Spring 2017 7th – 9th Grade Soccer League

Organized by the Greater Athens Soccer Association

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Regular Season

March 17th – April 28th

Games one day a week (Typically Fridays)

Post-Season Tournament

Sometime after regular season

Cost: $65

(includes $10 for Athens Community Soccer insurance if not already a member)

All Registration is online thanks to collaboration with Athens Community Soccer

To register go to

http://www.gasa.athenscommunitysoccer.org

Deadline: February 17th

Email questions regarding this league to:  gasaleague@gmail.com

This program is neither sponsored nor endorsed by the Athens City School District.  The distribution of this material is provided as a public service.

Tentative 2017 7th – 9th Grade League Details

Logistics: For the 10th year in a row, the Greater Athens Soccer Association (GASA) is forming a league to provide a spring soccer opportunity for 7th – 9th graders.  Children who are 15 years of age or younger on June 1st, 2017 are eligible to play.  Note that if you are eligible for the Athens or Alexander K-6 recreational league, you are not eligible for the GASA league.  The tentative schedule for the league is as follows:  The tentative plan is to have the majority of the games played on Friday evenings starting the evening of March 17th and continuing to the end of April. There will be an end of the season tournament after the regular season.  The exact dates of the tournament will be determined later based on any rescheduling during the regular season due to rainouts.   Your child’s coach will provide further details and the final schedule after we form the teams.  The coach will also schedule the practices.  We will encourage each coach to hold two practices a week throughout the season.  Modified FIFA rules will apply. There will be no slide tackling.  

League Philosophy:  The focus of the league is participation, sportsmanship, fitness, soccer skill development, and enhancement of player self esteem and interpersonal skills.  Coaches will be instructed to distribute playing time equally and to allow players to try different positions.  After some deliberation, it was decided that we will keep score and standings; nevertheless, the focus is participation and sportsmanship.  This includes all players, coaches, league volunteers and parents.  Should we find that winning is becoming more important than sportsmanship and fairness, we will discontinue keeping score and standings.  Derogatory comments towards the players by coaches, parents or other players will not be tolerated.   Derogatory comments towards the referees by players, coaches and parents also will not be tolerated.

Expectations of Players:  All players will be asked to sign a player agreement form.  We anticipate that the players will be cooperative, supportive and respectful of league officials, referees, coaches, teammates and opposing players. In the rare event that this is not the case, the inappropriate behavior will result in the individual being disciplined.  Serious repeated problems will result in player/supervisor/parent meeting and may result in a child being asked to leave for a specific number of weeks. A player who receives a red card, or accumulates multiple yellows, will be suspended from play for a minimum of 1 game.  The league reserves the right to increase the suspension for egregious behavior.  

Cost:  The cost is $65 (includes $10 for Athens Community Soccer insurance if not already a member).  These funds will be used for (a) field creation and maintenance, (b) referees, (c) insurance for the league and players and (d) uniforms.  We will probably be very close to breaking even.  In the event that we have excess funds, the remaining funds will be used by GASA for community soccer development.

What can I do to help?  We are seeking head coaches who have experience playing and coaching soccer.  We welcome parent volunteers to serve as coaching assistants, even if they have no experience.  In addition, we may have parents run the sidelines during the games.  This involves raising a flag when a ball has gone out of bounds and indicating which team touched it last.  It does not involve calling off-sides, which will be handled by the referee.   Parents are encouraged to attend games.  However, coaching kids from the sidelines is not allowed and negative comments will not be tolerated.  Please keep in mind that volunteers are donating their time and making every attempt to provide a positive experience for your children.  Please assist them in achieving this goal.  

If you know of a business that would be willing to sponsor a team, please send an email to gasaleague@gmail.com and provide the information on the registration form.  Thanks!

Email questions regarding this league to:  gasaleague@gmail.com

This Year’s Theme:  Teams for this year’s GASA league will be based on the teams from the 2017 Men’s Confederations Cup.  This is the 10th year for GASA to host this league.  Previous themes were:  the 2006 Men’s World Cup (1st year), the 2007 Women’s World Cup (2nd year); top seeds from the 2010 Men’s world cup (3rd year), the top teams from the 2010 Men’s World Cup (4th year), the top teams from the 2011 Women’s World Cup (5th year), the top teams from  the 2013 Men’s Confederations Cup (6th year), the top seeds from the 2014 Men’s Confederations Cup (7th year); the top seeds from the 2015 Women’s World Cup (8th year); the “continental cups” champions (9th year).

Fee Assistance:  Should you need assistance with fees, please contact the organization at gasaleague@gmail.com.  

Optional Donation:  GASA offers fee assistance (see above).  If you would like to make a donation to this cause, please mark amount on the registration form and include with fees.  If the total donations exceed the amount needed for fee assistance, the organization will use the remaining funds for league costs and/or field maintenance.