Practice Schedules: If you have need to change the time, let me know. However, we are constrained by field space this year with all our smaller teams. I have tried to put each of the smaller teams onto a field with a small layout for at least one practice.
Below are the teams, the brackets you are playing in, the coaches, and practice days. The coach listed first was submitted to the District as the primary team contact.
GU11 4th Grade [C]:
Rich Spierto, Jim Johnston, Paul Casali, Bruce MacLeod
Tuesday "C", Thursday
BU10 [C]:
Jerry Luhman, John Sniffen, Michael Keilty
Monday "A", Friday "C"
BU11 Mix [C]:
Rob Andrulis, Tucker Roveto
Thursday "C"
BU11 5th [A]:
Michael Courtney, Don Protzman
Monday "B", Thursday "A"
GU11 Sat [C]:
Gary Mariotti, John D'Aversa
Monday "C", Wednesday "C"
GU11 Sun [A]:
Rob McGregor, Bruce Swomley
Tuesday "B", Thursday "B"
BU12 [B]:
Joel Zinn, George Alvord
Monday "A", Thursday "A"
GU12 [B]:
Chris Weik, Michael Brady, Brian Mongeau
Monday "B", Wednesday "B"
GU13 [A]:
Scott Shakley, Rob McGregor, Rich Ricci
Friday "A"
GU14 [A]:
Bill Andrulis, Tom Binstadt
Friday "A"
Coaches Meeting: The coaches meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 20 at St John'sChurch in Watertown. They have not defined the times yet and since we have new division breakdowns, it is difficult to guess what the logistics will be. I should know more after the District meeting next week.
Missing Coaches Information: We need to have on file your picture, signature and birth date so a coaches pass can be created for you. You cannot be on the sideline without this pass. Also, for the teams that have many coaches (thank you), remember that during a game, you are only allowed 3 coaches on the sidelines.
Rich Spierto: Picture, Signature, Birth date
Paul Casali: Picture, Signature, Birth date
Michael Keilty: Picture, Signature, Birth date
John Sniffen: Picture
Playing Time: Please ensure that all players equal playing time. The league rule stating equal playing time for Division 2 has to be revisited because of the new league structure. It has been Litchfield Soccer Club's policy to ensure that all players get as much playing time as possible, independent of the division.
Trash: Last spring we started having issues at White Field. If you recall, we were reported to the town because of this. I do not want that to happen again. All trash needs to be carried off the field after practice and games. This includes water bottles, clothing and other miscellaneous items that appear on the field. Please communicate to your visiting coaches that we have a Carry In/Carry Out policy.
Referee: We are a zero tolerance club. Please review our policy: You are all representatives of the Litchfield Soccer Club. We support our referees. We communicate to the visiting team our policy and we will intervene on behalf of our referees if there is ever an issue with abuse, harassment, or sarcasm to our officials from anyone. If there is ever an issue, please let myself and Bruce MacLeod know so we can address it with the appropriate party. Our policy continues when you are the visiting coach. Respect the referee. Most of the time they are only kids. Remember that they are kids, and we are only playing a kids game. This is not the Olympics or the World Cup. Without the referee, we will not have a game.
Rosters: The Excel version of rosters for the travel teams are completed. I will send them out under separate cover to each of you. At this point, only K-3 grade children can be registered with the club, if anyone asks you. Registration deadline is Aug 23.
Uniforms: All uniforms that have been requested and paid for have been ordered. There are some outstanding players on individual teams. When the rosters go out, I will not who has not ordered a uniform. All uniforms should be in over the next week. It is highly unlikely that the ones not ordered yet will be received in time for the first game. This time of year the lead-times are close to 1 month.
Player Information: Laurie is still missing some player information (pictures, signatures, etc). We will be sending this list to each of you so you may begin to stalk the players. If the information is not collected, they will have to be pulled from the roster and cannot play.
New Website: You may or may not know we are going to be moving to a new website. The site will allow us to handle registration processing easier in the Spring. The website will become active in the fall. Part of the function of the site is the ability for the individual coaches to post their schedules and communicate to their teams on the site. In the next couple of weeks I will send out instructions on how to post your information for your team. Please remember that we as a club do not post pictures or names of the kids on the website. All the directions to the remote fields that we have collected over the years has been posted to the new site.
Game Cards: Just a reminder about the game cards. We have to submit to the district all the scores of the games. At the coaches meeting, you will be given a game card for each home game. This is given to the referee at the beginning of the game and our referees will mail them after the game. You should check the district website to ensure that the cards are received and logged. If they are not, an email to Rich Zimmerman will cover the game score. Make sure you include the score, opponent, week it was scheduled to play, and the division. If we miss reporting a game, the Club is fined $150 for the first missed game and for each one after that.
Referee Cards: When your rosters and player passes are given to you, you will also receive a referee payment card. This is given to the referee for the home games. We pay the referees based on this card. We also use this card as another record in the event there is an issue with the district game card. Personally, I have stapled the game card and referee card together so when they are handed to the referee, they get both.
Game Scheduling: When the district distributes the game schedule, we will work on assigning all the home games. If you have any specific weekends that you need a game assigned, please let me know. Once we assign the games, it will be posted on the website. If a game has to be rescheduled, please look at the schedule to see what might be available, and then check with Bruce. Bruce will assign the referees. If a game gets cancelled the day of the game, you must notify the referees of the cancellation. Bruce will send out the referee assignment for each weekend in email as a reminder for you. At this point, we are scheduling only at 1 & 3:30PM. We only can have 2 games at once at the facility.
Parking Lot: If you haven't heard or seen, we are expanding our parking lot at White Field. This has been a 3 year project to get land, approvals, and funding. During the construction period, please keep away from the area. After the construction is completed, we will have a dedicated entrance and dedicated exit. Please communicate this to your parents. The new lot will add 42 spaces, which should allow us to keep cars off the street and potentially add third concurrent game at the facility. We have to wait and see how it will works out before we start to schedule 3 games.
Equipment: Game balls have been ordered. If you need pinnies or cones, please let me know.
Fields: We will be laying out a 4th small field on top of "B". Two sets of small goals will be assigned to this field to be used by the U10-12 teams. They will have weights to hold them down. Coaches that are using this field need to remove the goals from the field at the end of your game. Please move them to the south end near the brush line. Put the weights near the shed. The corner flags need to be put back onto the larger field when you are done.
Photos: We will be doing photos again this fall. Please work closely with Jill Davenport to get the pictures completed early in the fall while we have daylight.