NASL  NEWSLETTER

January 16th, 2004
Happy New Year!
 

1. Upcoming Soccer Calendar - new dates added.
2. Some more important Soccer Dates from ASA
3. Update from FOSNA (Friends of Soccer, North Alabama
4. Workshop on Dealing with Sports Injuries and Medical Emergencies
5. Important Dates for 2004 High School Soccer Season
6. Great Signs for Refs
7. Notes from the ASA Planning Meeting and Board Meeting, 1/11/04
8. Alabama State Coaching Courses - Spring 2004 Schedule
9. Opening for NASL Game and Field Scheduler
10. Charlie Zarzour NASL Scholarships
11. Southern Soccer Scene
12. Free Help for Coaches at NASL
13. How to Remove Your Name From this E-mail List.

       I'll forward you a full report from the ASA board soon but I wanted to get these dates in your hands as soon as possible:

• June 1st - 4th - ODP Mini Camp No Tryouts allowed
• June 4th - 20th - Open Tryout period
• June 12/13 - Regional Adult Cup in Huntsville
• June 20th - Commitment date from Tryouts
• August 14th -  Div I and Div II state league games may begin
• October 22/23/24 - Governor’s Cup, Location TBA
• October 31st - Div I and Div II state league ends
• November 5/6/7 - Div II tournament, Location TBA
• November 5/6/7 - Div I prelim matches, location TBA
• November 13/14 - Div I semis/finals, location TBA
• November 13/14 - Adult State Cup
  
         I didn’t forget the Qualifier.  There is no Qualifying Tournament this year. Teams will declare what division they will play in and the chips will fall where it may. Since teams can select which division they will play in we did away with the provision to allow the Gov. Cup winner to enter the DII cup or to allow the DII winner to enter the DI cup.
  
       All state tournaments are up for bids so locations are all to be determined. More later.
  
  Marty Eaton - District Commissioner, ASA

FOSNA (Friends of Soccer North Alabama)
      
 

UPDATE FROM FOSNA:

      The City of Huntsville approved $148,000 to be paid to Schneider and Associates architecture firm for completion of necessary drawings, construction guidelines, etc at the Merrimack Soccer Complex. There is a meeting this week ( January 12) to have a 60% review of the documents completed thus far so things are moving fast. Hopefully this process will be complete by end of month. While things are a little sketchy right now it looks as if there will be 5 additional soccer fields and a large building which will have a concession stand, restrooms. a meeting room upstairs, equipment storage area, and maybe even a room for referees/teams ( a total of 7000-8000 Square feet). It also looks as if we will have 2 additional restroom facilities located somewhere on the complex and even a Pavilion. Right now it looks as if 501 new parking spaces will be created. We also hope the money will go far enough to light a few fields as well. I do not have a date as to when construction will begin but will hopefully have that for everyone by mid-February latest.
      This is a very exciting time for our soccer community. I wish to thank Ralph Stone with the City of Huntsville for his time and energy helping get us this far. Many thanks to Mayor Loretta Spencer as well as each and every city council member for their support. Also to each and every person ( coach, player, referee, and parent) that has helped soccer become what it is in North Alabama. This has truly been a work in progress for many years.
      Now - Where do we go from here? FOSNA has much more work to do. As the organization representing all of soccer in North Alabama we will have some financial responsibility for Merrimack. While that has not been made clear by the City at this time, it will be something. It might be the maintenance, buying equipment, lighting fields, etc. We are asking for you to join our organization. It is $20 per person or $50 per family. You can find the membership form at www.nasl.com/fosna . The address to send it to is on the form. We are also a non-profit organization.
      We will be talking to local companies about sponsoring fields at Merrimack. We will be looking for additional land for more practice/game fields. We will be needing help as we put all these things together. We will need more individuals to help us form committees and to create ideas. The next FOSNA meeting will be held Tuesday Feb.3 from 6:00-7:30 at the Brahan Spring rec center. Anyone wanting to listen, join, or ask questions are welcome to attend. Thanks

Johnny Childress
President - FOSNA

February 13/14, 6-10 PM at J. F. Drake State Technical College, 3421 Meridian St., Huntsville - The cost is $25 per person.  Sponsored by NASL.  An Informational Flyer is Here  Course includes instruction on sports medicine and CPR.

What: Workshop on Dealing with Sports Injuries and Medical Emergencies
When: Feb 13/14, 6-10 PM
Where: J. F. Drake State Technical College, 3421 Meridian St., Huntsville
Cost: $25 per person

• Do you know simple steps you can take to prevent common injuries?
• Are you prepared to deal with a medical emergency?
• Do you know how to provide initial treatment when a player gets hurt?
• Could you revive a player if they stopped breathing?

Sign up today!!

       Hopefully you will never have to deal with any of the situations outlined above but coaches and managers of NASL teams have had to deal with all these situations during the 2003 fall season. As we get ready to start the spring season make sure your team is ready to deal with these and other situations. Sign up for your coaches, managers, and interested parents to take this important workshop which is being sponsored by NASL.

      Thanks to NASL you can take this important class at a fraction of the normal price. Participants will pay just $25, payable to NASL, for the class. Participants will not only learn how to prevent and treat common soccer injuries, you will also become certified in Basic First Aid and in CPR. Certifications are awarded by the American Heart Assn. and are good for two years.

• Reserve your spot in the class by emailing Ken Gamble at dsports@hiwaay.net
• Deadline for reservations and payments is Tuesday, 10 Feb, at the NASL Spring scheduling meeting.
• If you have additional questions call Marty Eaton, 551-3123.

Varsity Soccer

• First Practice - January 19th, 2004
• First Contest - February 9th, 2004
• End of Season - May 8th, 2004
• Contests Allowed - 20 - Includes only regular season contests per school.
• Tournaments Allowed - 2

Jr. High/Middle School Soccer

• First Practice - January 19th, 2004
• First Contest - February 9th, 2004
• End of Season - April 24th, 2004
• Contests Allowed - 14 - Includes only regular season contests per school.
• Tournaments Allowed - 2

Note: A team's season begins the day of its first contest and ends when the team is eliminated in the state championship program. Other than the two allowable tournaments, a third tournament with no loss of school time may be scheduled with each game played counting as a regular season game.

Dates for state playoffs in all divisions are as follows:

• AHSAA High School Soccer Sections must determine which schools are soccer section winners and runners-up prior to April 22nd, 2004.
• AHSAA High School Soccer - First Sub-State Round of Playoffs is April 27th, 2004
• AHSAA High School Soccer - Second Sub-State Round of Playoffs is May 1st, 2004.
• AHSAA Soccer Championship - May 7th and 8th, 2004 - John Hunt Soccer Complex in Huntsville, AL

Copy of the AHSAA Spring 2004 Soccer Book is available here!
 

Found these on the US Soccer web site .

BELOW COMMENTS FORWARDED BY MISL FANS:

Your eyes are killing me!
Can I pet your Seeing Eye dog after the game?
Have they stopped printing the rulebooks in Braille?
Don't donate your eyes to science, they don't want em'!
Does your wife let you make decisions at home?
I thought only horses slept standing up!
Lens Crafter called ... they'll be ready in 30 minutes!
When your dog barks twice, it's a goal!
Kick your dog, he's lying to you!
Do you get any better or is this it?
Do you travel with this team?
Come on, MCI doesn't make that many bad calls!
You're getting better; you almost made the right call that time!
Stevie Wonder could see that one!
I've seen potatoes with better eyes!
If you had one more eye you'd be a Cyclops!
Are we watching the same game?
I bet you fell asleep during school.
Do you get paid per bad call?
This is soccer, no academy awards for acting.
Your Mama called, you're out of the will.

(Sent in by Referee Steven Buchthal)

     These notes follow the course of the discussion which tended to shift topics as different people interjected comments. These are only my notes and are not intended to be a full record of the meeting.
    
     Regional Tournament for Adults will be held in Huntsville Jun 12/13

     Women’s Soccer Showcase is planned for Huntsville, March 27/28. It will feature several Div I college sides, Regional ODP teams, and a couple top level Canadian clubs.

     Dave Stephens addressed problems with Ref. Abuse and singled out NASL’s U10 Rec Plus as a too typical example of the kinds of problems we are experiencing. Stated that clubs and leagues must have zero tolerance for these outbursts if we expect referee support. *NASL should conclude our holdover disciplinary issues from the fall season and issue a policy regarding sideline behavior that would allow us to sanction a coach/manager/team for inappropriate actions even without the referee issuing a send off.

     League play for State Leagues, both Div I and II are 14 Aug to 31 Oct. There will be no qualifying tournament, rather teams will self select into Div I or II and let the chips fall where they may.


Regarding seeding and other state tournament issues:

     DII tournament will have the top 4 teams seeded, all others will be random. The basis for the seeding will be by vote of the coaches in that year-group. They will be asked to rank the top 4 teams (other than their own) in the age-group, the votes complied, and seeding determined.

     In DI, the top two seeds will go to the two Region III teams. Region III teams can only be the past year’s Champ and finalists. No third or 4th place teams will be allowed to play in the Region III league. The remaining seeds will be determined by league standings.

      Region III teams will be expected to play a shortened Div I league schedule but those games will not count in the standings when seedings are determined. Any exceptions to having a Region III team play state league games will be considered by the committee and the SDOC.

     The Div II tournament will be an open tournament for all DII teams only. It will be played over the 5/6/7 Nov. weekend and will likely include Fri night games.

     The Div I tournament will be played over two weekends. It is open to all Div I teams only. The prelim games will be played the weekend of 5/6/7 Nov. The following weekend will be the semis/finals (Nov 13/14) (no third place games)

     Governor’s cup will be played Oct 22/23/24. That tournament is open to Div III/IV teams only.

     Since teams can self select into a division we are dropping the provision to have the DIII winner play in the DII cup and for the DII winner to enter the DI cup.

      Adult State Cup will be the same weekend as DI semis/finals in the same city to better showcase both events.

     There was considerable discussion about shifting the younger age-groups to a spring cup sequence to extend their development season and spread out the tournaments. The idea was not well enough defined to be considered for implementation yet because there are big questions regarding what age to cut it off at, U12,13, or 14, and whether to include DI if you use the 13 or 14 age cutoff. There was a lot of discussion about how this would impact on middle/high school soccer, other sports, etc. After considerable discussion no consensus was reached. One point that I came to agree with is that for too long we have accommodated other sports and school rules, making assumptions about our players and creating self-fulfilling prophesies. A better approach might be to put together what we think is best for the development of our players, make it a quality product, and let them chose. Expect more on this issue soon. Input is welcome.

There is a Sub-regional event planned for Jun 12/13. The winners of our DII cup are invited. Bids are going out to host the event and we expect Montgomery to bid to host the boys and Dothan to bid to host the Girls events. The current DII champs should make plans to attend.

      Illegal Recruiting policy is under revision and is still in a similar form to what I briefed at the NASL Board meeting. Open recruitment would be allowed in the tryout window, 4-20 June while general info only can be distributed before that time. Once the season starts transfers would be limited to players who move 50 miles or more. An open transfer period would be held 15 Dec to 15 Jan. During that time, the only reason a transfer could be blocked would be if the player owed money to the club they were trying to leave. The policy spells out fines and suspensions for each infraction. Holding tryouts, practices, scrimmages, etc with players currently committed to another team outside the 4-20 June tryout period would be defined as illegal recruiting. Contact regarding guest playing must begin with the coach desiring the guest player contacting the players current coach and can not proceed to contact with the player without the approval of the current coach.

      Short sided shift will continue. This fall U9 is 6v6, U10 and U11 are 8v8, while U12 is 11v11. In the fall of ’06 U9/10 will be 6v6, U11/12 will be 8v8, and 11v11 play will not begin until U13. The discussion on how this would impact referees tended to think one youth referee could handle the 6v6 on their own and 8v8 would use one center official and require each team to furnish a club linesman. However, we understand that in our area, coaching and parental behavior has not improved to a level where the referee requirements can be so far reduced. This is a serious problem, one that is costing parents a lot of money and making it difficult to schedule and staff games, leading to cancelled matches. And it must not continue.

     The state is going to do more to support rec soccer development. They will also move to more short sided play. There will be more youth modules taught for coaching development and the ASA is planning on conducting a series of soccer camps around the state this summer.

     Coaching training is planned for our area as follows:
6 March Youth Module 1&2
27/28 March Training the Elite player
(in conjunction with the women’s showcase event)
16-18 April E course
23-25 April D course

     ODP: Regional camps will stay in AL (Montevallo for girls, T-town for boys) for the next 3 years. ODP mini-camp will be Jun 1-4 in T-town.

     Adjourned for the Board Meeting

     Received Treasurer's report.  It showed a loss for the year. That was anticipated due to changes to items made throughout the year and an accounting shift that shifted an item out of current year income. Draft ODP budget sent to treasurer. ODP is budgeted to be self supporting. Sponsorships are way down, both at the state and national level. Expect the national association to pass on additional costs to states this year.

      Discussed Illegal recruitment but tabled till next month to consider adopting.

      Division Region III tournament bids will be made by Montgomery and Dothan. If another city is interested (Decatur?) contact the state ASAP to get details. Event is 12/13 Jun, 03.

Calendar was presented and adopted. It included:

6/4-6/20 Open Tryouts
8/14 DI/DII state league begins
10/22-24 Governors Cup
10/31 DI/DII state league ends
11/6-8 DII cup
11/6-8 DI prelim games
11/13-15 DI semis/finals
11/13-15 Adult State Cup

      The board also passed this sequence for the 05 and 06 seasons, giving us a 3 year calendar to work from. The only significant change being considered is whether to split out the younger ages to the spring.

      Dan Mikos presented info on Rain insurance that tournament hosts can obtain to pay them in the event of heavy rain during the tournament.

      Empowered the Tournament committee to negotiate bids for all state tournaments and bring back bids to the board for approval.


Upcoming meetings include:

The February ASA Board Meeting will be February 29th at 4PM.
The April ASA Board Meeting will be April 18th at 4PM.
The May AGM (Annual General Membership) Meeting will be May 23rd at 2PM.

Meeting adjourned.

     If you have any questions about any of the items above please contact me at eaton@hiwaay.net.  Thanks.

Marty Eaton
North Alabama District Commissioner

 

Alabama State Coaching Courses - Spring 2004 Schedule

      After this spring soccer season, long time NASL Game and Field Scheduler and Alabama Soccer Parent of the Year, Craig Hardwick, will retire as the NASL's scheduler.  The league is looking for a replacement.  If you are interested or know someone who would make a good scheduler please contact Christy Clark at clarkhse@yahoo.com or Craig Hardwick at AL1Best@knology.net or Irene Wisner at iwisner@knology.net

Job Requirements:
      The NASL Scheduler has to be available via cell phone at most hours.  This is a difficult task for those with full time jobs so please consider carefully if you have the availability needed.
      The scheduler must be impartial and have the "people skills" to work with all NASL clubs and teams and has to be able to deal with the various cities, Parks and Rec departments, AYSA, AYSO, HAS, etc. – all of which have different objectives.
      It is very important to the NASL Board that the scheduler needs to be unbiased toward any club.  Any candidate who is taking the job to provide a prejudicial benefit to their own club will NOT be selected. 

Benefits:
      Currently the scheduler receives pay of about $2,250 during the fall season and considerably less during the slower spring season.  The scheduler will also be reimbursed at a set rate for his/her cell phone use in the line of duty.

      For the third year in a row the NASL is offering a $500 scholarship to a boy and girl high school senior again this season.  The deadline for nomination by their coach AND submitting the required essay for this year is March 31st, 2004.  The board prefers the nominations from the coaches be made as soon as possible.  The actual essays may be turned in anytime up until midnight on March 31st, 2004. 
      Votes will be taken the first week of April and a final decision will be rendered no later than April 15^th with the actual scholarships to be awarded during the AHSAA High School Championship games on May 8th, 2004 at the John Hunt Soccer Complex in Huntsville.
      Information about the scholarships can be found on-line at http://www.nasl.com/articles/scholarship.htm

       If you want to keep up with soccer in the South, then Southern Soccer Scene is the magazine for you. Check out the on-line edition at  http://www.southernsoccerscene.com.
       Receive Your FREE Issue Today! Fill out the form below and submit it to start your subscription to Southern Soccer Scene. You receive 12 issues (One Year) for only $25.00 or 24 issues (Two Years) for $40.00 and SAVE 18%. Send no money now. We will bill you later.
       Southern Soccer Scene gives you:

• Greater regional soccer coverage throughout the Southeast.
• A greater commitment to college soccer.
• New coaching articles, training methods, features, player and coaching profiles.

      Satisfaction Guaranteed! If you decide Southern Soccer Scene is not for you, simply write "Cancel" on the invoice and return it to us — you keep the FREE issue. For subscription questions call or email us.  Payment by MasterCard or VISA accepted by phone (M-W, 9:30 am/5:00 pm) (336) 292-7015.
http://www.southernsoccerscene.com/subscribe.htm

      Since January I have been moving thousands of drills, tips, articles and exercises from my old website at DecaturSports.com to the NASL website in an effort to make the NASL website the largest repository of help for soccer coaches on the internet.  The DecaturSports.com website was one of only two website recommended by NSCAA for youth coaches at their annual convention. Since the DecaturSports.com website covered many sports I felt it was important to place this wealth of soccer material on the NASL website which is soccer only.
      There are articles on virtually every topic that ever interested soccer coaches and for coaches from newly drafted dads and moms to USSF "A" Licensed coaches.  Recently added were on-line videos of all the Coerver moves and the Gary Rue's Exercises of the Day.  This is a year long project for me and I still have many, many  more to post so let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to see and I'll get it posted first.
      Stop by http://www.nasl.com/drills.htm and look around and I think you will agree that it is the finest selection of soccer coaching material on the internet.  Ken dsports@hiwaay.net  

NASL NEWSLETTER:

       You may sign up for the NASL e-mail list and also provide changes (including removing your name from the list) to your current e-mail address and phone numbers by using this form at  http://www.nasl.com/Email.htm This is our means of keeping the local soccer community up-to-date on events and items of interest.  If you have something to contribute please e-mail me at dsports@hiwaay.net
All of the above information and more is on-line at http://www.nasl.com

Thanks for being involved in soccer in Alabama. 

Ken Gamble - NASL Secretary
"Next Goal Wins!"

REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS

     This low-tech emailing list is maintained for the benefit of coaches, referees, and parents involved in youth soccer in Alabama. List maintenance is semi-automatic. If you are no longer in Alabama or wish to be removed from this list for any reason, simply send an e-mail to dsports@hiwaay.net with "Delete", "Remove", "Exclude", "Unsubscribe", "Stop!", No More!, "Cease and Desist!", or something similar in the subject line. Regional dialects, colloquialisms, and various misspellings (e.g., Cut it out!, Delist, Unlist, Disenfranchise, Quit me, Unsuscribe [sic], Unsuscripe [sic], Describe, and Unscribe) are understood.
     "Drop Dead, Pond Scum" works also, although emails with profanity (e.g, Go to He!!) will be filtered out and automatically discarded so that the youth players who volunteer in the NASL office won't see them. Other requests, particularly those that include the word me (e.g., Drop me, Terminate me, Cut me or worse, Cut me off, Take me off, Purge me, Reject me, Take me down, Expunge me, Take me out, and Kill me) are cause for concern but are generally implemented figuratively rather than literally.
     Tense, gender, and grammar (e.g., Please removed us/we/him/her.) are irrelevant. Some requests (e.g., Enscribe and Obscribe) confuse us and may result in additional contact. Manners (e.g., Please, Sorry, and Thank you, anyway.) are optional.
     Explanations (e.g., I visited Huntsville once on the way to the Calaveras Frog Jumping Contest and loved looking at the space museum, but I have never lived in Northern Alabama.) are always interesting and are appreciated.
     Sporting metaphors (e.g., I don't want to play on your team.) help soften the blow. Denials (e.g., There is no one here who plays soccer. or We hate that game.) mean we entered someone's email address incorrectly. We're used to but politely disagree with gender stereotyping (e.g, Real men play pointy football. and Soccer is a man's game, not a game for skirts). Questions (e.g., How did you get my email address?) generally can't be answered because nobody in the NASL office knows the answers to them.
     Your email address and all other alias email addresses that you include in the body of your request will automatically be added to NASL's Exclude List. This will permanently stop delivery of all types of future NASL announcements, including those for upcoming tryouts, coaching/refereeing courses, refereeing opportunities for league and tournament games, and birthday parties. You can also quit yourself from NASL's e-mail page at http://www.nasl.com/Email.htm

NOTE: The wonderful removal instructions listed above were adapted with permission from Michael Lindeburg at San Andreas Youth Soccer Organization, http://www.sayso.org