Delano Youth Soccer Club: News

Soccer Schedule 2008!

All games and practices will begin at 6:15. Ending times vary depending on age of players.

Practice/Scrimmage days:

July 15 *Tentative Picture Date (More information to come from our picture coordinator)

July 17

July 22

July 29

August 5

August 12

Game days:

July 24

July 31

August 7

August 14

August 19

Auguest 21

Jamboree: Saturday, August 23, 9:00 – 11:30 am

Registration Errors!!!

There have been several issues with the online registration this year. We have gotten many emails and voice mails. If we have not gotten back to you yet, we are working on it and as long as you have contacted us by May 31st, we will accept the registration.

Sorry for the issues. We are addressing them and will have a new mechanism for registration next year.

This Year's Registration!

Registration begins May 1. The schools currently have our fliers in hand to go home with students this week (hopefully today!). There have already been a few questions, so I will attempt to answer them here.

1- Are you affiliated with the other Delano Summer Soccer Program?

While we are not directly affiliated with the soccer program that is run by the school, we support their program. Our soccer opportunities complement each other nicely. Their program focuses on soccer skill building and drills, while our's is a recreational league allowing kids to have a team game experience. The Delano School Program is offered during the day in early summer, while our's is in the evening in late summer. We would love to see our Delano youth participate in both programs, but having both programs here in Delano allows families a choice for what works best for them.

2- Is there a registration discount for volunteers who are not coaches?

Currently, we are not offering a discount to those volunteers. We are keeping a close eye on our financial situation since our split from Corcoran Soccer. That is certainly something that we would like to add in the future, but it is not part of our volunteer recognition this year. All volunteers will, however, receive a 2008 DYSC T-shirt.

3- There has been some confusion about the change in team request policy. Could you explain that more clearly?

The change in policy was two fold...One, to remedy the problem of nightmare teambuilding. It was taking hours and hours to build teams, because most registrants requested to be on a friend's team. Secondly, one of our main goals with this organization is to offer a fair teaming structure. We build our policies to avoid team stacking of any kind, minimizing the number of people choosing their teams will ensure that fairness.

This is the information from the registration sheet:

Parent coaches will be placed as the coach of their child’s team, parent coaches not wishing to coach their child’s team or wishing to coach a specific son or daughter should note that here.

This means that if one parent signs up to coach one participating child, he or she will be placed as the coach of their child's team. If a parent signs up to coach and registers more than one child, we ask that he or she specify which son or daughter they want to coach for. We ask them to also note if they wish to coach, but not their son or daughter's team.

Parent coaches and project volunteers are also able to specify a specific friend or coach that you would like your other children to play with.

Because volunteers will sometimes have to be working during soccer practice or games, we allow them to request their child's coach who could supervise their child while they are working or request another child who's parents could supervise the child while the volunteer parent is working.

We ask our coaches and volunteers to make decisions for their children based on family needs, not student soccer abilities.

There was confusion about coaches getting to choose all of the members of their teams, that is NOT the case. Players will be placed randomly. If strong or ne soccer abilities are noted on the registration sheet, we will do our best to build teams with a balance of skills in their members.

I will continue to add answers to parents' questions as they come in! Looking forward to a great season!!

Traci Moore

DYSC Secretary

How Can You Help? Volunteer Roles 2008

DYSC 2008 Season Volunteer Opportunities

You can communicate your volunteer interest on your child’s registration sheet or e-mail Traci Moore at traci@eroom5.net for more information or to volunteer for a role. Thanks!

The following roles need to be filled ASAP, especially the ones with astrisks (*).

**Events Director
Board Member
In charge of overseeing Picture Coordinator and Awards Coordinator. Helps to coordinate picture day and jamboree.
Time estimate: Work: 4+/- hours /Field time: 2-3 times /Board Time: 3-4 mtgs. per yr.

**Documentation Director
Board Member
In charge of documenting processes, changing roles, visioning, and inventory. Makes ordering recommendations.
Time estimate: Work: 4 hours+/- /Field time: 2-3 times / Board Time: 3-4 mtgs. per yr.

**Picture Coordinator
Coordinate with the picture company to schedule pictures. Work with the photographer(s) the night of pictures to ensure a smooth process. Facilitates distribution of photo packages to families.

**Awards Coordinator
Determine the awards to be purchased, creates purchase order and sees that the order is placed and fulfilled prior to the jamboree.

**Coach Trainer/Coordinator
In conjunction with the board, plans coaches meetings, conducts informal training needs assessments of coaches, and works with MYSA to set up trainings and coaches’ security clearances.

Greeter (2)
Directs players, families and coaches to the correct fields on the first night. Updates the field maps and schedules for game nights.

Equipment Manager
Helps inventory equipment, puts together, distributes, and collects team bags.

Referee Coordinator
In charge of contacting high school students, communicating with varsity coaches regarding HS players and refereeing, and creating referee schedule.

Field Manager
Coordinates and runs field painting dates. In charge of monitoring the readiness of fields for game nights and jamboree.

Field Worker (4)
Attends field painting dates and works to prep fields for play.

Head Coach (1 Per Age Group)
Age group coach that acts as communication intermediary between board and volunteers and their age group coaches.

Season 2008! A Letter From Your Board

Dear Soccer Parents,

Hard to believe, but it is time to begin thinking about Delano Youth Soccer again! Ryan, Grant, and I are excited to be embarking on our second year serving as your board. Since last season, we have examined our policies and procedures to adjust for better results. We continue to serve as a recreational league dedicated to nurturing a love for soccer in Delano Youth. We want to provide a positive experience for players, while introducing them to the fundamentals of soccer.

The calendar for this year’s soccer season will be similar to last year. We will meet for games and practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from Tuesday, July 15 through Thursday, August 21. The Jamboree will be Saturday, August 23rd. Registration materials will go home with elementary students the week of April 21, and registration will occur between May 1 and 31.

After last summer’s season we have created a more efficient division of duties. In order for this league to run smoothly, we need enough volunteers to help coordinate all of the work. For that reason, we would like to ask that all parents consider volunteering for some aspect of support before or during the season. We are looking for another member for the board to serve as Events Coordinator and have designated the other volunteer opportunities that appear on the other side of this letter. Please take a look and let us know how you can help.

We are also making a few process changes this year. First, the primary mode of communication for the DYSC season will be through e-mail and our website. We want to do a test member e-mail before the season starts to ensure that everyone is connected, and then allow coaches and managers to communicate with parents via e-mail. If a family does not have e-mail we will make sure that we provide phone communication, but allowing e-mail communication will save our volunteer coaches and administrators a lot of time. We would like you to know that you are still free to call your coaches with questions, but general announcements will be delivered by e-mail.

In previous years, requests to be on friends or certain coach’s teams have been accepted. Allowing these requests has lead to unhappy players and parents because of mix-ups and pairings that were unable to be honored. Putting together team rosters took an unreasonable time commitment by the board members due to the number of requests and changes that needed to be made. Children of coaches will still remain on their parents’ teams, and specific team and friend requests will be allowed for children whose parents coach.

We look forward to another exciting soccer season!

Sincerely,
Your DYSC Board

Registration for 2008 Summer Season almost here.

Registration for the 2008 Summer Season begins on Thursday, May 1 and runs through May 31. Look for an email or a registration form coming home with your Delano School students this week (April 28) with more information!

The New Delano Youth Soccer Club (Formerly DC Soccer)

We are a group of Delano parents who are now the new board of directors for the Delano Youth Soccer Club. This club was formerly DC Soccer (Delano/Corcoran Soccer http://www.corcoransoccer.org/). Because 2/3 of the kids involved in the organization were from Delano, and it had grown to over 340 participants (with many turned away), the decision was made to split the organization into two. The Delano Club will maintain the July-August season this year, with all games and practices occurring in Delano instead of splitting between Delano and Corcoran. There are hopes for growth over the upcoming years to fill the need for a local travelling team program in the Delano area.

The vision for this organization is to provide a recreational program for children ages 5-12, that will teach them the basic fundamentals of soccer and prepare them for a robust experience in Delano soccer from the time they are children until they are old enough to enter the Delano Public Schools Soccer Program. We are excited to work with the parents and children of Delano, tailoring a program to meet the needs of our families.

We will, again, be looking for parent volunteers to coach these teams. Parents and children can look for registration to begin in early May. You can visit us regularly for on-going updates.