Baldwin Little League

News Detail

15

Mar, 2013

Welcome to Passers #4

Hello Soccer Parents, My name is Karen Floyd and along with Rob Soehner, we will be your son’s soccer coaches this spring. We are excited that your child is a part of our team, and we look forward to helping him develop his skills and have fun doing it. Below is some of the important information that you’ll likely want to have as the season is about to begin. Please review this and contact me if you have any questions, challenges or concerns.

1. Practices: Practices will be held twice each week, beginning next week. We have requested that our practices be held on Tuesday nights at 7 PM and on Friday nights at 6 PM, staring next Tuesday, March 19th. We do not have firm confirmation on times or locations yet, and we will be back in touch with you the moment we do have that confirmed. If your son cannot practice on one of these nights, let me know. I’ve heard that sometimes a child can practice with another team for skill development, on another night, but that we are discouraged from moving children from one team to another. For our first practice next Tuesday, we will end after 50 minutes, giving us about 10 minutes to distribute uniforms, chat with parents, and answer your questions, without keeping you much beyond 8 PM.

2. Games: For Spring season, we will play 8 games on Sat/Sun which will begin the weekend of April 6. We will receive our game schedule and game fields the evening of March 26 and I will forward on this information once I return from that meeting. Yes, the weekend of April 6 is at the end of Spring Break and we have requested with our league, SAY East that we don’t play that weekend. However, some teams will likely have games then and we’ll manage accordingly. Rob will be around throughout Spring break, so we will continue to practice and he’ll be solo coaching that weekend if we have a game. (My family and I will be out of town). We’ll sort out more details once we have our schedule and we all have a chance to discuss it.

3. Parent Conduct at Games: Conduct toward the referees: Rob and I are new to SAY soccer, but we’ve been told that in recent seasons there have been incidents of inappropriate and abusive comments made by parents towards the referees. We hope you agree that this is unacceptable, so please remember that the refs, mostly teenagers, are doing their best. However, just like all of us, they make mistakes and the last thing they want is to deal with over-zealous parents in a recreational soccer league. If a call is made that you do not agree with, please do not criticize or speak to the referee. SAY has encouraged the referees to give yellow and red cards to parents and coaches for any inappropriate comments or behavior. (They made me write that – but I am confident we won’t have to worry about this on our team!) Conduct toward the players: Rob and I are going to do everything we can to focus on positive reinforcement and fun. We’re sure that there are going to be times that you disagree with how we are coaching or encouraging your kids, so feel free to bring that up to us so that we can avoid confusing the kids. Note: Parents/fans are not allowed to sit or stand behind the goals and should not go any further toward the goal line than the penalty box. Also we’re told that parents can’t sit or stand on the same side of the field as the teams. If you have any questions about this, please let us know.

4. Bullying by teammates: Here’s another thing they’ve encouraged us to share: Physical and verbal bullying will not be tolerated. That includes our players using unkind or threatening words towards each other. If you have any concerns about this, or have heard of any such behavior, please be sure to let us know.

5. Uniforms: We’ll be passing these out at the end of our first practice. We’ve been told that the uniforms look fantastic, but that’s all we know so far…

6. Equipment: Your child needs shin guards and soccer cleats for all games and practices. Your child will also need to bring a SIZE 3 ball to each practice. For the safety of all the kids, no jewelry is allowed during games or practices. You should have already received a Soccer Village coupon for a 10% discount on equipment for the season.

7. Water: It’s very important to send a big bottle of water with your child to practice and games... staying hydrated is extremely important to your child’s safety, especially later in the season when it’s hot. (We’re sure that we’ll appreciate a water break during practices, too!)

8. Rain/Windy/Flood Days: Unless you hear from Rob or me via phone or e-mail, we will have all scheduled practices and play all scheduled games. We will let you know about any field change in the early afternoon on a practice day and as early as we can on a game day. You should call the Field Hot-line on game days at 369-8036 to check for yourself if a game is/is not cancelled. I’ll send reminders about this hot-line as the season progresses.

9. Missing Games or Practices: Please call me or text me at 513-218-1242 if your child will be unable to play in a game or will have to miss a practice (of course, if you know in advance, you can tell us at the prior practice). My full information is at the bottom of this email. Your consideration will be very helpful to us when making out the game roster and practice plans.

10. Email: Unless we hear from you otherwise, all information will be sent via email. If your email address has changed since you registered for the season, let us know. (We will be using the email listed in the roster below). Occasionally, we may be in a position to send texts more rapidly and efficiently than email, so if a text message will NOT work for you at the number posted in the roster list, please let us know.

11. Game Snacks: The league encourages half-time and after-game snacks. I’ve never been a big fan of this many snacks over this short of a time period, but that could be because I have one kindergartener who barely eats, and another who would snack all day long if we let her. I suppose if the other teams are all snacking at half-time and after the game, we may not want to witness our own snackless kids. Let’s discuss this at the end of our first practice, and if we agree on snacks, we’ll be asking for a parent to coordinate this for us. (Thank you in advance!)

12. Team Photos: We will take a team photo for inclusion in the yearbook and on our BlueSombrero team page. Anyone want to volunteer to be our team photographer?

We are anticipating a fun and exciting season! Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns during the season. We will address them to the best of our abilities as quickly as we can. See you on the field next Tuesday, and more details on times, location, and schedule will come your way the moment we get them!!!

Karen Floyd Mobile: 513-218-1242 Email: [email protected]
Rob Soehner Mobile: 513-967-1575 Email: [email protected]