Newsletter

February 2021 Newsletter

Hello Indoor soccer families. We wanted to share our latest COVID-19 update and some information about our indoor and upcoming outdoor season,

COVID - 19 Update:

Given the current update from AHS and ASA, we are allowed to Return to Train on February 8. This comes with some restrictions such as a maximum of 10 people on the field, including coaches and participants must physically distance maintaining 3 meters apart at all times. The Fort Saskatchewan Soccer Executive Committee met last night via Zoom and we have looked at this from a few different angles. At this time and given the tight restrictions and our team rosters sizes, we would not be able to put a whole team on the field at the same time. We looked at the possibility of dividing the team in half and providing a 25 min technical session to each half. We felt while this would be a way to get players on the field, but it would not be fiscally responsible for us to do this at the time. We also felt for the younger age groups U3 to U7 while it made more sense fiscally to put these players on the field, we felt that to keep 3 meters apart would be virtually impossible. We decided that we will NOT be offering any Return to Train at this time. 

With the declining Hospitalization numbers, we are still holding out hope that we can provide a bit of a season to the U3 to U9 teams in March. So no refunds will be given at this time to U3 to U9 players. Regarding our Arsenal players, I have sent an email to EMSA asking if there will be further penalties or fines for withdrawing teams for the 2020/2021 indoor season. Normally to withdraw a team from EMSA the fines are as high as $1800. We are hoping due to COVID-19 that this will be waived. Once we hear back from EMSA we will be able to make a decision about the fate of the rest of the indoor season. NOTE: If we withdraw a team from EMSA without a cancellation of the season, we will NOT be eligible to get any sort of refund returned to us for the cost of putting the teams in EMSA.  

If ASA and EMSA cancel the rest of the season for both Timbits and Arsenal teams, the executive board will look at what we can reimburse each player for and how much. NOTE: We cannot reimburse each player for costs that Fort Saskatchewan Soccer has already paid out for operation of the Indoor season.

2020/2021 Indoor Season:

The indoor season did not come without its challenges to create a program that was safe and within AHS parameters, especially in the Arsenal program. Our Arsenal teams play in the EMSA league as a guest team. We could only form teams with twelve players to allow each team to play three teams in a four-week period. Then a two-week rest period was needed before we switched cohorts. Normally with more players on a team, the costs to put a team on the field was much lower. With twelve players per team the cost per player increased.

Twelve players per team did not really allow for a player to be sick or away without it affecting the team and the game. Lots of our older age groups were away due to isolation because of COVID-19 contact in the schools.

Our Timbit registration for indoor was dramatically down from the 2019-2020 indoor season. We especially felt this at the U3 and U9 levels.

Coach courses were cancelled. Teams were not allowed to conduct team meetings. This makes communication exceedingly difficult. Zoom was purchased to hold team meetings, executive meetings and our AGM. We also provided Team Snap for all Arsenal teams for contact tracing purposes which allowed for everyone who came to practices and games to be traced if an out break of COVID-19 happened within the team.

We have collected $25 for each player at the beginning of the season for the raffle, we did secure an extension on the raffle for Feb 25. IF the season is cancelled an has not resumed by Feb 25, the raffle will be cancelled and we will reimburse the fundraising fee.

Fees:

Our registration fees are used to provide soccer to our registered members. Fees are paid by everyone and cover our program costs. All soccer associations basically have the same costs.  
Soccer registration fees do not pay Coaches, Managers and Executive Committee members who all generously volunteer their time. :

Soccer registration fees pay: 

• Practices are on the indoor soccer pitch (not school gyms) for the indoor season
• Alberta Soccer Association and Canadian Soccer Association compulsory fees for membership and insurance.
• Tri-County league fees, Sherwood Park league fees and Edmonton league fees - fees associated with each of the leagues in which we play.
• Coach training related fees: ASA instructor fees for coach courses, gym and meeting room rentals, coach packages, soccer program information packages, t-shirts.
• Center Referee and Assistant Referee fees, ASA instructor fees for referee courses, gym and meeting room rentals for training courses, and referee equipment.
• Alberta Soccer Rural or Cities Provincials participation fees.
• Soccer's portion of Minor Sports Association administrative costs including: staffing, accounting services, office rental, meeting rooms, telephone, fax, internet, webpage, postage and other administrative fees.
• Jerseys for players and referees.
• Equipment - balls, bags, corner flags, mesh & pop-up nets, first aid kits, cones, ice packs, etc.
• Field lining services, paint, equipment, line painting machine, and machine maintenance for outdoor.
• Facility rentals for referee courses, coach & player clinics and player assessments.
• Meeting Room and gym rentals for Executive Committee meetings, coach meetings and training, team, selections and various other meetings.
• Costs associated with registration, such as: print and sign advertising, printing of forms and information packages, electronic payment and registration systems, credit card fees.
• A part time sports coordinator to help with some of the administrative tasks required

Volunteering:

This year we had many opportunities that were not fulfilled.

We held a bottle drive in September and out of 60 volunteer opportunities. Only 20 were filled. We still ran the bottle drive, but without the friends and families of our executive committee and our coaches the bottle drive would NOT have been as successful as it was. We managed to raise $4500. This is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year.

Team Contact tracing was another volunteer opportunity, Thank you to the parents who volunteered for this position. We had many team managers and coaches fulfilling this opportunity for their team in lieu of a parent volunteer

Raffle ticket manages was another job we offered. Out of all our teams we only had half of our teams with a raffle ticket manager volunteer. Again we had coaches and team managers taking on this role for their team in lieu of a parent volunteer.

Equipment picks up was full for both Timbit and Arsenal times. This is a very popular volunteer opportunity that fills up very quickly.

There is only one volunteer job of the season left which will be equipment drop off. If you haven’t fulfilled your volunteer commitment yet, these jobs will fill up fast once they hit the website, so keep your eyes peeled for the email. 

2021 Outdoor Season

Our outdoor season is fast approaching. We do not have any AHS and ASA guidelines yet. As league deadlines still need to be met, we will be opening registration March 1 -31.

We will be taking a deposit at the time of registration. If restrictions are not relaxed and the season cannot continue, then you will be reimbursed the deposit minus a $15 non refundable administration fee. If the season is a go ahead, you will be required to pay the full balance by April 30. If the outstanding balance is not paid in full by then, the player will NOT be able to participate in the season until the balance has been paid.

If you want to know what division your child will be in for the outdoor season, check out the chart on our website. Fort Saskatchewan Soccer : Website by RAMP InterActive (fortsasksoccer.ca)

We will be offering the following programs.

• U11-19 Technical Training Program:

This is an in-house program that will run twice a week. It will be run by coaches supported by the Fort Sask Soccer technical team and will focus on footwork, tactical skills, 2v2 drills, 3v3 drills and scrimmages if the AHS restrictions allow.

• U11-19 Community Tri- County League:

This program will have one practice a week and two games a week. Teams will be playing against Tri- County teams and will require usually a 7:30 game start and travelling to Tri- county communities. NOTE: If the Tri- County League does not have more then three teams in an age category. The teams will be placed in the EMSA league.

• U11-19 Tier 3 teams:

These teams will play in the EMSA league. The season usually runs longer than community leagues. You will need to attend a tryout out to be placed on the team. NOTE: These teams are decided by our In-house technical teams and skilled coaches. Coaches have scoring charts to fill out and a list of predetermined skills to evaluate. Where a player resides is not a deciding factor in who places on the team.

• Timbit Programs

We offer programs for children born in 2018 up to 2012. U3 play once a week and U5, U7 and U9 play twice a week. We will be offering the same programs for our U3-9 players as we have in the past outdoor seasons Please check our website for additional information on the programs.

                          Thank you and we hope to see everyone for the 2021 Outdoor Season