Spring 2016 7th – 9th Grade Soccer League

Organized by the Greater Athens Soccer Association

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Regular Season

March 18th – April 29th

Games one day a week (Typically Fridays)

Post-Season Tournament

Sometime Between May 2nd – May 20th

Cost: $65

(includes $10 for Athens Community Soccer insurance)

All Registration is online thanks to collaboration with Athens Community Soccer

To register go to

http://www.gasa.athenscommunitysoccer.org

Deadline: February 20th

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

Tentative 2016 7th – 9th Grade League Details

Logistics: For the 9th 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, 2016 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 18th 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 ($55 if you are already a 2016 Athens Community Soccer Junior 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 added to GASA for future 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 top teams from the “continental cups” e.g. Copa America.  This is the 9th season for GASA to host this league.  Previous themes were:  the 2006 Men’s World Cup (first year), the 2007 Women’s World Cup (second year); top seeds from the 2010 Men’s world cup (third year), the top teams from the 2010 Men’s World Cup (fourth year), the top teams from the 2011 Women’s World Cup (fifth year), the top teams from  the 2013 Men’s Confederations Cup (sixth year), and the top seeds from the 2014 FIFA Men’s Confederations Cup (7th year); the top seeds from the 2015 Women’s World Cup (8th year).

Players who play in other sports:  In past seasons, players have participated in another spring sport as well as the GASA league; a decision that GASA supports. Note that GASA teams typically practice 1 to 2 times a week and games are tentatively scheduled for once a week.  If your child plans to participate in another sport in addition to GASA, please indicate this on the registration form.  This helps in the planning of the teams.  We have the following experience with players participating in other sports:

Several players have done AMS / AHS Track: Players have missed ~0 to 2 regular season GASA games and no tournament games.  Track season usual ends early May.  Some GASA practices might be missed until the track season ends.  

A couple of players have played on boy’s JV Tennis:  The players missed a couple of regular season GASA games due to tennis and no GASA tournament games.  We are not sure when the tennis season usually ends.  Some GASA practices might be missed until the tennis season ends. Moving the GASA games to the late afternoon on Saturday should eliminate conflicts between tennis and games.

A couple of players have done both baseball and the GASA soccer league while others have opted for only one sport after considering the schedules.  Last year a couple of players played baseball and GASA.  They made it to most GASA events.

The above is based on past experience.  While some players have enjoyed juggling two sports, others have found it to be too much.  Parents and players are advised to consult schedules (school schedules available at http://www.athensbulldogs.org/) in making their decisions. Please feel free to contact the GASA organizers at gasaleague@gmail.com if you have further questions.  Note that GASA does not pro-rate fees for planned absences.

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.

The Greater Athens Soccer Association (GASA) is a volunteer-driven, non-profit 501c3 organization chartered to support, enhance, and augment existing soccer organizations and coaching for school age participants in the city of Athens and the surrounding area.  Our primary mission is to encourage development of fundamental soccer skills, teamwork, and sportsmanship, while promoting the further development of soccer.