Upper House Informational Meeting 3/31/08

1. Upper House Informational Meeting 3/31/08 • The Vision • Upper House is … • Coaching • Team Formation • Registration • Season Format • Playing Rules • Summary of What You Need to do

2. The Vision • We want every child in San Francisco to develop to the best of their ability in the sport of soccer (and in life!). • We believe that the development of a Division 3 Upper House program over the next few years will support that goal. • A metric for success is to develop the players within Upper House to the level where they can all make the cut for their High School soccer teams. • We are looking for dedicated, flexible, and adventurous coaches and parents to be part of building a program that will touch the lives of thousands of children in San Francisco.

3. Upper House is … • A Division 3 (Developmental Team): “An intermediate level team formed by a tryout selection process”. • It is NOT a Div 1 program with Starter and Bench players that plays 80-100 games a year. • The focus is on development of the player to reach his/her best skill level in soccer, rather than just everyone have fun. It is for children ready to make a bigger commitment to the sport (not just superstars!)

4. Benefits of Upper House • A higher level of competition without having to leave San Francisco • We will schedule fields and referees (Not typical for Div. 3) • We will try very hard to obtain 2 practices/week from Park and Rec in order to match this higher level of commitment. • We are targeting keeping the fees the same as in Rec. • With your help, We may try to set up Jamborees with other local leagues (Marin, Burlingame, etc). [Pause, as a sea of hands raise to indicate Volunteers to help organize this. *g*]

5. Coaching • Coaches can be paid, volunteer, or parents just like in Rec. • This year: All coaches must have an F license • Future: Head Coaches will be allowed to coach their first year with an F License. After that, they must obtain an E License. Also, we may require Positive Coaching Alliance course attendance.

6. Team Formation • Teams may have tryouts or invite players to their practices • Teams can merge to form an Upper House team and a Rec. team • This year, we will post coach/manager contact information on the website, so that players can contact the teams. We will have a “players looking for teams/teams looking for players” list as in Rec. • Next year, we will provide a website list of team tryouts with enough notice so that anyone can attend. • No Poaching! • No Age Waivers will be allowed

7. Registration (Teams) • For reasons beyond our control, we are starting this process late, but we thought it was better to try to start rather than wait a year. • We will try to be as flexible as possible this year to make sure teams can register. It will work out, just believe! • Most important for teams is to go ahead and register as early as possible and ask for a late appointment. Indicate that you are trying to join the Upper House program. • We need all teams to make their final decision by May 1. This will allow us to decide if we will form Upper House in that age group/gender. If not, your team will be placed in the top division of Rec. But I am optimistic that we will have the numbers. • Paperwork must be complete by May 23. • Paperwork must be approved by District. They are finicky.

8. Registration (Individuals) • We do not want any child to miss on out soccer, because they tried out for Upper House and lost their spot on their old Rec team. • Therefore, individuals should go ahead and sign up with their old team in addition to trying out for an Upper House team • If the individual is accepted to an Upper House team, the coach/manager must notify the office. This is critical! • For this year only, if Rec teams fall below the minimum number of players because of those players leaving to join an Upper House team, we will work with the teams to make sure that all the children are still able to play soccer in the Fall. • Next year we will try to have the timing smoother.

9. Season Format • In Div. 3 soccer, the season “counts”. Teams play round robin during the season (play each other twice), and the team with the best record is the winner. Every game “counts”. • We are proposing an 10 week season with two weeks off for outside tournaments/jamborees. No end of season tournament. • We will try to make up all rained out games that do not take us past Thanksgiving, possibly with games on Sunday or double-headers (with a suitable break). • We will try to have all the games on Saturday, but people need to be open to the possibility of regularly scheduled games on Sunday depending on field availability.

10. Playing Rules (U10) • Differences from Rec. • Substitutions follow FIFA rules • Direct Kicks allowed with ball no closer than edge of penalty area • (No PKs same as in Rec.) • No trained volunteer linesmen, We will use three paid referees. • No Lopsided game policy

11. Playing Rules (U11) • Differences from Rec. • Substitutions follow FIFA rules • Games are 30 min halves, not 25 min • No trained volunteer linesmen, We will use three paid referees. • No Lopsided game policy • Number of players 9 or 11 (eventually)

12. Summary of What you Need to do • Let us know tonight if you think you are interested. • Pass the word along, encourage coaches you know that are interested in Upper House to contact Vikings as this will help with our outreach • Hold tryouts to form team of size • U10:12-14 • U11:14-18 • Register ASAP • Declare by May 1 • Paperwork by May 23rd