Youth Soccer Info Sheet

The West Springs/Cougar Ridge Community Association is continuing to build on the successful community-based soccer league that will be held right in your backyard.  We have a solid based program including local sponsors.  All we need now is registrations and volunteers.  So come on out and JOIN US!

Registration

Note: The Community Association membership is $25 and is required for registering in the soccer program. This is not to be confused with the annual fee that may be tied to your house title in our communities.  For more information please see Community Association vs Resident Association

Registration starts January 15, 2012 at 12:00pm.

Please see league information below for links to register in each league.  You can register multiple players in the different leagues and remit payment once for all registrations.  Register all players in your family then proceed to online payment.  Payment will be processed through: 

1) an existing Paypal account

2) create a new Paypal account

3) one time payment via credit card through Paypal

Also please see info below regarding possiblity of creating a U12 community team.  If you have a player interested please inform the league coordinators to assist in their evaluation of various strategies.

Important dates:

League Information

U4 League (Born between Jan 1, 2008 to May 1, 2009)

• 1 time per week
• Saturday: 9:00am to 10:10am.
• 30 minute practice/fun games, 10 minute snack & 30 minute practice/fun games
• This program is an introduction to soccer for children three years old
• There will be a lot of parent involvement to help organize various games for the players
• Mixed teams of 12 or less depending on total # of U4 registrations
• Waldorf school fields (515 Cougar Ridge Drive SW).

U6 League (Born between Jan 1, 2006 to Dec 31, 2007)

• 1 time per week
• Saturday: 10:30am to 11:40am.
• 40 minute practice, 10 minute snack & 20 minute game
• The focus in this league is on basic skills development
• Teams play 3 on 3, including a sweeper/keeper per team
• Mixed teams of 12 or less depending on total # of U6 registrations
• Waldorf school fields (515 Cougar Ridge Drive SW).

U8 League (Born between Jan 1, 2004 to Dec 31, 2005)

• 2 times per week
• New in 2012. We are considering a boys and girls league and have setup registration to accomodate.
• In the event registration numbers do not support separate leagues we will setup the mixed league as in previous years.
• Saturday: 9:00am to 10:20am. Boys
• Saturday: 10:30am to 11:50am. Girls
• 40 minute practice, 10 minute snack & 30 minute game
• Wednesday: 6:00pm to 7:30pm for both Boys and Girls.
• Field locations to be determined to accomodate both leagues.
• 50 minute practice, 10 minute snack & 30 minute game
• The focus in this league is on basic skills development
• Teams play 5 on 5, including a sweeper/keeper per team
• Mixed teams of 11 or less depending on total # of U8 registrations.
• Fields at Cougar Ridge Dr and Cougar Plateau Way SW

U10 League (Born between Jan 1, 2002 to Dec 31, 2003) Continuing in 2012!

• After the past 2 years success, we have decided to continue with the U10 league.
• We will play once again in the Southwest League. This is a local league that has house league type of play with a little more structure than our house league from U8. All teams have about 20 games 2 times per week. Each team will play 50% home games within our community and travel to the away teams for the rest. Most of the away teams are within 5 to 10 minutes from our community (Coach Hill, Rangers (just west of our Co-op), Signal Hill) and a few communities just off of our hill Glamorgan, Sunalta, Dr. Oakley School. The league has 3 boys tiers that range from low end house league (not played much soccer, to reasonably competitive but not yet premier leagues.) The league is also setup to adjust at mid-season to ensure teams are fitting in. The league is a bit more structured with a formal league with scores, standings, and referees.  It is still aimed at being a fun recreational but competitive league style of soccer. Last year was our 2nd year in this league and it was a lot of fun!  More competitive leagues can be chosen by searching the Calgary Rangers soccer program.  The Southwest still allows us to choose our own community teams, have our own home field and soccer in our community, but gives us a good set of teams to play against.
• The league aims at having structured times
  • (Mon/Wed for girls: 6:00 or 6:30 start for 1.5 hours – 30 minute practice and 60 minute games).
  • (Tues/Thurs for boys: 6:00 or 6:30 start for 1.5 hours – 30 minute practice and 60 minute games).
  • Final exact times will be determined later on when league is setup. Each team will also have a 1.5 hour practice session flexible to meet the team’s time frames.
• For more information see: www.southwestsoccer.ca.
• WSCR home field location will be near the Waldorf school.
• Policies: The Southwest policies will be followed and available at www.southwestsoccer.ca..
• The Southwest league does have a year-end tournament, which is a lot of fun.

U12 (New Possibility in 2012)

We are looking into an option of partnering with a neighbouring soccer organization (looking at 2 or 3 different clubs) to be able to join Calgary Minor Soccer and yet build our own community team. This is the only league that we can play in because the U10 South West league does not have enough interest to build a U12 division.  Further, we have developed as a house league and have not developed enough other teams to join CMSA on our own. We are requesting you to please send soccer@wscr.ca a response indicating your interest in continuing in U12 soccer with WSCR. We will continue to explore our options later in January, but want to understand the interest from our group.

Here is a summarized a few of the key points about playing in Calgary Minor Soccer:

Calgary Minor Soccer (CMSA) will provide a slightly more structured game setup than U10.

• 50% of the games will be away against other teams. There is potential to play almost anywhere in Calgary so we would expect some more travel than we experienced in the SW league.  However we will try to structure to use our own home fields rather than our partner fields.  Also, there will be some closer away games and a few further locations, so on average it shouldn’t be that much more travel.
• There is a higher cost of with joining Calgary Minor Soccer. Fees could rise from about $100 to a range of $250 to $300. However, this is still relatively inexpensive compared to some sports and we would also be trying hard to minimize this cost through dedicated sponsorship or some other strategy.
• We will be picking a modest tier level, aiming to match our level of play.
• In summary, this is a reasonable option to continue to play soccer within our own community that will be managed within our means to provide a fun level for our children and keep the costs reasonable.

Steps moving forward:

• •1. We will continue to reach out to other clubs to form a partnership.
• •2. In parallel, gather interest from our previous U10 players in our community.  An email has been sent to any pU10 players from last year who are moving up to U12 this year.
• •3. If both steps 1 and 2 are successful by late January, then we can proceed to form the number of teams that match our interest.

Please send an email to soccer@wscr.ca to indicate interest in the following:

• 1. Yes, U12 boys.
• 2. Yes, U12 girls.

We will continue to keep you up to date with information, so that you can make informed choices if this doesn’t work out and you would like to join other clubs.

We welcome any thoughts and questions. We can grow soccer within the community, but there are some challenges as the numbers decline at older levels. However, with good support we can be successful.

Volunteer Deposit

• To ensure a good quality program, volunteers are needed to perform various roles including coach, assistant coach, team manager, age group coordinator, equipment manager, picture day, year-end tournament, and administrative tasks. A volunteer fee of $100 per household will be asked to mail-in at time of registration to WSCR Community Soccer, Suite 138, Unit 406, 917 – 85 Street SW, Calgary, Alberta, T3H 5Z9. If one parent/guardian serves as a volunteer for the season, the Volunteer Deposit cheque will not be processed. Otherwise, the cheque will be deposited if we do not have enough volunteers to cover all the tasks.

WSCR Membership

• A WSCR Community Association membership is required for registration. Players from neighboring communities (Patterson, Coach Hill, Strathcona Park, Aspen Woods) are welcome to register, but a WSCR membership must be purchased.
• WSCR Memberships can be purchased online (www.wscr.ca) before the date of registration for $25.
• If you participated in soccer last year, your membership will be expired at the end of the calendar year you registered. Therefore you will need to purchase a new membership.
• It is recommended to get that membership prior to registration for soccer starting.

Late Registration

• A late registration fee of $25 will be added to all registrations received after March 1, 2012. Late registrations will be processed subject to space availability in the appropriate age league. Registrations will close on March 31, 2012 or when leagues are full.

Refunds

• Refunds will be processed upon request, up to March 31^st, 2012. Refunds may be processed after this date for medical reasons. A $25 administration fee will be deducted from all refunds. This offsets the cost of administrative fees with online scheduling and equipment if other players cannot be found.

Team Assignments

• Players will be randomly assigned to teams within their age league. Requests for specific players to be put on the same team may be made (maximum 2 per player), but we cannot guarantee that all requests will be fulfilled. Player requests will not be honored unless stated on the registration.  Assigning players to teams will happen after league registration has closed. In the past there are often cancellations and late entries that require some team adjustments to accommodate the late entries and cancellations.

Uniforms

• Jerseys, Shorts and Socks will be provided by the WSCR Community Association as part of the soccer program. The players keep their uniforms at the end of the season.

Equipment

• Appropriate outdoor footwear is required. Cleats are not necessary for U4/U6.
• Shin pads are mandatory for all games/practices for all leagues.
• Balls and other field equipment will be supplied by the WSCR Community Association.

Parental Attendance

• At least one parent/guardian is required to be in attendance during each game (either as a volunteer or spectator).  In the event of player injury, parents will be expected to administer first aid.

For more information, contact us by email: soccer@wscr.ca.