The 2011 Play Dates for the Under 8, 9 and 10 players and teams are now organized and ready for teams to register here!
These six Sunday NorCal events spread over the Spring and Summer, and hosted by NorCal Clubs at different sites throughout the Greater Bay Area, have become so popular that sometimes teams are not able to be accepted. Early registration helps NorCal make adjustments if the demand is too high for a particular location.
Some teams attend one or two days while others take advantage of the discount and enjoy all 7 days. The teams that enter several days benefit from the different results helping with the "Committee Seeding" for the NorCal State Cup(s).
These are exciting, but low-key games for the very youngest players and gives the coaches and parents some insights into the development of players from different areas of our Region. This ability is helpful to parents new to soccer; and especially to teams from newer or more isolated areas who have not been exposed to the "soccer learning" environment(s) that are being established throughout Northern California.
As an example of this process, a traveling British Columbia team recently was shellacked by various NorCal teams. The more serious BC parents and players were not happy to see that their part-time team (6 months a year) organized around the more important (their words) ice hockey had fallen so far behind NorCal full-time teams that were organized for the benefit of players and families who love soccer.
Forty years ago, it was often considered "pushy" for teachers to attempt to teach 5 and 6 year old children - especially boys - to read. Today, teachers - in a kind and thoughtful manner - routinely help their young students begin to learn to read.
In soccer, more and more teams and Clubs use this "education dynamics" to help children learn and benefit from being a soccer player who loves to play our wonderful sport. Hopefully, soon every young player in Northern California who loves to play soccer will belong to a NorCal team and Club; and as long as they are willing to abide by the team and Club practice, playing and administrative rules they will know they will always have a team on which to play and a Club to which they will belong.
In this new inclusive soccer world "tryouts" means trying out for a specific team with the understanding that it might be the first team or the fifth team, but it never means being "cut" from a NorCal Club with no place to go! Clubs are already combining players with other Clubs to make sure that "no player" who loves soccer is told they are not good enough to belong to a NorCal Club.
Parents will quickly learn that the little player who loves to play on the fourth team might some day be on a different team; or maybe transfer to a smaller or even a newer Club (Germany alone has 26,000 Soccer Clubs) - but will always have a full-time team on which to play and a Club to which to belong even if they should move on to another Club for a seaon or two - or a lifetime.
In this new "soccer world" - new to America, but common throughout Europe - players who love soccer will learn and improve their soccer skills while playing a demanding and much respected sport that exercises their heart, lungs and muscles. As a group, the serious young soccer players are remarkably fit and will need to stay that way as they play at older and higher levels of play.
Please contact us if you need any assistance.
Thank you,
NorCal
