General CSC Questions
· Is it possible to have portable bathrooms available at all fields? CSC will review the possibilities of having portable bathrooms at all fields where possible/permitted. We understand this is useful for players, parents, siblings and spectators.
· Who is responsible for maintaining the soccer fields and why aren’t they in better shape? The club works with the school BOE to keep the fields in shape. We are currently doing large-scale landscape/maintenance work on one field per year but that is subject to schedules.
· What are the guidelines for parent’s behavior and can the club send out reminders to the parents? CSC indeed has guidelines that are distributed from Coordinators to coaches & players/parents, including guidelines how to participate as a parent. These are emphasized to coaches. These will be made available on the website prior to the start of the season.
· How can we report unruly parents to the club? What repercussions are there for inappropriate behavior? Unruly behavior is undesirable, unexpected and clearly not welcome. In this event you should calmly bring it to the attention of the coaches present on the field, during quarter break, halftime or after the game. The coach (as) should bring this to the attention of the Division coordinator and League VP. If you wish to follow up/recap directly to the division coordinator and VP that is greatly appreciated. Repercussions can include immediate suspension of player for the remainder of the season with follows up by the CSC Board.
· Can the club communicate more often? Any suggestions to help CSC improve communication are welcome. Either via email or attending our monthly club meetings.
· Can the club communicate in venues other than email?Can the club send out announcements in a timelier venue, not just the web site? Web & E-mail is quite effective however we realize many parents/guardians do not have e-mail access 24/7. In the case of players & games, coaches should communicate via email/web and phone. The Recreational program will be offering twitter status updates, which actually allows parents/guardians to obtain sms/text message “updates” instantly and without a computer after setting up a free twitter.com account.
· Why do practices start at 6PM? The BOE doesn’t issue permits until 5:30 pm in addition to the schedule and availability of the volunteer coaches.
· Why can’t we have more fundraisers? Can the club sell items such as magnets and t-shirts? CSC does not want to burden parents with “fundraisers” however this is an excellent suggestion. Cranford Soccer Club is a non-profit organization run exclusively by volunteers. These volunteers dedicate their time to allow each soccer season to run smoothly. The club always welcomes volunteers of all kinds. Fundraising is one area where your help and suggestions are welcome. Items for sale will be expanded this year.
· Why can’t we have a shorter spring season? OR play fall only? Players in Recreational & Inter-county can sign up for fall and/or spring seasons with guaranteed roster placement. Most feedback is that parents welcome this almost year-round opportunities for their children to participate in sports such as soccer. The season length is typical of youth soccer recommendations as per USSoccer.
· What is the club doing to support middle school sports? CSC is not affiliated with the schools or Board of Education. CSC allows the opportunity for middle school students to participate in soccer at a reasonable cost. The CSC Recreational/InterCounty programs have guaranteed player placement (when registering on-time) so everyone can play without “tryouts” or selection.
· Do the coaches have any recourse to discipline bad behavior? Yes. Participation in CSC programs is a privilege that can be revoked by behavior of a player and/or parent/guardian. A coach can report problems to their division coordinator and copy their league VP. We urge coaches to try to handle incidents quickly so that they can be quickly corrected and hopefully avoided in the future.
· Where can parents report coach’s behavior during the season? Parents should report feedback – good or bad - to the chain-of-command above the coach. That starts with your division coordinator and league VP. When contacting us please include your name & contact info. Along with the details or please indicate if you feel the matter is sensitive and/or you wish to remain anonymous as the incident is discussed further.
· Can the peanut programs be offered on the weekends? Yes. The peanut program is now offered on Saturdays (and Fridays) starting Fall 2010 season.
· Can Recreation 1 have goalies and bigger nets? No. This is not advised for youth soccer at this age group. CSC follows general principles of USSoccer & NJYouth soccer in regard to both player and coaching guidelines for youth soccer. You can review a 71-page “USSoccer Best Practices for Coaching Soccer.” PDF booklet here
http://images.ussoccer.com/Documents/cms/ussf/Best_Practices.pdf
· Can we have more instructional classes to develop a good foundation and understanding for grades 1 and 2? CSC will be offering more coaches training, starting with the Y-clinic on Sept 8, 2010. Players in Peanut & Instructional programs are lead by professional trainers, allowing them to have a good foundation
· Can coaches keep instruction aspect prior to games for 1st/2nd graders?
Yes. This is mandatory for the 2010-2011 season Rec program where 90 minutes are set per “game” with the first 15-minutes or so of “game day” reserved for warm-up, instructional, review & learning. Please arrive promptly to participate in these warm-ups (For example, for a 10:00am game please arrive 9:55am ready to Warm-up at 10:00am, Game starts around 10:15am). We understand these players cannot (nor need to)
attend practices and this pre-game activity is helpful. Once “games” start for Rec1 (1st grade) we allow one coach to be on the field & provide general guidance for players. This is commonplace for this age group. During Rec2 (2nd grade) this is not allowed and would be counter-productive. Having Rec-2 Coaches remain on the sidelines is quite effective since as it encourages freestyle play and ball touches which is of utmost importance for Recreational Youth soccer. During Rec-2 game play kids are offered help & guidance while waiting to enter the game. This follows the recommendations as per USSoccer, USYouthSoccer, etc.
· Who is monitoring the coaches to maintain club philosophy? Who reviews coaches and trainers?
All Recreational coaches are supplied the USSoccer “Best Practices” booklet and “Youth Soccer Vision” philosophy handout from US Youth Soccer. See link here
http://bit.ly/acaCFp
We have implemented the parent coach feedback form at the end of the season to solicit information from the parent's perspective of the performance of the coaches. Individual coaching performance issues are addressed by the Club. Trainers are optionally brought in by individual teams, who assess their effectiveness in meeting their needs / goals.
As the CSC is a very large organization we rely heavily on our network of parents, coaches, coordinators and VPs to communicate both positive and negative feedback. If any parent ever feels their coach is straying from what they believe is in the best interest of their childs soccer growth & experience we encourage them to contact their league coordinator or the Soccer Club directly either openly (monthly meeting, etc.) or confidentially (email or phone call).
· What is the support for coaches (orientation and training)? Travel coaches have F-license criteria & committee to select coaches. Starting Fall 2010 CSC, will implement regular Y-clinics (at no cost to you) for coaches, which is 2.5 hours of classroom & on-field training. Ideally each REC coach will attend the Y-clinics, or at least one coach per team. This allows the coaches to all be on the “same page” and follow USSoccer & general Youth Soccer principles. Please realize all coaches are volunteers.
InterCounty
· What is inter-county and how does it work? The InterCounty program provides an environment for players of varying skill levels to play competitive soccer against teams from other towns without the financial or time commitment required by the Travel program. It is understood that soccer might not be each player’s priority. The InterCounty Youth Soccer League (ICYSL) consists of teams from clubs/towns within Middlesex, Union, and Essex counties. The U10 teams play 10 games per season. U12-U17 teams play 10 – 11 games per season: 8 regular season games, and 2-3 playoff/consolation games. Half of the games at home, half away. The maximum travel time to away games is typically 30 minutes (Edison, Colonia, South Orange).
· How are inter-county teams selected? InterCounty teams are formed based on the number of players who register by the cutoff date. Every attempt is made to form ‘balanced’ teams, starting with the 3rd graders entering the U10 program. This all depends on the player evaluations provided by the Rec 2 coaches. We try to spread the talent across the available teams in an effort to provide a competitive environment for all players. When we have to combine teams (such as between fall and spring, or when U10 teams move to U12), we try to keep players from teams together in order to promote continuity.
· Are teams grouped by skill level? We do not create ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams, but try to ensure that each team within a division has sufficient talent to be competitive. When teams are submitted, we provide a ‘strong’, ‘medium’, or ‘weak’ tag to indicate the overall skill level of the team. This is based on input from the coach, age of the team (a u12 team of all 6th graders is probably ‘stronger’ than a team of mostly 5th graders), how well the team has competed in previous seasons, etc. Again, the goal is not the $7 trophy at the end of the season, but providing an environment where the players can participate and be competitive.
· Why are the teams so large/small? There are no tryouts, and all players who register on time are assigned to teams. Also, we need to submit our team counts to the league by the first or 2nd week of August so that the schedule can be created, and distributed (no small feat for 175 teams). We try to keep teams to 12-14 for U10, and around 16 for U12 and up, but as all players are assigned teams, we sometimes don’t have a choice.
· What is the commitment level of players? As with any team sport, players who register are expected to attend practices and games. However, we understand that there may be conflicts with school, religious activities, family obligations, other sports, etc., and we try to be flexible. What we find is that the commitment level of the players varies depending on the players and their parents. We have players and parents who choose to participate in InterCounty and make every effort to attend practices and games, and have some players who are there only because their parents don’t want them in front of the TV. We’ve had instances where the parents viewed practices and games as a convenient ‘babysitting service’, where the player had no desire to be there but had no choice. Unfortunately, there are some parents and players who view this a ‘Rec’ and it really “doesn’t matter whether or not you go, you still have to play ∏ the game”.
· How are coaches selected? Parents interested in coaching a team indicate this when they register their son/daughter. Typically, parents who coach in the early years (K, 1, 2), typically continue to coach as long as their son/daughter participate. 12 of the 15 U12 – U17 coaches have coached since their children were in 1st or 2nd grade. When we are short coaches, we send out an email to the parents on the team looking for a volunteer to coach the team, and provide options in case there are parents who are interested but not sure.
· Can IC use trainers? As with travel teams, InterCounty teams can hire a trainer at an additional cost to the players. The decision to use a trainer is up to the coach and the team.
· Why can’t IC have more than one practice a week? Coaches conduct one or more practices per week, depending on the team. There are no rules regarding how many practices a team can have.
· Why can’t we get more time on the turf field?The U12 – U17InterCounty teams actually received a fair amount of time on the turf field since it opened. In both the fall and the spring, I tried to get every U12 – U17 team at least one game on the turf. This past spring, we had one guaranteed slot (out of 4) each week of the regular season, and played all but 2 of our home playoff/playdown games at the turf field. When a slot opened up, I tried to move games that were not scheduled for the turf to the turf. Last fall, we were allowed to use the turf field on Saturday after 4pm (one time slot), and were sometimes able to get 2 or 3 games on the turf. This fall, we will have Saturday afternoon again, and at least one time slot on Sunday.
A lot of coaches ask about practicing on the turf. The issue here is that we compete for time with the HS teams (football, soccer in the fall, LAX and Baseball in the spring) along with other fall and spring Rec sports (LAX, football). The schools use the field during the week, usually until about 6 or 7pm, which effectively eliminates weekday practices, and weekends are taken up by games. Now, if they could find a way to use the lights until about 10pm…..
· Why can’t we get three referees per game? We have been using 3 referees for U17 games, playoff games, and whenever we were ‘sandwiched’ between travel games (who use 3 refs). This fall, we are starting to use 3 refs for all U14 games as well. The issue, as always, is the availability of certified referees. We’ll take a look at how this works with the U14 teams, and look to start using 3 refs for U12s as well.
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Why can’t teams and schedules be posted on the website? All of the InterCounty information is already available at the InterCounty website (www.eteamz.com/icysl <
http://www.eteamz.com/icysl> ), which is a link on our website. There, you can find the rules, contact list (containing the teams and coaches), the schedule, standings, and other information. It doesn’t make sense to try and maintain the same information on our site when the ICYSL site is currently available.
Travel
- How are travel teams picked? All players must tryout for Travel Soccer. Tryouts are held each Spring for the upcoming Fall / Spring season, and the players are evaluated by professional trainers, coaches, and Club officials. Teams are formed and players selected from the results of the tryouts & season long evaluations and coaches opinion. Players are not guaranteed to make a team. The CSC Tryout Committee oversees tryout selections.
- How are travel coaches selected? The tryout committee reviews coach resumes, interviews and parental surveys. Based on those items and where the coach’s child falls the committee makes their choice. Travel Coaches are selected from a group of volunteers, however, unlike Recreational Program coaches, Travel coaches must complete an F-License course in order to be eligible to coach a team. An F-License is obtained after completing a 2-day training and information program offered through the State.
- What is the time commitment for players? Players are expected to fulfill their commitment to the team by attending practices and games. Fall & Spring seasons consist of 10 games each, practices twice a week & tournament play. In the fall, if there is a conflict with competing sports, soccer should take priority. In the spring, the Club understands that soccer competes with other sports, and coaches are instructed to do their best to allow players to fulfill their commitments to both sports (i.e. baseball, softball, lacrosse, etc Children that choose to participate in multiple sports SHOULD NOT be penalized if this conflict is at the occasional expense of soccer. (Especially through ages u11 or u12)
- How many parent/coaches are allowed to volunteer per team and allowed on the sidelines during games? What are the guidelines? Teams are allowed to card 4 coaches. MNJYSA dictates that only 3 are on the sideline together. It is up to the referee to enforce that rule.
- Why can’t travel teams be grouped into A, B, C starting at U9? It is difficult enough to pick the top 24 coming out of rec let alone the top 12. The club feels it better serves all of the players by allowing them one year playing and training at even strength
- Can coaches and assistant coaches be paired together by shared coaching philosophy? Coaches pick their assistants from the limited pool of parents from the team.
- How are trainers selected? How are they monitored? As of right now trainers are selected and monitored by each individual team.
- Why can’t the club keep equal strength teams though U11? With the system of flighting teams by similar ability our feeling it is best for all of our players to play with and against players of similar ability. We have seen time and time again when a player has been playing on a team where they are far below the rest of the team in ability many times they are overwhelmed and they regress instead of improve. Conversely we have seen many players drop down to a lower flighted team and improve dramatically because they are allowed to succeed and build confidence
- Why do we play on Mother’s Day? Because the league mandates it
- Why do we hold travel soccer tryouts during baseball season? Why can’t they be in June? This does not work. We have tried to hold them in June but because most of our competition holds their tryout earlier we have lost Cranford players to those teams because we waited. Also we need to give ourselves sufficient time to order uniforms and register our teams to play. If tryouts were held in June we would not have enough time to do either of these things
- Why is there a $10 fee for tryouts? To help offset the cost of the evaluators.
- How much time can I expect my child to play at each game? Where does this direction come from? NJYS mandates a minimum of 1/4 of the game. CSC guidelines suggest half the game as a minimum and equal playing time for all players as a goal through age u10".
