Grade 3
GRADE 3 Soccer Fall 2012
Format: Season runs for 6 weeks with games starting on Sept 15 - Oct 27, with no soccer on Oct 6. . All games will be played at the Sprague Field Complex. There should be one additional practice during the week at a time to be determined by the coach. You should never cancel a game without notifying Judi Lucarelli who is the referee scheduler since she will have a referee at the field for your game.
Rosters: Every coach should have received a team list with the medical emergency contact roster which you must print out and take to each game. If anyone drops off your team please notify the coordinator. Under no conditions are players to be traded or added to teams by the coaches. Roster changes can only be made by the coordinator and will only be made in the case of filling roster slots. There are currently some players on wait list, so please check to see if all your players plan to play.
What to tell parents: If you haven't already done so, it is recommended that you let the parents know: Game schedule - include time and field location, team color, practice schedule, list of players on team, phone, parents names etc. and a water and orange schedule.
What's in your coaches bag: T-shirts for your team, ice pack (more are available if needed), Game ball, Goalie gloves.
If you need cones/disks or pinnies, they are available from Sue DeNatale (wellesleysoccer@comcast.net).
New website: The schedule will be posted on the website, so no handout with schedule this fall. There is a sample parent letter on this page as well. The schedule will be posted on the website on an Intown Schedule Page and parents will be able to log in to see their child's schedule once the new TEAM PAGE feature is available. You will have ability to set up information on this Team Page once it is available. Instructions will be emailed to you soon. An email will be sent to all coaches and parents once the schedule is available online. Girls teams will play at 10:30 am and boys teams will play at 3 pm each week.
Practice Schedule - All teams should practice one time per week. Please try to accommodate as many players as possible and if there is a direct conflict with another activity, the guideline is to alternate practices with the conflict. There will be a Grade 3 Team Training day on Mondays at 5:45pm at Sprague. All teams are encouraged to practice on that day and Sprague will be reserved for your practices. In addtion, you will be able to scrimmage other teams. There is no system to reserve fields, Sprague will only be available on Monday for your practice. On other days, use elementary school fields including Fiske, Hardy, Perrin, Schofield. See our website (www.wellesleysoccer.org under COACHES/FIELD INFORMATION) for practice field availability chart. You will need to share fields with other soccer and baseball teams so it is not possible to have a large fields space. Try to run some creative small spaced skill games and do not practice near the goal mouths.
Fields - Field safety tips - no hanging on goal posts. Girls coaches will need to set up the goals on the 6v6 fields in the morning at first games. Coach and other adult will need to find these on the field and set them up so come early with a helper for 10:30 am games.
Rain Cancellation: Games will be cancelled only if it is raining hard. Cancellation will be posted on the website.
Other Cancellations should be avoided if at all possible. It will be unlikely that there will be any time that a field and/or referee will be available for a makeup game due to the scarce resource of fields. IF YOU DO NEED TO CANCEL A GAME, you must email or call Judi Lucarelli at 237-8605 (camp_lucarelli@yahoo.com) to cancel the referee. You also must speak to the opposing coach. You should try to play your game even if you have very few players - just make accommodations with the other team to share players or play a smaller sided game. The first game on April 24 is at end of vacation week. Please try to play even with a few players and if you must cancel, notify the opposing coach and contact Judi Lucarelli to cancel the referee.
Safety: is of paramount importance. Please let coordinators know immediately of any serious injury. Medical Rosters with medical emergency information have been emailed to each coach. You must bring these to all games. You have received 1 ice pack, if you need more during the season, call Sue DeNatale. Cleats are optional, but strongly recommended. Shin pads are required.
Skill Objective: Soccer is a game of control. At this age we want to emphasize ball control in trapping, dribbling, passing and shooting and discourage booting the ball.
Rules: Referees - Referees are responsible for controlling the game according to the rules. Under no circumstances are coaches to argue with or confront referees. If you have a question about a call, wait until halftime or the end of the game and ask your question quietly and in a non-confrontational manner. Many of the refs, especially for 3rd grade games are refereeing for the first season and are in training. Please keep in mind that your own children may be in that position in a few years. Any comments whether positive or constructively critical should be made to Judi Lucarelli, the referee coordinator at 237-8605.
Coaches - Play skill-enhancing games during practice. Offer encouragement in support of skill goals during the game, minimize instruction and direction such as "go there" or "pass it here". Keep out of goal mouths during practices. Do not encourage booting the ball. Coaches are responsible for the behavior of the parents.
Parents - Parents should offer encouragement only, not instruction. For example, "pass it" is an instruction, "nice pass" is encouragement. Parents should stand on the opposite side of the field from players.
End of Season - In an effort to be consistent for all K - 4 grade teams, the WUSC will provide each team with certificates to be presented at the end of the season. The certificates are designed with a space for a team picture that we suggest you take at the beginning of the season. We also encourage, if you desire, ice cream parties, pizza parties or a special treat at the field, restaurant or home. DO NOT present trophies, medals or plaques. The board has spent considerable time discussing this and if you have a question or comment about this policy, please call the soccer phone at 239-0955. Thank you in advance for your adherence to this policy.
Evaluation Forms are on the website: Please fill out the player evaluation form for your team and return it by November 10 to Sue DeNatale, it's easiest to email it as an attachment to wellesleysoccer@comcast.net or fax to 781-239-3385.
Tryouts for Fall Teams: All grade 4 teams play in the BAYS (Boston Area Youth Soccer) travel league starting in fall of grade 4. At this time, 2 stratified teams that require tryouts will be formed and all other teams will be made up of mixed skill level players and they will play in the BAYS travel league. Open tryouts will be held for all players interested in playing on the 2 stratified teams. It should be stressed that these tryouts are voluntary and only players interested in playing on stratified teams need to attend. All other players will be placed on a balanced skill team. We typically field a division 1 team, a division 2 team and 5-8 balanced teams. Tryouts schedule will be posted in early April. Tryouts will be held in early May. There will be new age group coordinators who will oversee fall tryouts and team selection. A letter will be emailed to all parents to explain this process.
Referee and Field Scheduler - Judi Lucarelli 781-237-8605 camp_lucarelli@yahoo.com
For any issues regarding your spring team-
Grade 3 Girls Coordinator Ed Lasch
Grade 3 Boys Coordinator Tino Delollis
