Season Number 5 is Here!!! 

Hello everyone it is time to get ready for a new season of youth soccer here at Blue Ridge.  I have a lot of information for you.  I want us to be as organized as possible.  I hope that this parent letter helps make it more enjoyable for everyone involved.  Our lives are hectic enough. 

Four seasons have taught us a great deal.  It has been a very enjoyable experience.  The wonderful parents and children that we have in our program are from Montrose, Blue Ridge, and other communities.  We have both girls and boys from the ages of 4 – 12.  Our kids play in two - year age groups.  U – 6 is under 6, ages 4 and 5, etc., through age 12.  The date for our age deadline is July 31.

Parental Involvement

We need the parents to be involved.  We had many great things happen last year because of the great parents in the community.  We need the parents to be coaches, referees, and help with a concession stand.  We try to limit the amount of time in the concession stand to about 1 hr / 10 week season.  Also, SAY soccer requires two adults, unrelated at a practice to protect the children.  All members of the executive committee and coaches require a screening process by SAY soccer for safety purposes.  The policy is available for you. 

Game Format

If you are new to the game of soccer, feel free to ask questions.  We play short – side soccer.  Game format will depend on the number of children that we have in each age group.  Standard game format will be 6 Vs 6 with a goalkeeper. Our U – 12 kids play 11 VS 11 game format.  This will help with their transition to high school soccer.  We have standard goals based on national standards for each age group. 

The league furnishes a game jersey that the children can keep.  We would like the parents to get the kids black shorts and black socks for games.  The kids must have shinguards to play soccer.  The shinguards are necessary for both practice and games. Every child should have a ball for practice.  Dick’s Sporting Goods has package deals that contain cleats, shin guards, soccer socks and a ball.  Soccer uses different size soccer balls based on the child’s age.  Ages 4 – 6 use a size 3, 7 – 11 use a size 4, and ages 12 to adult a size 5.  We recommend cleats, but they are not necessary.  Baseball, and football cleats are not acceptable for soccer.  Soccer cleats do not have a toe cleat. 

Season Dates 

Practices will start after 17 July.  We will practice twice a week and games will begin August 5, 2006.  Practices could drop to once a week after the season starts; it will depend on your applicable age group and coach.  Our season is 10 weeks long.  We play all of our games on Saturdays.  We play every Saturday.  The final week of the season is October 7^th. 

Upcoming Events

Soccer Camp

Our first major event will be a child’s soccer camp with Challenger Sports Soccer Camps.  Children ages 4 on up will be allowed to attend.  The dates for Blue Ridge Youth Soccer's camp is July 10th – July 14th.  The camp has sessions in the morning and evening.  The morning and evening sessions will be at the New Milford Borough Field.  Public restrooms will be available.  You are welcome to stay watch but it is not required.

It is picture time!!  We have pictures scheduled for August 14^th and September 11^th.  We will have pictures on these days, RAIN or SHINE.  The pictures will be inside if we have bad weather on either of those dates. 

All the picture forms will be provided one week before our first scheduled picture day.

Coaching Clinics

There will be Coaching Clinics this year.  The first clinic will be July 15^th, the Saturday after the camp.  Kevin Mansfield, our coaching coordinator, will coordinate all other coaching clinics.  We also have videos, dvds and books available for your use during the season.