by Ted Cassidy posted 09/16/2009
SHARKS
2010 Fall NEWSLETTER
January 2010
We hope everyone is having a great new year. With our spring season fast approaching, we will be focusing on preparing for our fifth youth lacrosse season starting in February 2010.
We expect everyone will take a few moments to read this Electronic Newsletter so you can be informed about what's going on with our league. Please be patient...there is a lot of information to cover. We prefer not to take individual e-mails and phone calls about information that is in this newsletter or on our web site.
.
NEW BOARD MEMBERS: SWFYLL is pleased to welcome the following new members to our Board of Directors: Greg Harrel, Don King, Shaun Leddy, Jeff Paul and Cheryl Thirtyacre. These dedicated coaches and parents have already put in countless hours on the field. Dave Manzi, Director Emeritus Mike Reilly and I all join in welcoming them aboard and offering our most sincere thanks for their dedication to the league.
THE WEB SITE: www.swflacrosse.com. Please, visit the web site frequently in the fall, leading up to and during the season. We really need everyone to bookmark the site and READ THEIR E-MAILS. The league is just starting to shake the dust off the web site and start putting out new and updated information with a vengeance. There have not been a lot of updates since spring but that will change quickly now that the new school year is upon us. We hope getting parents into the habit of referring to and relying on the web site for information will decrease individual e-mails and phone calls which can result in miscommunication. We cannot emphasize this point enough, so we'll say it again: VISIT THE WEBSITE AND READ YOUR E-MAILS.
REGISTRATION: Our registration process began in October 2009 and was ON LINE AT OUR WEB SITE ONLY. We hope that everyone took the time to register for the 2010 season. At the very latest, registration must have taken place by Dec. 15. Late registrants make picking teams, purchasing uniforms and many other logistics very difficult. Now that the season is about to begin, we have put together the teams. We really appreciated your cooperation on this point.
* Divisions: This year our divisions will remain the same as last year when we shifted to age groups to be more reflective of the standard US Lacrosse structure:
SQUIRTS Ages 6 through 8
JUNIORS Ages 9 through 11
SENIORS Ages 12 through 14
***THE AGE CUT OFF IS HOW OLD YOU ARE DECEMBER 31ST OF THIS YEAR
***NO CHANGES REGARDING SHIFTING PLAYERS UP TO A DIVISION THEY ARE NOT YET OLD ENOUGH TO PLAY IN WILL OCCUR WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED CONSENT OF THE LEAGUE PRESIDENT.
***NO PLAYERS WILL PLAY IN A DIVISION BELOW THEIR AGE GROUP DURING THE REGULAR SEASON.
* League Fees: Below are our league fees. These fees are subject to change up until registration:
Fall Clinic (open to ages 6-14) $10
Gamebreakers Winter Camp (3 days) ?
Squirt (6-8) $125
Junior (9-11) $150
Senior (12-14) $150
* Practice Nights: Squirts will begin on Wednesday, February 3rd and games will take place on Saturdays. Juniors will begin on Tuesday, February 2nd and will be every Tuesday and Thursday and games will take place on Saturdays. Seniors begin on Tuesday, February 2nd and will be every Tuesday and Thursday, games to be on Saturdays.
VOLUNTEERS AND SPONSORS: Corporate sponsors, individual sponsors and volunteers play a vital role in keeping our league running smoothly, transitioning from year to year and expanding. If you would like to sponsor the league, a team or even an individual new player, please contact Cheryl Thirtyacre or Ted Cassidy. This year we plan on instituting a variety of new ways to help the league grow and flourish. There will be many levels that a company, a family or an individual can help out with time, effort, resources, money and even used equipment. Help make our league strong and a positive influence on our youth and the game of lacrosse for generations to come. PLEASE CHECK THE WEB SITE OFTEN FOR WAYS TO HELP. Volunteers, sponsors, coaches, assistant coaches, team parents, time keepers, field liners, fund raisers, event organizers are all essential to running a youth non-profit league. VOLUNTEERS & SPONSORS ARE INVALUABLE TO THE SUCCESS OF OUR LEAGUE, PLEASE HELP IN ANY WAY YOU CAN.
COACHES: We look forward to the help of our returning coaches. Some parents have contacted us about joining the coaching ranks for the 2010 season and that's great! We need many more to step forward. You DO NOT have to have prior experience playing lacrosse to coach in our league. Many of our coaches this past season never played and they did a tremendous job. Consider at least starting out as an assistant so you can learn the ropes. Without adequate coaching we will never be able to accommodate the expected growth in players in the coming years. Please contact us if you would like to help coach.
LEAGUE PHILOSOPHY: As a league, we began our first season stressing the importance of sportsmanship and having fun. As the new sport in town, we took the approach that we needed to make lacrosse a positive experience for everyone. This philosophy has not changed. Now, going into our fifth season we can look back and see some growing pains that are typical of every organization. How fast do you grow? Can you remain dedicated to your founding principles or do you drift into becoming an increasingly more competitive league? Can a coach always, all the time and in every instance, give the kids that show up to practice equal playing time in games? Can we always break our players up into teams of relatively equal talent? These are easy questions to answer from a philosophical view point but in reality these answers usually live in the grey area of a world of compromise. But that said, this year we have re-dedicated ourselves to teaching the skills, having fun and learning the lessons that help our boys grow into men we can be proud of. Boys with the confidence that comes from seeing a season of hard work pay off with new skills. The fun of meeting new like-minded friends and being part of a team. Individuals that honor the game of lacrosse and all they do with a sense of sportsmanship and fair play. Young men who can be humble in victory and dignified in defeat. Or perhaps a little lesson like one taught by George Halas who said “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” As always, we remain committed to the principals espoused by the Positive Coaching Alliance and US Lacrosse. Winning is great but those of us who have been on winning teams would be the first to tell you that winning itself doesn’t translate into a life lesson like how practice and hard work allow you to dig down deep into your bag of skills when things get tough and get through any problem successfully. We appreciate everyone's patience, cooperation and feedback. Please also understand that our volunteers are not perfect. Mistakes will be made - please be understanding of the challenges we have as coaches and organizers, and we will always do our best to try to resolve issues of concern.
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES:
REGULAR SEASON: First week in February through first week in May (We are trying to get together a skills assessment date prior to the start of the regular season. We will keep everyone posted).
Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Ted Cassidy
