Wilmington 1

The socks are here. The socks are here. John Pamer will be at Highland on Friday, Sep. 10, 5:00pm - 6:00pm, to distribute socks to those coaches who did not get their full order at the coaches meeting.

We would like to thank all of the coaches for attending the meeting on Tuesday evening. We have never had a better turn out than we did this year.

WHO: All B.A.S.A. Players, Coaches & Families When:Sunday, June 6th, 2004 (RAIN OR SHINE) The times are as follows: U6 & U8 Players & Coaches Picnic from 1:00pm to 3:00pm Trophies from 3:00pm to 4:00pm U10,U13 & All Travel Teams & Coaches Picnic from 5:00pm to 7:00pm Trophies from 7:00pm to 8:00pm Where: South Beaver Recreational Park B.A.S.A. Will provide hotdogs and drinks for all. Please bring the following food based on the level your child plays: *If your child plays U6 or U10, please bring a side dish in a throw away container. *If your child plays U8 or U13, please bring a dessert in a throw away container *All Travel Player, bring a side dish or snack in a throw away container

~~~ATTENTION~~~ Please read the back of this newsletter for important information about the Picnic & Trophy Presentations on Sun. June 6, 04. Any questions please call Daina Vinciguerra at 724-843-8441 Fall 2004 Soccer Registration Registration for the Fall 2004 session will take place today from 9AM until 3PM at the soccer fields. Registration forms must be filled out at the registration table and payment must accompany the registration form(s) to be accepted. Attention All U10 Players B.A.S.A. is trying to develop U10 Travel teams for the fall. We have a volunteer to coach a girl’s team and we are looking for a boy’s coach. Any child interested in playing on the U10 Travel teams should register today at the registration table. The formation of the teams will depend on the amount of interest shown at registration. Soccer Camp Westminster College will hold its Community Soccer Camp at the Highland Middle School Soccer Fields this summer from July 12th to the 16th from 6pm to 8pm. The Camp Director will be Girish Thakar the Westminster College Men’s & Women’s Head Coach. The cost is $50 per person. Registration forms are available at the registration table today or by calling Mary Shontz at 724-843-1269. Editorial I received this letter anonymously in my mailbox this week. I thought that it was important letter to run because I am sure that this coach is not the only one with this situation. As we conclude the spring season, I reflect back on the weeks of practice and games and hope that all the kids had fun. As a coach, the reward is just getting to work with the your children and try to get them to have fun and learn a little something about the game. As a noncompetitive league, we had very few team rules. Showing up for practice wasn’t required, but the parents were asked to call if their child couldn’t make it. Imagine how disappointing it is to plan a practice for twelve players and have six show up. If the coach would know that only six were coming, practice could be planned accordingly. Unfortunately, after about three weeks, I quit planning practices because I never knew how many people would show up. Working on plays turned out to be an interesting experience as, on any given Saturday, only half of the team knew what was worked on at practice. Game time always promised to be interesting as well. Once again, the only thing that I had asked was to show up 15 minutes before game time or to let me know if your child wasn’t coming. More often than not, the team didn’t know if we even had enough players to play until the game was ready to start and one or two people would come running on the field at the last second. To the couple of parents who always had their children there on time or called to let us know that they wouldn’t be there, I say thank you. Your cooperation made my job much easier. To the ones who couldn’t be bothered, I would ask that you would at least be considerate enough, to the coach who is out there trying to work with your children, to make a phone call. It’s more help than you will ever know. Regardless, I will be back next season. The pay isn’t very good, leaving work early for practice or games isn’t always the best career move, and standing out in the rain isn’t always a lot of fun, but I feel that it is the least I can do since I did actually volunteer to do this. I know that the kids that showed up appreciated it. As parents, the only thing I ask is that you communicate with your child’s coach. You have no idea how much this would help the man or woman who spends time planning practices and putting together game plans. Sincerely, The coach that is looking forward to the fall season

Daina Vinciguerra will be at the soccer fields on May 8, 2004, to pass out team pictures to the coaches. In the event of rain, she will be in her van near the concession stand. Coaches should pick up their team pictures and distribute them accordingly. The "Top soccer websites"  as listed in the NSCAA coaches handbook are now available through links in the Coaching Education folder.