February 25, 2010

Parents and Players,

Welcome to the 2010 Braintree Travel Soccer Junior Academy season. Once again we have been hard at work making improvements to the program that the kids will find fun and enjoyable - leading to what we hope will be a lifetime enjoyment of the sport. I write to provide you with the information you will need for this season.

1. Below is a link to all rosters and the Junior Academy preseason training schedule. As you were advised, indoor training will be held for 5 consecutive weeks on Sundays in February and March. After that, there will be additional training opportunities offered to players on a schedule to be released soon. Game play will be held outdoors at East Junior High School on Sunday mornings from April through to early June. Our season will end with the World Cup finale and festival in June. The game schedule is being developed now and will be sent out when available. Your coaches will be in touch to introduce themselves within the next few days.

Link to rosters and preseason training schedule: www.braintreeyouthsoccer.org

2. Please note on the preseason training schedule that the training location for 3/28 is TBD. We currently have permitted Hollis School for this training, however, if we can go outside we will. We have reserved space at the Thayer fields on Route 37 in the event weather permits outside play on March 28th. This decision will be made during that week. You will receive email notification at that time.

3. Please condition yourselves to check email from coaches. Our coaches are dedicated volunteers, many of whom prefer group emails to correspond with players. This maximizes the amount of time they can spend on the field and makes their life easier. Please do your best to accommodate them, as they have many players to be concerned about.

4. The training schedule has been randomized from week-to-week to minimize the number of conflicts, for you, with your child's other regularly scheduled activities. Players should attend their scheduled training session only. One of the recent changes we made to the program was to significantly improve our player to instructor ratio. This was done to insure that your child gets more individual attention and to make the sessions more streamlined for the instructors. Please help us achieve these goals.

5. During our indoor training sessions, we are asking parents to stay outside the gymnasiums at Hollis. Space is a bit tight and must be used for the players and to reduce clutter that slows down training sessions. Please follow this instruction. Siblings are absolutely prohibited from the gym.

6. Each player should come to training sessions prepared. Soccer players wear shorts and t-shirts. Eventually they will receive a uniform and should wear the complete uniform to pre-season training as well as their outdoor training and game dates. Each player should also wear shinguards. This is mandatory. Each player should come to training with a ball (size 3 or 4 is appropriate for their level of play), and a drink. Those that pre-ordered a soccer ball should receive the ball during one of the training sessions.

7. Please remember that all coaches and directors are volunteers, and I am proud to say they are some of the most dedicated I have had an opportunity to work with in many years of youth sports. Referees are often-times younger players on more advanced teams in our travel program. Please be sure that at all times they are treated with the respect they deserve for volunteering their extra time for your child. Please help your child make thanking their coach and the referee a routine practice.

There is absolute zero tolerance for any spectator, coach, or player that is disrespectful to a referee, a coach, or another player.

8. Your concerns can be brought to the attention of our junior academy directors. Email addresses for each of these directors is detailed on the training schedule.

9. Several of the training sessions this season will be run by the staff from Soccer Edge. You can read more about this organization at www.socceredge.com.

I look forward to watching each of your children enter into this program and grow as individuals and soccer players over the course of this year and future years.

Thank you,
Chris Kelly
President
Braintree Travel Soccer