One more chance for Cash Calendars

I have gotten several inquiries about cash calendars...  here are some answers for everyone to share.

Q: What is it?
A: Cash Calendars is our annual league-wide fund raiser.  Every player is asked to be responsible for either buying or selling 3 of them at $10.  A good fundraiser helps us keep the costs low and still pay for all of the things we love (fields, nets, uniforms, refs, banquet, trophies, balls, etc, etc.)  Most of you should have gotten something that looks like this from your coaches...

Q: What are the important dates?
A: Every day in the month of May one ticket will be drawn at random, and that winner will receive some amount of cash for that day.  Drawings start May 1 (This Friday) and end May 31.

Q: Is it too late to purchase tickets?
A: It is not too late to purchase tickets.  You will have another opportunity to submit tickets for the Mother's Day drawing (whopping $150 prize) on Sunday.  If you purchase tickets that day at the field, those tickets will be submitted for the Sunday drawing.  We will have a stand setup at pine banks to collect the tickets.

Q: What do I do with my unsold stubs?
If you have stubs that you will not be able to sell, please bring them to the stand at pine banks on Sunday.

Spring Week 2 - April 26

I hope everybody had a great first week last Sunday.  I would love to hear about how it went for your young athlete in the comments below.

Some important announcements:

1. Join us for Malden Youth Soccer's NE Revolution night on May 31.
2. Be sure purchase your cash calendars from your coach this weekend.  Each player is asked to buy and or sell 3 calendars for $10/each.  See your coach if you have not received your pack.
3. We WILL have soccer on Mother's day!  But, due to a Melrose Road Race that day, we will use the back field at Pine Banks.

This week's schedule

Practice Recommendations:

If you have some extra time to play around with your young athlete this week, here are some activities that would align with the skills we're developing this week:

More tips for basic passing technique:

If you have 3 people to play with, this is a great drill to play with...

As always, progressing with ball handling skills is a great thing to work on:

Prepared Practice:

Participating coaches can download this week's prepared practice card.

Malden Youth Soccer Rev's Night - May 31

Malden Youth Soccer is getting a great deal on New England Revolution tickets on May 31st.  The flyer below tells you how to get them.

The deadline for ordering is May 19th, but be sure to get your order in before that date if you want to guarantee your tickets at our price.

Spring 2015 - Week 1 is Here!

We're starting a new soccer season this Sunday.

This is the first U7 Spring session, and thanks to 24 generous volunteer coaches, we're able to support 12 teams at the U7 level!  We can accomodate a few more players, so please help spread the word that players can still register online.  These positions will be taken quickly.

If you have not yet committed it to memory, please be sure to read through the spring welcome letter.  There are important things you need to have for the first day...  read the full post...   but especially remember that every player must bring their own size 3 soccer ball AND soccer shin guards.

Recommended skills to practice with your young athlete this week:

Ball handling (Super advanced skills here...  stick with the drills that your player does well with...  keep it fun!!!)

Striking the ball with the inside of the foot by way of old-fashioned passing.

Here are the field assignments for this Sunday. 

Pre-planned practice:

For coaches participating with the optional pre-planned practices, here's this week's card.

Spring Soccer is Here!!!

Hello Parents,

What a winter, huh?  Spring seems to be just about here.  We're kicking off the spring season just 2 weeks from today.  This page should help you prepare for the start of the season.

You should be receiving an email with your child's team assignment within the next few days.  If you have already registered, contact the league if you don't get it by April 11.

If you have not registered yet, there is still time.  We have a few spots left, and will move to a waiting list once we fill up.  You can register here:
http://www.maldenyouthsoccer.org/register.html

If you have friends or family who might be interested, let them know asap before we fill up!

The Season

Due to the impact of our winter storms, we have had to alter our schedule a bit from the normal spring season.

Our season starts on April 19 and will run for 9 consecutive weeks with no break for Memorial Day.  The last game will be June 14th.

We will have our annual league banquet at some point in the week after our last game on June 14.  Details will be announced when we get closer to the date.

All of our games this season will be on Sunday mornings.  We will have 2 time slots that will changes for each team every day.  The first slot is 9:00-10:25.  The second is 10:30-11:55.

Each 85 minute time slot will be divided into a 40 minute skills/drills session and a 40 minute scrimmage/game, with a 5 minute break in between.

The Blog

This Blog will be the primary source of information for schedules, cancellations, etc. Please bookmark it.  Feel free to use the comments to discuss the league and let us know what we can do to improve any aspect of U7 Soccer.

http://MaldenSoccerU7.blogspot.com/

Cancellations due to weather will be posted to the blog... please check it within an hour of the start time on game-day morning.  If you do not have access to the internet on Sunday mornings, please let me know.

Parents will need to supply...

1. If you already have the correct uniform, please use it.  If not, the league will supply a shirt, shorts and socks on the first day
2. Appropriate shoes.  We'll play on natural grass, cleats are recommended (but are not required)
3. Shin pads are required.  Your child may be excluded from the game if this important piece of safety equipment is not used.
4. Players must come to the game with their own size 3 ball with the players name on it
5. Long pants and long sleeved shirt worn under the team shirt if desired
6. Water - for frequent breaks
7. A snack for between the practice and game may be desired
8. Players must not wear earrings
9. Parents must remain at the field with their children during the entire session 

Our Philosophy

At the U7 level we continue focusing on basic skills, and begin incorporating more of the basic rules into the experience.

Our primary focus remains providing a fun and healthy environment for the kids to discover their emerging soccer skills.  We do not focus on winning.  We don't keep official score, celebrate wins, or mourn losses.  We strive for every player to get equal playing time, and try to keep the number of players on the field small in order to maximize opportunities to play.  We reward skillful play, good attitudes and sportsmanship.

Here are some additional notes about the U7 format:

1. For this outdoor session we will play 5v5 plus a goalie.  We will use the bigger nets. Coaches may decide to change the structure as needed for a fun and fulfilling game depending on attendance.
2. Coaches may decide to balance teams at game time if there is a need to equalize the number of players on each team.
3. Substitutions should be made when play stops and should occur approximately every 5 - 10 minutes
4. We will play with throw-ins, goal kicks and corner kicks.
5. The game will start with a kick-off at the center, as will the second half of the game
6. After each goal, the team scored upon will start again by kicking-off at center.  A successful kick-off means that the ball needs to roll 1 revolution forward and be touched by another player
7. Hand balls result in an INDIRECT kick to the opposing side
8. No slide-tackling allowed, results in an INDIRECT kick to the opposing side
9. No pushing with the arms or hands allowed, results in an INDIRECT kick to the opposing side
10. No tripping from behind allowed, results in an INDIRECT kick to the opposing side
11. No checking with hips allowed, results in an INDIRECT kick to opposing side
12. No off-sides called
13. The coaches may decide to break for half-time

Basic Rules for Parents

1. At least one adult supervisor must stay during the entire session and is responsible for watching kids if they wander away from play
2. Parent involvement is appreciated and encouraged when appropriate but please try not to interfere with the session
3. Due to insurance rules players who are not registered with the league cannot play
4. Players must not wear jewelry such as earrings, watches, necklaces, etc.  

9 Week Schedule

Be sure to note the time you play each week!

Date	Time	Home Team	Away Team	Field
Week 1	9:00 AM	Colorado Rapids	LA Galaxy	Field 1&2
Sun 4/19/2015	9:00 AM	NY City	Portland Timbers	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	Philadelphia Union	Toronto FC	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	DC United	Houston Dynamo	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	Chicago Fire	Columbus Crew	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	NE Revolution	Montreal Impact	Field 5&6
Week 2	9:00 AM	Houston Dynamo	Montreal Impact	Field 1&2
Sun 4/26/2015	9:00 AM	NY City	Colorado Rapids	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	LA Galaxy	NE Revolution	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	Chicago Fire	Toronto FC	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	Columbus Crew	Philadelphia Union	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	Portland Timbers	DC United	Field 5&6
Week 3	9:00 AM	DC United	Philadelphia Union	Field 1&2
Sun 5/3/2015	9:00 AM	Portland Timbers	Columbus Crew	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	Toronto FC	LA Galaxy	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	NY City	NE Revolution	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	Montreal Impact	Colorado Rapids	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	Houston Dynamo	Chicago Fire	Field 5&6
Week 4	9:00 AM	Chicago Fire	LA Galaxy	Field 1&2
Sun 5/10/2015	9:00 AM	Colorado Rapids	NE Revolution	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	Portland Timbers	Houston Dynamo	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	Toronto FC	Montreal Impact	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	DC United	Columbus Crew	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	Philadelphia Union	NY City	Field 5&6
Week 5	9:00 AM	Montreal Impact	NY City	Field 1&2
Sun 5/17/2015	9:00 AM	Toronto FC	DC United	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	NE Revolution	Philadelphia Union	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	Colorado Rapids	Chicago Fire	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	Columbus Crew	Houston Dynamo	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	LA Galaxy	Portland Timbers	Field 5&6
Week 6	9:00 AM	Chicago Fire	Montreal Impact	Field 1&2
Sun 5/24/2015	9:00 AM	Columbus Crew	Toronto FC	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	Houston Dynamo	NY City	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	DC United	Colorado Rapids	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	Philadelphia Union	LA Galaxy	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	Portland Timbers	NE Revolution	Field 5&6
Week 7	9:00 AM	NE Revolution	DC United	Field 1&2
Sun 5/31/2015	9:00 AM	LA Galaxy	Houston Dynamo	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	Portland Timbers	Toronto FC	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	NY City	Chicago Fire	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	Colorado Rapids	Columbus Crew	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	Montreal Impact	Philadelphia Union	Field 5&6
Week 8	9:00 AM	Philadelphia Union	Portland Timbers	Field 1&2
Sun 6/7/2015	9:00 AM	LA Galaxy	NY City	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	Toronto FC	Colorado Rapids	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	Houston Dynamo	NE Revolution	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	Montreal Impact	Columbus Crew	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	Chicago Fire	DC United	Field 5&6
Week 9	9:00 AM	Philadelphia Union	Chicago Fire	Field 1&2
Sun 6/14/2015	9:00 AM	NY City	DC United	Field 3&4
	9:00 AM	NE Revolution	Toronto FC	Field 5&6
	10:30 AM	LA Galaxy	Montreal Impact	Field 1&2
	10:30 AM	Houston Dynamo	Colorado Rapids	Field 3&4
	10:30 AM	Columbus Crew	Portland Timbers	Field 5&6

Pine Banks Field

All games will be played at Pine Banks Field.  We will use the field that is inside the rubberized running track.  We will setup 3 separate game fields within the main playing area, with each team allocated one side of the field for practice:

Updates:
- 4/17: Corrected the 10:30 games to be AM instead of PM