info needs to be on the website and will try to put it there in the very near future.

If you have any further questions please send them to gcaasoccer@yahoo.com or if it pertains to the website or registrations to gcaasports_cmi@yahoo.com.

I hope that helps,
Jeff Martin
GCAA Board Member and Soccer Committee Member

 

Jeff, thank you for the clarification. I'm sorry about not realizing the cutoff was in August for age groups. I just thought there was an issue with the registration. I will send an email to the address you sent to get this straightened out. Again, my apologies.

Amy

 

Wasn't there talk one time about getting lights for the soccer fields? Where does that stand?

 

It is still being discussed. We want to be friendly neighbors with the home owners of Broadmoor (sp?). The best solution is the one that gives us what we need yet doesn't upset our neighbors. As we continue to move forward with our facilities improvements that will be a topic that gets discussed more.

 

How about some bathrooms? We've only been waiting 7 years... and a play area for smaller children, to entertain them while their older siblings play/practice. I heard you guys got some $$ recently.

 

Plans for a bathroom / concession stand are in progress.

Not aware of a separate play area.

The Association was given X number of dollars from the recent bond referendum, that is true. It does not go as far as you may think.

Still...it was very much needed and the Association is glad they got it.

 

:::bump:::

Just a reminder that this Saturday, Jan 19, 2008, will be the first walk-in registration day for Spring 2008 Soccer from 9am-noon at the Ag Building on the GCAA complex. Online registrations will continue until January 26, 2008 and they are allowing no (zero, nadda, nein, zilch, nyet) late registrations.

A second walk-in registration date is Thursday, Jan 24, 2008 from 6pm to 9pm, also at the Ag Building.

You will only need to stop by during one of the walk-in registration times if you opt to pay with cash or check or if we require a birth certificate for your child. We have some birth certificates on file. If we do not have one for your child then please bring a copy (not the original) with you.

 

Speaking of soccer, I saw this little tidbit on NCYSA's website: Greater Cleveland Athletic Association- Application to add Classic– Pending (Risk Management compliance) Is GCAA planning to offer classic in all age groups and both sexes (even the older high school age groups?) or is this an effort starting with the younger age groups initially, or is this effort specifically for an already existing team or two? How will this effect the challenge program-- are there enough players to field all 3 options (rec challenge and classic) in age groups or will teams that are now challenge become classic with no challenge team available in that age group any longer? Will there be an effort to help the girl's side of things get stronger? Just wondering what our local organization might be offering in the near future. Right now it is a pain to have to travel so far to get to a classic practice, with the closest options being JUSA, FVAA, and CASL. Hope there are good things to come...?

 

Mr. Martin,
WOW, thank you so much for giving us all the information. This is great and shows some really great organization in the GCAA! keep up the good work!

 

GCAA is currently planning to offer Classic upon approval of NCYSA to the two oldest age group teams first. (U14 Girls and U14 Boys) We will then strive to bring other teams up to Classic as they grow. Our goal is to continue to expand soccer by adding both girls and boys teams to the Challenge & Classic levels of play on a seasonal basis. Our (GCAA) goal is to continue to grow all levels of play. Rec plays a huge factor in that Rec. is a feeder program for Challenge just like Challenge is a feeder program to Classic. You really cannot have one without the other. We (GCAA) are putting a strong focus on re-building our girls programs as well.

 

Go Cleveland United Challenge program!!!!!

oh, sorry...a little shameless cheering :jester:

Back to the program....

 

Very shameless!