2016 Fall Soccer Season has begun!

Coaches,

First of all, Thank you for giving your time this season to providing opportunities for our kids to learn and grow through the game of Soccer. 

Sportsmanship:

Coaches and parents are the main influences to our kids on good sportsmanship.  There are a number of items that will be helpful to your parents of which you may want to pass on.  http://www.iowasoccer.org/ parent_tool_kit/

Please be respectful to our referee’s, often young, it is your job to set the tone with players and parents in terms of attitude toward those officiating your games.  If you hear parents being disrespectful, please talk to them at half or after a game, or if a ref asks you to address them please do so.  Often at a parent meeting or in communication prior to the season it is be very helpful to set your expectations on respect to our officials.  The parent toolkit above can help to do that.

Directors of Coaching:

Chris Catron and Brent Emerson are working this role.  Please see them with any questions you have or feel free to contact myself.  They have been working very hard to make this Fall a success for our players.

Registrar:

Kellie Enderson is our Registrar.  You will need to get player cards, your game roster, and your coaches hard pass from her prior to your first game.  If not already, she will get those items to you.  Your name must be on the roster for you to be on the sideline.

Director of Referees:

Chad Fleener is the one to contact when you need to cancel a home game, need a ref to handle a friendly match, have questions about Laws of the Game, etc.  Chad makes sure you have referee’s for your league games.  More details will follow below.

Safety and Concussion Awareness:

Player safety is of primary concern and should be placed ahead of anything else.  Information found at the following link is very helpful in explaining how to spot a concussion.  Please take time to review this, if you have not already, so you are prepared to handle these situations appropriately.

http://www.iowasoccer.org/ concussion_management/ 

Kohl’s America Cup:

This is a recreational tournament held the first weekend in Oct.  Iowa Soccer does not schedule league games that weekend to encourage you to bring your team.  You will get at least 3 games that weekend so please consider signing up.  You will find more info at Iowa Soccer’s website http://www.iowasoccer.org/ kohls_american_cup/  Signup is available now.

Player Jerseys, and Practice Equipment needs:

Anyone who ordered a jersey, which includes both  a red and also a white top, will get those on or after Sept 9th.  That is the soonest we could get them from Challenger.  Your players are responsible to get black shorts and socks separately.  Please make sure to ask your team if they need a jersey and did not order one yet.  Chris Catron should be contacted with any Jersey needs.  If you need equipment for practice, Brent Emerson has all of that.

Training: 

Patrick Bunting, of Coerver Iowa, will be assisting us with training this season for some of our teams.  In the past we’ve worked with Coach Michael Murphy who recently took a position with a DSM Menace Academy team.   He will co-coach with Dave and the U16 coed team as well as all U10/12 teams, and U14 coed. 

Adalie Schmidt, a current ISU Player, is also coming in to assist with our U14, 16, 19 girls teams.  She has coached for the Ankeny Rush in the past and will leverage her skills with those teams.  We hope to build a strong relationship with ISU soccer as well for the future.

Games Schedules:

U11 – U19 teams won’t have schedule until Tues some time, August 30th.  Those will be available via www.tourneymachine.com.  You can add the Tourneymachine app to your smartphone.  Within the Tourneymachine app find your schedule by searching:

-          For U11 thru U19 search for ISL L3 Central – Fall 2016

-          U10’s are of course available now at www.tourneymachine.com/R22941 or search for CISL Fall16

Score Reporting:

U11 and above, it is the Home teams responsibility to report game scores via TourneyMachine.  Do so in a timely manner, and please check when you are the away team, that the score is reported correctly as well.

Officiating and Postponement or Cancellation of Home Games:

Chad Fleener is our Director of Referee’s, email cc’d above.  Please contact Chad if you ever have to CHANGE a HOME game on the schedule.  We have to make sure our referees are notified and Chad can assist in doing that.

Weather and Field Condition concerns:

Prior to game day if you have weather and field concerns talk to me.  While normally more of a spring situation, I will keep an eye on our fields and communicate ahead of game day on weeks with a lot of rain if cancellations are needed.  On game days, use common sense, keep player safety, age, etc, in mind and work with the referee, opposing coach, and ultimately reach out to myself or Chad if you have questions as to playing a game or postponing.

Iowa Soccer League Rules updates:

Please review the ISA rules ISL Level 3 Central League Rules, For U11 and above, please become familiar with the Guest Player option you now have this season for every game.  Knowing that rule will save you from having to play short a player or two for some games if your roster is limited to begin with this season. Please understand the guest player option if you utilize it, in order to get the player on the field.   For a guest player to play they must have their player card.  Please make sure to return that to their primary team before the next game.   ISA would like us to print a player card once, printing a duplicate is not generally allowed.  Thus, we need to avoid losing those.

Friendly Matches:

When you want to scrimmage a team from another club during the week Iowa Soccer has a link on their website to assist in doing that.  http://www.iowasoccer.org/isl_ level_3_central/ look for Request a Friendly link on the left navigation.  Note, this is a Google doc which may be blocked by your company if you do this within their network.

Concessions at Home games:

I am still working with Gary Ihle on if we are going to pursue this as we did last season or not.

Finally, I included the email from Iowa Soccer below.  Kyle Kinney is their new Director for the L3 Central Iowa League.

Again, Thank you for coaching this season and I wish you the best!

Paul Kallio, President Ballard Soccer Club
515-771-2942

Field Conditions

U10 Field: 

U12 Field: 

U14 Field: 

Games for this weekend are considered day by day.  Please contact Paul Kallio or Troy VanMaaren for more information regarding field status.