February 1, 2013

Parents and Players,

Welcome to the 2013 Braintree Travel Soccer Junior Academy season. Once again we have been hard at work making improvements to the program that the kids will find fun and enjoyable - leading to what we hope will be a lifetime enjoyment of the sport. I write to provide you with the information you will need for this season. Please take a moment to read this email in its entirety.

1. The training schedule for Junior Academy players is shown below. Further, all schedule information and announcements will be available on Facebook and the BYS website, at www.braintreeyouthsoccer.org when available.

Junior Academy players will have 5 sessions of indoor training at the Hollis School beginning next Sunday, February 10. Training will last for 50 minutes in total and will begin precisely on the hour between 8:00-5:00.

2. Each player will be assigned a training hour for these training sessions. Unfortunately we can not entertain requests for players to attend an alternative training sessions. The reason for this is that the gym space is rather confined. We do our best to keep the player to instructor ratio at a number that is conducive to the enjoyment of all the children in the gym at the time. We have staggered the times that each group attends to avoid having players miss all 5 sessions if there is a conflict.

3. An additional training session will be available during our Invitational weekends, March 16/23. We expect that teams will be assembled by mid-March and coaches will notify players of additional training opportunities. These opportunities will also be posted on our website.

4. Please condition yourselves to check email for updates from the league and from coaches. Our coaches are dedicated volunteers, many of whom prefer group emails to correspond with players. This maximizes the amount of time they can spend on the field and makes their life easier. Please do your best to accommodate them, as they have many players to be concerned about.

5. During our indoor training sessions, we are asking parents to stay outside the gymnasium at Hollis. Space is a bit tight and must be used for the players and to reduce clutter that slows down training sessions. Please follow this instruction. Siblings are absolutely prohibited from the gym.

6. Each player should come to training sessions prepared. Soccer players wear shorts and t-shirts. Eventually they will receive a uniform and should wear the complete uniform to pre-season training as well as their outdoor training and game dates. Each player should also wear shinguards. This is mandatory. Each player should come to training with a ball (size 3 or 4 is appropriate for their level of play), and a drink. NO CLEATS are allowed in the gym. Please wear indoor soccer shoes or regular sneakers.

7. All gear, drinks, and other personal items must also be kept outside the gym during training sessions. Otherwise, drinks spill and equipment clutters the training environment.

8. Please remember that all coaches and directors are volunteers, and I am proud to say they are some of the most dedicated I have had an opportunity to work with in many years of youth sports. Referees are often-times younger players on more advanced teams in our travel program. Please be sure that at all times they are treated with the respect they deserve for volunteering their extra time for your child. Please help your child make thanking their coach and the referee a routine practice. There is absolute zero tolerance for any spectator, coach, or player that is disrespectful to a referee, a coach, or another player.

9. Your concerns can be brought to the attention of our junior academy directors. Email addresses for each of these directors will be released with the training schedule.

10. Several of the training sessions this season will be run by the staff from Advantage Soccer. You can read more about this organization at www.advantagesoccer.com.

11. Junior Academy games will begin as early as 8 AM and be done by as late as 1 PM on Sundays beginning in April. The schedule will be released at a date in March. It will be posted to our website as well. The season ends in June with our World Cup celebration and party. This is a fantastic event. More details to come as we approach this date.

I look forward to watching each of your children enter into this program and grow as individuals and soccer players over the course of this year, and future years.

Thank you, Gene Hunt
President
Braintree Travel Soccer