Challengers Soccer Club
U10 Parent Meeting December 5th, 2006 Tuesday, Dec. 5th, 7:30-9pm or later at St Thomas the laceName w:st="on">ApostlelaceName> laceType w:st="on">ChurchlaceType>; 1500 Brookdale Road, Naperville, IL Phone number of church is 355-8980
Meeting Minutes
Attendees: McBride, Ensign, Brown, Flading, Fitch, Tomashek, Guttosch, Schroder, Hill, Higgins, Sylvester, Hajakian, Moore, Ernst, Raficz
Fees
Several families still owe fees for indoor. As a reminder, indoor practice is $100, indoor games are $120 and Darien tourney is $40. Maureen will send you an email if you still have not submitted payment.
Tournaments
- Indoor – Both teams will participate in the St Patricks Indoor Tourney in Darien . In addition, group voted to participate in the laceName w:st="on">WhitelaceName> laceName w:st="on">FishlaceName> laceType w:st="on">BaylaceType> indoor tourney the weekend of Feb 2-4th. This will be good opportunity to teams to bond. There will be an overnight stay on Saturday night. An email will be coming shortly with directions to post your interest on the blog for this tournament. We might only take one team if there isn’t enough players to field two teams.
- Spring Outdoor – Decided not to participate in Rockford since we will have laceName w:st="on">WhitelaceName> laceName w:st="on">FishlaceName> laceType w:st="on">BaylaceType> in Feb and Darien in March. We will participate in Memorial Day tourney – which tourney TBD
- Summer/Fall Outdoor – Bavarian, Schwaben, Seeding, BOMW, 3x3 tourneys – Don asked group to start thinking about Summer tourneys.
- Overnight Tourneys – Madison – Don mentioned that would be good team building event, could possibly have friendly with other teams. Again, just something to think about.
Winter
- Leagues – Don brought up the idea of not playing games at JFK and just practicing and attending tournaments instead. Group decided to go ahead with games at JFK. As soon as Schedule is available, we will send to everyone. We will have 11 players on each indoor roster. White team has travel players except Parisi and Robert. White team will add Nowak and Wong (new player) for indoor. Red Team will have travel players except Johnson, Quaintance (sub) and Celinski. Will add Thomas, Shah and Cowan (new players). The new players for indoor as not being promised anything for the spring.
- Practice – Don stated that practice is vital, even more important than games. He said that the instruction the boys get from Jon Healy (trainer) is excellent. Everyone should attend practices on Mondays unless there is an unavoidable conflict.
Spring/Fall Activities
- Baseball/other spring – commitment to soccer versus other sports – group talked in general about treatment of players that are solely committed to soccer versus playing two sports at the same time. We have been very relaxed as a club on this policy and Don wanted to bring the topic up for discussion. See below notes re: practice times for more notes on this topic.
Gametime Issues
- Gametime for players that make almost every practice versus those that miss or don’t practice at all – group discussed – general rule that everyone seemed to be comfortable with was players should attend at least 50% of the practices. If they don’t, then their playing time will be less than those that attend all practices.
- Gametime for players not willing to play all positions – again, those willing to play all positions (this is mostly an issue for defense and goalie) will get more playing time.
General items
- Roster movement – playing u11, playing on higher seeded team, playing with friends versus those at the same level (what are your goals?). Group discussed. There is some merit to having high team and lower team – the boys might work harder and also could be better for some of the lower end players to be on lower team so they can take a leader role – they won’t always be relying on others. For now, group decided against this concept but might be a concept in the future. Group did decide that it would be a good idea to have an “A” team participate in one tournament per year. If you want to move teams (either from red to white or opposite), please discuss with one of the coaches. They are all very open to parent input.
- Roster size – group decided on 12 for the roster as opposed to 11.
- Instruction from coaches sideline ??
- Instruction from parents sideline and potential confusion ??
Times/days for practices and games
- Home games – location priority versus time priority, weekday games, times to avoid - location priority over time. Weekday games (except Friday evenings) should be avoided.
- Practices – times, days, locations, w/Jon and coaches, separate white and red sessions? Mondays and Fridays are good for everyone. Don and Brian might have separate red and white sessions during the Friday practices.
- Goalie Sessions? Will try to set up some sessions for the goalies.
Volunteer Staff – existing, new, added roles?
- Coaches – Don welcomes anyone that would like to help coach but they also need to be willing to do some of the grunt work. Would also need to be licensed. Please discuss your interests directly with Don.
- Admin – could use some more volunteers!
--------------------------------as posted 11/30/06 -----------------------------
U10 Challengers:
Now that we have closed out our Fall season, I would like to get the parents together for an open forum to discuss ways we can improve the Challengers, while realizing our strengths and limitations. This is aimed at first identifying positive and negative parts of the program and then brainstorming ways to improve on our weaknesses while leveraging our strengths. Everyone should feel uninhibited to make suggestions. No topic is out of bounds and no penalties for bring the subject to our attention. I feel some of you may feel as if I'm evasive and unwilling to listen to suggestion; however, I'd like to use this meeting as an opportunity to change that perception. During the season, I'm on a tight schedule, trying to balance this time associated with Connor's schedule with time for my other kids and sharing duties with my wife as well as work. I'm really very open to suggestion, I mean VERY open, and very much want to create an environment where everyone feels free to!
make suggestions and to discuss improvements on an ongoing basis. I may not always agree with them, but I strongly believe that it is better to get them out in the open than to let them fester in silence. What are your goals as a team member and what are your goals in terms of development of your individual child as a soccer player?
The meeting is arranged for
Tuesday, Dec. 5th, 7:30-9pm or later
St Thomas the Apostle Church
1500 Brookdale Road, Naperville.
Phone number of church is 355-8980
It is important to have one parent from each family attend and prepared to convey the family's thoughts toward the various topics. (albeit, they may also differ within the family itself sometimes). Some may be controversial, some may be a stamp on the status-quo. Either way, I think it is good to go through them. Below I have provided a list of topics for you to start contemplating. I think there is more material here than 90 minutes would allow. It would be good for each family to think of a position on these topics, then come to the meeting prepared to discuss, listen to everyone's inputs, and process the input to a final position. As a group, we will discuss, vote and arrive at decisions.
In addition to making suggestions, we want people to feel welcome to participate and contribute, realizing there is some less fun work coupled with all the fun work. Organizing events, suggesting and carrying out ways to improve the team or club, taking the lead on various initiatives will be welcome (planning trips, outtings, hosting video nights, fun-events or gifts, etc.). Either here or in a private forum please express to us how you want to contribute to your team or the club. I can't guarantee your choice, but if you are open-minded, we can find something.
Let's not forget the basis of this organization, and what makes us different and better than other organizations, is that it is operated and controlled by parents. In that, each and every one of you can invoke change. While we all have very busy schedules, in order to identify weaknesses, propose changes, discuss possibilities, and create plans for improvements, we must take a little time to meet face-to-face. I'd appreciate if you can find some time to fit this into your schedule.
Regards,
Don
Topics (ad-hoc, add your own if missing) Winter Practice Winter Leagues (JFK, $$, benefits) Winter tournaments (St. Pats, WFB, other) Spring Tournaments (Rockford, BoMW, Oswego, other) Summer Tournaments (3v3, Bavarian, Seeding, Schwaben) Overnight Trips (Madison, other, team bonding) Baseball and other spring activities (will you stay if you make Majors, if so, what level of commitment will you make) Gametime for players that make almost every practice vs. players that miss or don't practice at all.
Gametime for players unwilling to play all positions.
Penalties for missing practice/tardiness. Commitment. Year long or just per season.
Player positions
Roster Movement
- playing u11
- playing on the higher seeded team (if there is one)
- playing with friends v playing with players at same level (what are your goals?)
- new coaches for red
- new coaches for white
- how many on the roster
New Players
Home games (location priority vs time priority)
- best time to play
- times to avoid
- weekday eve. games (Mon-Thurs)
- best place to play
Practice (w/Jon and w/coaches)
- times
- days
- locations
- separate red/white sessions
- unstructured sessions (only Parent supervision, no instruction)
- goalie sessions
- coaches (existing, new, roles, admin duties as well as coaching) Instruction from Coaches sideline Instructions from Parents sidelines and potential confusion
