|
This will be
updated periodically and if you want me to
address any topic please e-mail me at
president@cfbsoccer.net
Dear CFBSA Member
I love and appreciate all
our coaches and I hope that all Members remember
to thank the coach(s) of their child’s team for
the time, dedication and effort they put into
making soccer fun and teaching them about soccer
and life!
Coaches, now that the
Spring season is upon us I would like you to be
thinking about keeping your team together for
the next full soccer year. That would be Fall
2011 and Spring 2012.
Last Fall we had to disband
several teams because they did not have enough
returning players that had signed up therefore
those that did sign up had to go back into the
draft to be placed on other teams!
This was very hard on the
coaches that thought they had a team because
parents had said they would sign up but did not.
It is always very hard on
the entire Executive Board when a team has to be
disbanded so this season I ask you the coach to
really make sure that all your players are
signed up for next year!
You have a team account
that you can check in Got Soccer to make sure
that parents sign up their child or better yet
you can pick up paper registration forms at the
CFBSA office and hand them do a year end party
and make sure you get them filled out and the
check attached for all that want to return!
Then turn them in as a
group.
We will open registration
early again on May 1st so please
start registering then!
If you get into the Summer
month’s people forget and that is exactly why
some of the teams were disbanded! People forgot
to go online and register or fill out a form and
mail it in!
Also we have several
players that travel to Mexico to stay with
relatives over the Summer. If you know you have
one or more players that will do that please
catch them before the Summer starts and make
sure the parents sign them up before they go!
Registration ends on 7-15
and we have to end it so we can execute the
draft and schedule the teams!
Players registering after
that pay a late fee and are NOT guaranteed a
spot on the team and even worse the team might
have been disbanded just because a few players
did not sign up on time and we had the draft.
We normally disband the
team with the fewest returning players in age
groups were we cannot fill up all the teams in
that age group with players that have registered
new.
We know that in the older
age groups there are fewer teams due to Middle
and High School commitments so coaches of older
age groups please sign up your players so that
your team stays together!
I would love it if more
teams stayed together in the older age groups
and it is very possible if you will be proactive
and get your parents to register early!
Members, please help your
coach out by signing up your child early and
talking to the other parents to get them to do
the same!
Your child has more than
likely been with the same children for a while
on a team and enjoys playing together and you
like the other parents (in most cases).
You can volunteer to set up
a yearend registration party for your team and
help the coach that is already volunteering many
hours!
I thank you in advance for
doing all that you can to keep your team
together!
CFBSA Members: The
Executive Board has worked very hard to keep the
registration the same as the previous season
Fall 2009/Spring 2010 for Fall 2010/Spring 2011!
One of the ways we did this
was to raise additional income from our website
by having “sponsors” that we post on our
website.
We make sure that they are
either soccer related or family oriented
sponsors but they pay to be a sponsor and that
helps us keep the registration as low as
possible!
A sponsor receives two
email blasts per year and this is where I ask
you to be patient with us when we send them and
just delete it if it is something you are not
interested in!
You can opt out from
receiving them but then you would not receive
the important CFBSA emails that we send.
We will do our best to
control the blasts and I just ask your patience
because this is a way to generate income without
raising registration fees.
Now we have not done our
budget for Fall 2011/Spring 2012 yet and I
cannot say registration will not go up since it
has been the same for two years but we will do
all we can to keep the cost down for people in
this tough economy!
I wanted to explain the
“sponsors” and why they are important to us all!
If you have a business or
know someone that does please refer them to our
website for the sponsor application if they are
looking for a creative way to get the word out!
Again, thanks in advance
for your patience and understanding!
I hope everyone has a great
Spring 2011 season and please remember that the
games are supposed to be fun for the children!
Encourage the players and
coaches, and please be nice to our Ref’s!
Presidents Blog: Vol. 5 April 30, 2010
Dear CFBSA Member I wanted to communicate
several positives items that are going on at
CFBSA that many of you might not know about.
First most important to you the Member is that
the Executive Board has been economically
conservative with your money by having balanced
the budgets the last two years! We now have a
little cushion that allowed us to keep the
registration for Fall 2010/Spring 2011 at the
exact same rate as last season!
All player registration fees will be $120.00
and the discounted rates for the Head Coach,
League Director and Board Members will remain at
$70.00 per season. We will still give the multi
child discount of $70.00 for the 3rd child and
up from the same family as last season. The
Board felt like in this economy we had to
tighten up and keep registration exactly the
same to help our members be able to keep their
children playing soccer! The only change from
last year is that we will no longer offer the
partial payment option. We also know that we
have members out there that are struggling with
this bad economy or job loss and we have a
procedure for those “hardship cases”. If you
need assistance, please visit our office during
regular hours and you will complete a form and
then a committee will contact you with an
appointment time to meet with our hardship
committee. The committee will listen to you and
make arrangements based on your needs! We are
compassionate and we want any child to be able
to play soccer regardless of the family finances
so please follow the instructions that will get
this process started!
Please note we’ve opened up registration
early this year! The opening date is May 1,
2010. This will allow coaches to communicate
with their teams that they need to sign up for
next year before people get out of school and
get to summer vacations! In the past with the
June 1st start date we have had parents forget
and players not get registered in time and some
have lost their roster spot! Please we ask you
to sign up early and please remind anyone else
to do the same! We will soon be installing
computers in the office lobby for your
convenience.
We are also making a big push to get the word
out about CFBSA to our community. We will make
the flyer available to you our member as a
download on our website and ask that you
print and hand out to your friends and
neighbors to assist us in spreading the word
about registration!
North Texas passed a new ruling that allows
us to have an Under 4 age group starting this
fall season, so we ask that you contact any
friends or family to let them know about this
since it is the first time this age group can
actually play soccer games! We are excited about
this age group so please spread the word. The
updated age chart can be found on the website!
www.cfbsoccer.net
We’ve just completed our comprehensive audit
for the last fiscal year and we passed with
flying colors! Anyone that wants a copy of
the audit should contact our office and they
would be happy to make you a copy if you are
interested. We do an annual audit per our by
laws and the next one should be done around
November of this year. We also have had Board
Insurance for the last two years because it is
the responsible thing to have for any Board!
We have consolidated the schedules for U-5 to
U-10 and this spring season we started on Feb
13th and ended on April 17th! We understand that
many players play multiple sports and we did our
best to get them to baseball with as few
conflicts as possible! We will continue to
schedule to consolidate those age groups. For
U-11 and up we will do the best we can but
because we have playing associations we play in
we are not as flexible with start and end dates
but we will do what we can. Our schedules and
reschedules worked well this season and we will
continue to improve!
Please sign up and play in our Spring Bash
Tournament May 21 to 23! This is our 3rd annual
tournament and we’re the only one out there with
a guaranteed rainout date set on June 4 to 6th
if the tournament gets rained out in May! You
know Texas weather and this keeps your money in
play if you want! This tournament also helps
fund our hardship player’s fees and also our
High School Graduating Senior Scholarship that
we award every year that we can. The money for
both comes out of the profits of this tournament
so it is a great cause to sign up!
Another benefit is to our community when we
bring in teams from all over N. Texas they spend
money in our community thus helping our local
economy! Please sign up and ask other CFBSA
teams or any teams you know to sign up also!
Our office staff is doing a great job and our
customer service has improved dramatically!
Please drop by and visit Carolyn and Gabby
when you are in the area! They’re both friendly
and very professional; the Executive Board is
very pleased with their performance!
www.cfbsoccer.net is a site you should visit
frequently! We do have one on the best websites
out there and you can find a ton of information
about all area’s of soccer. Coaching, Reffing,
Schedules, Rules, Soccer information and about
anything else you need to know is right there!
Please visit it and navigate around and I
promise you will be a better informed about
soccer!
www.cfbsoccer.net is also the destination to
learn about our Sponsors! We have opened up the
site to paid sponsors that either have something
to do with soccer or are a “family oriented”
business. Please visit the sponsor’s link and
please support our sponsors so that they
continue year after year! We envision this as a
way to bring in revenue so that we can keep
registration fees as low as possible in the
future! Information on sponsorships can be found
as a download on our site or by contacting the
office for an application with current pricing.
Please pass that along to any business you know
that would like to become a sponsor!
We really like our playing associations with
The Colony for U-9/10, Glasa, Lake Cities and
The Colony with U-11/12 and N. Mid Cities for
U-13 and up! We think the competition is great
for us and with more teams in the pool that adds
flexibility. We think this gets the younger age
groups to travel small distances and as they
players get older they have to travel a little
farther as there are not as many teams. We have
some work to do but we will constantly strive to
improve these playing alliances for the future!
Finally we had our Annual General Meeting
scheduled that our Bylaws state must be the 4th
Thursday in April which was the 22nd. We had
four board positions to vote on as well as
League Directors and other business to take care
of. Unfortunately we needed 40 members there to
make a quorum and we only had about 25 members
show up. We couldn’t conduct any business so the
current officers will serve until we can
reschedule another meeting probably after the
summer. We really need members to attend
so that we can get the 40 needed to conduct
business! I understand April is very busy so we
might have to address that date with a Bylaw
change if we cannot get members out on that 4th
Thursday in April!
All-in-all things are going well with
CFBSA and we are always looking to improve and
always looking for volunteers to help! Please
consider volunteering some time! Contact me and
I will get you started! Tommy Ellis-President
CFBSA
Presidents Blog: Vol. 4 December 2009
Wet Fall Season!
Wow what a wet fall season! I
cannot remember ever having so much rain and wet
fields as this year.
It was a real challenge to get
the games in but we got creative with playing
two games on a dry Saturday and also moving
games from a wet field to a drier field!
I understand that almost all
CFBSA teams got to play their 10 games and I
want to thank the coaches for being flexible so
that their teams could play when the fields
where dry!
A special thanks to our two
Cities, Carrollton and Farmers Branch that
worked with us fantastically with allowing us to
play on fields that where marginally wet! Please
email them at:
athletics@cityofcarrollton.com and
anne.coe@farmersbranch.info with a big thank
you for working with CFBSA to get games in!
I would be remiss if I did not
give credit to Nicole James our VP of Services
and our Fall 2009 scheduler! She had some games
rescheduled 6 times and she did a great job even
keeping track of all the reschedules and making
sure that teams knew when the reschedule was!
Please email her a big thanks also at:
vpservices@cfbsoccer.net
Bullet Points to Remember!
1. Spring Registration is going
on now until January the 15th! Please
help us by contacting anybody that has a child
you think might like to play the great game of
soccer! Of particular interest are the U-5/U-6
players that can get started early playing
soccer this Spring!
Those age groups only per N.
Texas rules can form a team and register as a
team. This is a way to have friends on a team
for a long time as they play through the years
together!
We need your help to get out the
word to all ages!!
Please click the playing chart
link to check for the age group of child
http://www.cfbsoccer.net/2008/file/age0809.pdf
2. Please review our rainout
policy again for the Spring. Unlike the past we
want all parents to have a way to know if a game
is rained out or not!
http://www.cfbsoccer.net/2008/file/rainout.pdf
3. Don’t forget to plan to play
in our 3rd annual Spring Bash
Tournament. The dates are May 21st to
23rd with the rainout makeup
scheduled for June 4th to 6th
We have moved it to after the
season so we don’t interrupt our regular season
and this is the only Tournament that gives you a
rainout date so you have a better chance of
playing!
Please plan on playing and spread
the word to other teams you know!
4. FYI: The season will start on
February 13th for U-5 to U-12 and on
February 20th for U-13 and above.
Please check the website for an updated calendar
soon.
5. We always need more
volunteers! Please check out the request on our
front page of the website at
www.cfbsoccer.net
6. We use Got Soccer as our
soccer software as does N. Texas and many of our
playing partners.
If you are a coach it has many
tools to communicate with your team and for
individual players you have an account that you
can update email and phone numbers to help us
find you in case of an emergency or we ever
needed to contact you.
It’s a great tool to use so I
encourage you to check it out!
7. I want to wish all members and
players a great Christmas Holiday and a safe one
as well!
Presidents Blog: Vol. 3 August 2009
This will be updated periodically and if you want
me to address any topic please e-mail me at
president@cfbsoccer.net.
Welcome back all players and coaches for the
Fall season!
August is here and our season will start soon on
8-29 for all age groups.
I am looking forward to a great fall season of
soccer for everyone at CFBSA!
I urge all parents and coaches to keep it as
positive as you can out on the fields as you
coach and cheer for your children.
I am a coach and I know you want to point out
the mistakes that a player makes but let them
know it is OK to make a mistake out on the
field.
We all make mistakes and learn from them.
Some of the best moments from my years of
coaching have been when I have encouraged a
player after a mistake and let them know
something positive that they had done
specifically on the field that was great!
I have seen a dejected player beam with a smile
after such an exchange and even improve in the
field in later games.
I wish I had done this more and yelled out less
but we all make mistakes!
I just ask you to think before speaking (or
yelling) at one of your players.
Parents, you are not off the hook because you
can decide also what you tell your child once
you are in the car.
I promise to try the above approach more this
season!
“For the good of the game, for
the good of the kids."
Click here to see an example of
how NOT to act on the sideline!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1lvMdT2GHk&NR=1
Zero
Tolerance Rule
We have made great strides with our zero
tolerance policy towards referees in the past
several seasons.
This is just a reminder that you need to
continue to control yourself and refrain from
yelling at a referee in a game.
This is especially true for the age 13 to 18
referees as they are learning and doing the best
they can. They are also children and you are an
adult!
If you have a complaint against a referee please
e-mail your concerns to
vpcoachesreferees@cfbsoccer.net
We keep a record of these and in the past it has
helped identify the very few that needed to move
on and not be a referee at CFBSA.
Almost all of the referees we use are very good
to great at what they do but even the best make
mistakes and it is just part of the game!
For you new coaches or parents please click the
link below to read it.
http://www.cfbsoccer.net/2008/file/zero.pdf
CFBSA Playing Associations
In u-9 and U-10 this year we will play with The
Colony again as we have in the past. We will
also play a few Little Elm teams that recently
became an association BUT our teams will travel
no farther than The Colony where Little Elm will
play their home games verses our CFBSA teams.
In u-11 and u-12 we will continue to play with
Glasa and Lake Cities. Included in this age
group new for this year is The Colony.
U-13 through u-19 we will continue to play our
teams through N. Mid Cities. Added this year are
The Colony and Cooke County (Gainesville). None
of our teams will have to travel to Gainesville
since they will play their home games in Denton.
See my first addition blog to get and idea of
how to travel in N. Mid Cities.
New Rainout Policy!
We have a new rainout policy that will help all
members be informed a lot better about rainouts!
During the week any member can call the
Carrollton or Farmers Branch rainout phone # for
games during the week. In addition Carrollton
has added a Twitter option where you can sign up
on their site at Twitter and get a field update
via a text message on your phone immediately! Of
course if you are playing at a Carrollton field
during the week you would use the Carrollton #
and if your team is scheduled in Farmers Branch
you would call the Farmers Branch #.
This is for during the week only and the field
condition will be updated no earlier than
4:00PM.
For the weekend please contact the CFBSA rainout
phone #. We will try and update by 7:30AM or
later. This is also for any member to call but
we ask that you try the other options first so
you don’t tie up the phone line.
We will be looking at the Twitter option and
will announce it once we get it done.
Also, for during the week and weekends we try
and update the Field Condition box at the top
right hand side of the front page of our
web-site at
www.cfbsoccer.net in a timely fashion. This
is always a great place to look also!
Please click
this link
to view the New Rainout Policy.
Also note that if you have a game at another
association that you need to go to our web-site
and find the rainout # and policy of that
association and contact them to see if the game
is playing or not.
We will not know the status of their fields and
we could be rained out and another association
playing. You never know how the rain will fall
in Texas!
Soccer Shots
We are now making available thru Soccer Shots a
way to get your child that is younger than 4
years old a head start in the great game of
soccer!
Please read about the program on the front page
of our web-site at
www.cfbsoccer.net and please share with
anyone you know that have children that could
benefit from a head start in soccer!
Presidents Blog: Vol. 2 April/May 2009
State of CFBSA Finances from the
Executive Board Letter
[ read it ]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Spring Bash Rained Out But Coming Back!!
The weather did not cooperate but our fantastic
Tournament Director Nicole James will not take no
for an answer! It is rescheduled to May 29-31 and
please leave your team in if at all possible! We
know school is not quite out so a lot of players
should still be around and we hope to attract even
more teams! Please sign up if you had a conflict
before as we are playing!
Annual AGM
Please come out and participate in our Annual AGM
meeting to be held on 4-23-09 at Ted Polk Middle
School in Carrollton. [ map it ]
We have five Executive Board
positions up for election as well as many League
Director Positions. Your participation can help
you to understand and decide who will lead CFBSA
going forward. As state above there are positions
open to run/vote for that night. The more Member
involvement can only help us to reach the
communities we serve!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“For the good of the game, for the good of
the kids."
The above slogan used to be posted in the old
office back in the old days! The Executive Board
has brought it back and now it is on the front of
our web-site again! We wanted to re-focus on the
purpose we all share and hopefully pass it down to
everybody involved at CFBSA. You see, we can all
lose focus that the bottom line is that we are
here to promote soccer through kids playing the
game and having fun doing it! Too often we bring
our own agenda’s into a game and forget that we
are here for the kid’s! Let’s remember the phrase
above as coaches and parents of the kid’s!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Coaches are the “Ambassador’s for CFBSA!
I want to thank all of our coaches that coach
the “kid’s” at CFBSA! Most are doing a fantastic
job and donating their time to invest in the lives
of kids! Parents, please take the time to thank
your child’s coach and please overlook small
mistakes they make since the vast majorities are
doing their best!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
50% Rule
While most coaches are doing a fantastic job we
have reports of a very few coaches not playing
kid’s the required 50% playing time that is
mandated by N. Texas rules! We have about 185
teams so the only time we “monitor” teams is when
we get complaints from parents on that team or
when we have several reports from opposing
coaches.
We have the few that want to win at all costs
and ignore this recreational soccer rule! They
forget that this is truly recreational soccer and
again it is about “the good of the kids”! What
good is it to win and not play or play sparingly a
child on the team? How can that benefit the child
and help them feel like part of a team? We will
find and punish these few coaches and encourage
them to obey the laws of the game or face
suspensions! I am a coach and believe me I would
rather win a game than lose one but I play my
players 50% of the time at least! It is the rules
and if the few coaches want to win at all costs
then they should move on to “select” or “academy”
soccer where the rules are different! Parents, I
would like to warn you also about the rules and
your coaches’ intentions. You know if your coach
is trying to play your child 50% of the time.
It is difficult to be exact sometimes when you
have a large roster and the substitutions on a
dead ball don’t come at exactly ˝ way through a
half. Please recognize that it is difficult to
substitute that many players and give them some
common sense leeway before you complain. If your
coach is trying his/her best to give the 50%
please overlook a minute here or there since as a
coach I can tell you it is very difficult to
substitute correctly and get the kid’s their
playing time!
Also parents, 50% rule is only for the time
your child is present at the game so if you get
your child there late to a game then they only get
50% of the remaining time of the game and you have
just cheated your child out of playing time!
Please get your child to the games on time and it
is common sense also to get your child to attend
the scheduled practices as much as you can! This
helps your child learn the game and feel more a
part of the team. Yes the coach has to play your
child 50% of the time anyway but if you cannot get
your child to the majority of the practices then
your child may lose interest for the great game of
soccer! Parents please do your part and ask if you
can help your coach in any way!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Scheduling for Fall 2009/Spring 2010
We have listened to you the Member and we will try
and condense the season’s more in future! We will
move the Spring Bash Tournament to either after
the season or at least the end of the Spring
Season next year. The goal is to start right after
the Basketball Season next Spring so we don’t have
any conflicts with Basketball and to end at least
the U-5 to U-8 teams by mid April so we will not
conflict with baseball as much. U-9 and up will
still have to go longer since we have playing
alliances and the U-15 and up teams start later
due to the later start. Obviously all goes out the
window with a wet Spring but we will do out best.
In keeping the U-5 to U-8 on target we will
reschedule rainouts as we can but towards the end
of the season we will stop rainout reschedule’s
and stop at an eight game season.
The goal is 10 games but U-5 to U-8 will be
guaranteed eight games. U-9 and up is the same but
since we keep standings we will make every attempt
to have 10 games and will do it unless of extreme
weather! We also will try to condense the Fall
schedules as well for U-5 to U-8 and do the best
we can with the other age groups! Coaches and
parents can help us immensely by getting together
before the season and finding out if there is a
scheduling conflict that will affect a lot of
players on the team and turning in a scheduling
conflict form at least 3 weeks before the season
starts so we can schedule around that. The form
can be found on our web-site and can be e-mailed
or faxed in to our office. This will help us
schedule better and avoid the last minute
conflicts that hurt the schedules and hurt the
other team you are scheduled to play as their
schedules are affected also!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Our Fantastic Office Staff!
Please come by and meet Carolyn and Gabby in our
office when you get a chance! They have been on
Board less than 6 months but they both had
professional backgrounds and have picked up the
soccer office duties quickly! They have made the
office a much more stable place and I wanted to
let you the Members know!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Looking for volunteers!
As we move into the summer I will be looking to
try and form two new committees to help CFBSA in
bringing in players and advertising CFBSA in our
community.
One committee would be Publicity and the
goal would be to get articles into the paper about
CFBSA activities like the Spring Bash Tournament
and other items of interest. Also we had a
fundraiser at Chili’s that our VP Cups & Games
Orrin Russell set up where if we ate there a
particular night and brought a flyer in they
donated 10% to CFBSA for all the Members that ate
that night. We had a great response and I think we
earned about $200.00 for CFBSA but we need a
committee to explore these possibilities as we
don’t have the time to look for those
opportunities as we are volunteering a lot of time
running CFBSA. If you have those skills and want
to be part of this committee please contact me.
The Player Registration committee would
look at creative ways to find families with
children and get them signed up to play at CFBSA!
It would take some creativity but if you have
idea’s like sign up parties at a restaurant or
anything else please contact me and inquire about
the committee! We have too few volunteers and we
need help to make this the best organization
possible! With your ideas and donating a few hours
a month along with a few more people we could
really promote CFBSA! Please consider it and let
me know!
Presidents Blog: Vol. 1 February 2009
CFBSA-Our Purpose
Carrollton Farmers Branch Soccer Association is
a non-profit organization committed to promoting
youth soccer in the communities of Carrollton and
Farmers Branch. CFBSA currently provides training,
education, and recreational soccer experience to
more than 2,000 kids from ages four to nineteen.
The words above are found on the front of our
web-site and reflect what our purpose is at CFBSA!
Speaking for all the Executive Board and all
officers at CFBSA I can tell you that they all
share in the goal as stated above!
It is not always easy or smooth to operate an
organization as large as we are but that is the
goal we all share! Below is an excerpt of an
e-mail I recently received from a parent of
children that played at CFBSA a long time ago and
I have included it in this first edition as I
believe it states so beautifully what CFBSA has
always been about and gives some historical
context that CFBSA has been around in our
community for a long time!
My hope is that you will be writing a letter
like the one below 15 years from now as you and
your children both experience the friendships in
our community through CFBSA! See the excerpt
below.
“I do know
that the soccer program has been a source of fun
in Carrollton/Farmers Branch for over 36 years,
and that many children have not only experienced
the fun of the game but learned a lot about team
work, discipline and best of all made new
friends. My kids played here over 15 years ago
and they are now 31 and 29 and to this day we
see the families and friends that they played
with and against throughout those years. We have
attended their weddings, baby showers and on
rare occasions a funeral and the memories we
shared were special. They still play soccer to
this day!”
Fund Raiser
DEAR
MEMBER: I appreciate your help
and participation in our fundraiser and any
questions you may have are
answered here on-line.
DEAR
COACH: I know how hard you
work volunteering your time to coach these
children along with other activities your family
may have. You are making a positive difference in
their lives as you teach them not only soccer
skills but teamwork skills that they will
be able to use for their lifetime! I ask that you
treat your team fundraiser with the same approach.
If one player can sell one more item please let it
go to help a child that might be struggling to
sell their item!
The CFBSA Executive Board also does not want to
put you in a position of having to be the
Fundraiser Collector from a family that may not
participate. A family for example could have
multiple children playing in CFBSA or other issues
that require some discretion!
If that happens and your team is not able to
cover that child with “extra teamwork” sales you
might have, please do not take it any farther
yourself, but send an e-mail to
secretary@cfbsoccer.net
with the information so that the Board can handle,
so that you can focus your time and energy on
teaching your players soccer skills and also the
life skills that they pick up by being part of a
team!
Thanks again for all of your help and support!
How to take a road trip in Northern Mid
Cities
Dear U-13 and over coach, I wanted to write an
article to assist you in planning when you are
traveling this season and beyond in N. Mid Cities.
Some fields are not too far and others are a 45
minute drive!
I know because I coached 2 teams last season
that traveled N. Mid and I wanted to share some of
my experiences and suggestions to try and help
your trips go smoother. I first want to say that I
believe that our playing association with N. Mid
is good for CFBSA teams and after our teams are
seeded better this season I think the competition
will be better since we have played a season and
we now know where to place our teams with the rest
of the N. Mid Teams!
Denton has also been added starting this season
for U-13 and above and should bring some good
competition as well! First of all as the players
get older and the teams thin out the older you get
you have to travel more and farther! A U-19 team
will usually have to travel farther because there
are a lot fewer teams. At U-13 there are enough
teams so you should not have to travel as much but
a lot of that depends on where you are seeded for
competition. OK, let’s get to some practical ways
to travel from CFBSA area to say N. Fort Worth
which could be a 45 minute drive with traffic.
First you have to remember that you as the Head
Coach have to have a game plan to travel just like
you plan out your game lineups for that day! No
coach likes to travel 45 minutes to a game only to
find out that players did not travel or got lost
and you are now playing short! So much for the
game plan! I have discovered that you need to make
sure that your players have a ride and make sure
you communicate the plan to the entire team. I had
great luck in doing a “caravan” over to games by
having the players “meet” me somewhere local and
having several cars/vans to accommodate the
players set up in advance.
I had great success in meeting at Cox fields
last year and I would give a time to meet that was
earlier than I had planned to leave because at
least one player on my teams was running late! If
I had a 4:15PM game in N. Fort Worth I would tell
the parents to drop off the players at Cox at 2:30
knowing I would not leave until 3:00PM to get at
the destination at 3:45PM so we would have 30
minutes to warm up. Advantage at meeting at a
field is that the players that get there for the
ride on time can kick the ball around as there is
usually some space there as you wait on the “late”
players to get there by 3:00PM. You then know who
is coming although I had a few parents that wanted
to drive alone and that is perfectly OK with me.
We made the drive there an opportunity to talk and
to have them interact with one another. It made
the drive a little shorter! Occasionally we would
have them bring a few dollars and stop at
McDonalds for an ice cream cone on the way back!
I would urge you to plan the trips and
communicate the plan and I can assure you your
team will have the best soccer experience because
they are not playing “short” which we all know is
not fun for the players and a little dangerous if
the temperature is Texas hot with heat exhaustion.
Now, a few caveats about my plan you need to keep
in mind.
First is that you must have permission from the
parent or guardian to drive or have a team manager
drive someone’s child. Make sure that you get that
before driving a player!
Second is that in the world we live in today
you have to be smart and aware of what the Boy
Scouts do and NEVER travel alone with
another child without your child at least and
preferably more players. It would work also with
two or more players but never one child and one
adult! Just a bad idea in the times we live in so
I abide and encourage all to abide by the Boy
Scout rule!
Have a great season traveling to road games
this spring! Tommy Ellis-President CFBSA
PS. Above would also apply to U-9/10 for The
Colony games and U-11/12 for the Glasa road games.
Spring Season
As we approach the spring 2009 season I would
like to encourage all coaches and parents to try
and keep the cheering positive as much as possible
for the players! I do know since I have been
around CFBSA coaching for 10 years that we take
our soccer seriously and are very passionate about
our kids playing well and I have yelled at the
kids before but please make a conscious effort to
“catch them doing something right” and yell out
those praises to the kids!
When you boil it down it really is about the
players having fun being in a team environment and
learning about the great game of soccer! I
appreciate your efforts this season and remember
to leave the refs alone also because they are
human and are going to make mistakes.
I ref games at CFBSA and might be doing one of
your games and I am very capable of blowing a call
but it is part of the game. We have the “zero
tolerance” policy you can find on our web-site
that if you are not familiar with please check it
out.
Spring Bash
Please put down April 17th thru 19th on your
calendars because it will be our Second Annual
Spring Bash Tournament!
Our first was last spring and we ended up with
103 teams but I expect this one to get to 160
teams. You team will be guaranteed 3 games at all
age groups and we will have registration posted
online soon. All CFBSA teams will be scheduled off
that weekend so you will have the time and it is a
great experience for the players to play in a
tournament if they have never done so! We also
have added an Academy division for the U-9/10
division to encourage those super teams to sign up
in the Academy division so they will get better
competition and our Recreational teams will have a
better chance playing true Rec. teams. That is the
goal.
We will also need many more volunteers
to be field marshals and to help in the main tents
since we will have 3 locations this time! We also
will need some members to step up and consider
joining the committee to plan the
tournament. I know we will give all volunteers
a t-shirt and a hot dog at the concession stand
but it is about keeping control and having a big
presence with a lot more field marshals. We can
work around you games if you volunteer!
Please contact me at
president@cfbsoccer.net if you want to enquire
on how to be on the committee or put on the
volunteer list.
The MLS Camp is back for the Spring Season!
Just a reminder to all interested parents that
the MLS Skills Camp is back throughout the season
starting on Wed. night March 11th. This camp is
not a substitute for your normal practice time
with your team (which is strongly encouraged) but
a way to get your child some extra skills training
to help them improve and to have more fun as they
play the great game of soccer! The cost is very
affordable!
Please click here to download form and get more information.
Click here to register online now.
|
