Wayne Soccer Club Direction

Parents,

I just returned from the monthly coaches meeting with some important news, which concerns you as parents. Read the story below and let me know how it affects your son's future with the team.

When the Wayne Soccer Club (WSC) was formed 30 years ago, it was created to compete with Boys and Girls club and the PAL. All organizations had a goal to provide a higher level of soccer than recreational for the better players in town. The organizational was mostly voluntary and fees were pretty low, spent on paying dues to organizations like Northern Counties and referees. It grew and added professional trainers and tournaments but dues were pretty well in line with the other clubs in town.

But there were academies and elite clubs nearby that charged more and provided more training and better tournaments and more games. These clubs have been poaching some of the better WSC players. So the WSC has decided to combat this by becoming an elite club. Rene Moran's U-11 team is an example of what they want the entire club to become. They practice three times a week using Red Bulls trainers. They go to about five tournaments a year, sometimes out of state. They play all winter long. And the parents happily pay about $1200 a year per child.

The WSC is mandating that all teams U-11 and younger, starting in the fall, will follow this model. Note that we are grandfathered in and don't have to do so. But I wanted you to see what is happening so you see the direction the club is taking and how some peripheral actions will affect us. If your child was U-11 or younger in the fall they would have the following schedule mandated by the club:
40 practices a year with a Red Bulls Trainer

• 20 games a year coached by a Red Bulls Trainer
• 12 practices a winter with a Red Bulls Trainer
• 2 tournaments a year coached by a Red Bulls Trainer

Dues for this team would be $950/player

They also have an elite division with an extra 20 practices and full-side winter training for $1,200 a year per child.

This sounds extreme but, since this is a non-profit organization, the kids pay about half what some of the local academies are charging yet receive better services.

Now this is a far cry from what our team and what many of the other WSC teams are accustomed to. This is a much higher commitment of time and money by the parents and a higher level of professionalism in the coaching. If you remember, I did all the winter training and most of the game-day coaching for free. We will end up paying about $600 after you add in the extra training dollars and tournament fees I added to the $425 I collected at the beginning of the year.

Whenever a change like this happens, there is some turmoil. Parents who didn't sign up for this leave and parents who were thinking about leaving the club because it didn't offer this stay. And parents who are searching for this level of play arrive. What will be the net effect? I'm not sure. I hope for the best.

But what does it mean to us? We are not mandated to go this route. It goes against my own coaching philosophy but I'm just one parent. I'd like to find out what you think. Rather than run an anonymous poll, I'm going to ask you to make a comment below this post about what you think of this change and which direction you want this team to go.

So here are your choices:

• Stay the course, play the hand we're dealt, accepting players as we need them and training them at the same level. Dues will be about $600 a year all told.
• Jack up the winter training with the existing players, add game day coaching and charge about $1,000 a year.
• Increase the training to three times a week, add game day training and more tournaments for about $1,200 a year.
• Or some combination of the above.

I know some of our existing players are looking around at other academies to find a higher level of competition and training for their boys. If we don't change, those boys will leave the team.
On the other side of the coin, there are those who don't want to pay $1000 a year per child and will leave if the dues increase.
Either way, I doubt all parents will reach a consensus so we will need to recruit more players after those who are unhappy with the group's decision leave.

I want to do what's best for the team. So please weigh in and let us all know what you are thinking. We have many options, including leaving the club en-masse and joining another club.

Free Passes to Red Bulls Game

Below is a message I received from Tiago:

I want to take this opportunity to send you an exciting benefit/opportunity that the kids can have from their Red Bull Training. One of the most exciting aspects of taking part in a Red Bulls Training Program is the unique opportunity to attend a live match at Red Bull Arena. The Red Bulls strongly believe that an important part of a young player’s development involves exposure to live soccer matches. Children can learn by emulating the skills that they see their role models perform.

All players that are involved in a Red Bulls Training can attend a designated match free of charge, when accompanied by a paying adult.

For the Spring season we are inviting all players to join us at our match on June 24th, our opponents are Eastern Conference rivals DC United.

Order Information:

For more information and to order tickets go to: http://www.redbullsacademy.com/matchday.aspx

If you can’t make the match on June 24^th, there are four other opportunities.

Tiago, our new trainer.

The Red Bulls Organization has provided us with our new trainer, Tiago. He met all the boys with the exception of Jake and Sam on Friday so that was a great start. The boys seemed to like him, he seemed organized. Here's his background. He has:
- played soccer for over 20 years at various competitive levels
- worked for Red Bulls for about a year
- his NSCAA GK level 1 and NSCAA Junior V Licenese
- coached the past two years girls varsity at Morris Tech in Denville Township  NJ
- a BA in Business Management from Berkeley College
- been coaching for 4 years now, working with various age groups from U9 to U18
Tiago is currently in the process of obtaining his MBA from Montclair State University

I have estimated his training schedule to be 20 practice sessions and two game-day training sessions. That should use up all our training money, including the extra we collected in the fall. 

I'd like him to attend the next game day so he will have had a chance to assess the boys outdoor in practice before he sees how they do in the game. That should allow him to make any adjustments he requires in the practice schedule. Then we'll have him observe another game after that to see how his adjustments are working.

One of the questions I'll be asking you is if we want Tiago to attend more game days and if you're willing to pay for that. It costs $113 a game, so that's about $7 per game per child. Let me know your thoughts on that.

Red Bulls Game

No overwhelming response to my poll on which Red Bulls game might be fun to take the boys to. Three people voted for three different days and one for a fourth day. Maybe it's not a good idea to try and bring a large proportion of the team to one game. So I'm going to buy tickets for my family to attend the game on the 24th of September. Let me know if anyone else would like to come with us and I'll book as many seats together as you request.

Write to me at bruce@fieggen.com