Tullahoma Soccer

I am getting several questions and some of the Board folks are getting the same questions, so I decided to post these here. Some of these will be incorporated into the FAQs on the main www site later.

Why is TSA coed?

We made the decision to go coed for several reasons. One is league size. This Fall if we were not coed the U6 girls would have 4 teams, U8G - 5, U10G - 3, U12G - 1. The girls would get real bored playing just each other and the U12s wouldn’t be playing at all. We all play on Saturdays now to avoid the time change issues so scheduling overall is easier by being coed. Also, we have seen from our experience that the girls do just fine, and in fact are better at moving the ball around and playing as a team. The boys are learning this from the girls, making them all better players.

Why isn’t the schedule out yet?

The schedule is about to be published. Version 0.1 is out to some folks to be checked now. We have to coordinate all the different ages, check with CCSL on interplaying teams, verify the ref count is reasonable, make sure coaches with different age group teams are taken care of, verify field assignments, make sure traveling teams (U12, U16) are equitable with travel, and a few other things. It isn’t quite as simple as it looks. It should be posted this week.

Does my team have to participate in the U6/U8 Academy?

No, but if you choose not to you also don’t get to practice at JLRA or RGSC. There are other places available. Before you go your own way with your team you really need to discuss it with Lenore, Sandy, me, or our Director of Coaching once they are in place. If you have been coaching a while (4+ years), have at least an “E” license, and are confident in your ability to plan, organize, and run an effective practice then we might okay it. We are more likely to ask you to step in and help our lead coaches in working with the less experienced coaches. As the season goes on you will get more freedom to work on what you think is important to your team within the Academy structure, but especially now, as we are learning how to do this too, we strongly encourage ALL U8 & U6 teams to participate. If you think there are things that could be done better, please talk to your lead coaches to give them feedback and offer a hand. They have never done this before either and could use the help.  As a parent the best thing you could do is to be sure your player is there on time, ready to practice with proper equipment, a ball, and water. Watch what goes on to learn techniques, not just the skill being taught, but the progression in how it is being taught. Play in the yard at home during the week to reinforce what is being taught and be ready with lots of positive encouragement for your child! I am certain that this approach is what is best for our youngest players and look forward watching it evolve over the coming weeks.

Why are the fees so high?

Are we really that high compared to the other local sports? $10 to state for registration (insurance, training, administration); $16 for uniforms; $20 ref fees; $14 fields/overhead/local reg fees. This is rounded a bit, but it’s close. We can drop the uniforms to $12 by getting only a t-shirt and socks, but when we ask we are told that it’s worth $4 extra to get the nice uniforms (shirt, shorts, & socks). The refs are a bit underpaid compared to the surrounding areas, but we also use them in select games and help them get involved in TSSAA games when they are ready so they can make more money. It’s another method we use to develop participation in soccer, even without them being directly on a team. We also used to get sponsorships for fields that covered major field expenses (goals, paint, etc) but that is no longer available. We are going to have to find a new way to recognize business sponsors to recover that portion that subsidized the field work in the past. Any ideas here are welcomed! Overall, we think we present an excellent value for your soccer fees.

Feel free to forward along any other questions. We’ll add them to the list because if you are curious, someone else probably is too.

Enjoy the game!

Bob

It was grand! It was glorious! The weather was perfect and the fields were incredible! Thank you to all who showed up and enjoyed the fabulous fields!

The next time you see Lenore Blackwell, Sandy Daniel, and Donna Anderson, make sure you tell them “Thank you” for pulling this all together.

We do very much appreciate the leadership and support of Mayor Troy Bisby through this process. It has taken a long time, but it was worth it. Thanks also to Aldermen Jonathan James and Mike Stanton for being there to celebrate with us. There have been other Aldermen (Alderwomen? Alderpeople?) over the years that have supported us and we do appreciate it! Kurt Glick’s efforts overseeing the construction ended up helping us get quite a bit more than we expected and moved the whole complex along further than originally anticipated. Thanks Kurt!

A special “Thank you” goes out to former Alderman J. T. Northcutt who was instrumental in working with the past TSA President, Joel Wood, to start the process that got us where we are today.

It was great to see Diane Bryant there representing the Chamber of Commerce. She was a great sport even as I mangled her name the first time. It’s exciting to see that the CoC understands the potential economic impact of tournaments and even the constant “friendlies” that bring in out of town teams to Tullahoma on a regular basis.

We did miss City Administrator Jody Baltz. He has been a quiet, yet persistent force helping this all along. I just wish it could have come a bit earlier so his daughter, Katherine, could have demonstrated her incredible keeper skills on the beautiful grass and new goals.

Ian Anderson and his grounds crew did a fantastic job getting the fields ready. They have been working for months to be sure the grass would be beautiful and then even striped the big fields!

Thank you also to the parents, players, and board members who worked many hours to finish up the striping and final details to make sure everything was ready by game time.

It was also good to see our Chief of Police and Fire Chief admiring the fields and enjoying the day!

And also a big “Thank You” to Harton Regional Medical Center for sponsoring the inflatable game and generator. There were kids on it all day and it was much appreciated by those who had to wait later to play and a whole lot more! Thanks Harton!

Make sure to see the picture in today’s (Wednesday) paper. Mick did a great job, and he’s afraid of heights! I’m sure it will soon be available for purchase as a momento to mark the inaugural games at JLRA! Watch his web site for more on this.

And now we’re here. We have the fields and we are going to work hard to take care of them as we enjoy using them for their intended purpose, to put as many kids off all ages out there playing soccer, getting healthier, learning a sport they can enjoy for a lifetime, and just enjoying the game!

In-person registration starts Saturday at D. W. Wilson from 9-noon. We said that we would get on-line going by 7/1 and it looks like the State registration isn’t going to be ready for a bit, so our on-line page is already open at active.com. It is being linked to www.tullahomasoccer.org now. We’ll transfer the data once the State site is up and running.

Fall uniforms are being ordered now and the new goals for Johnson Lane are getting ordered also. Plans are already underway for the big opening day August 23! Once again it’s soccer time in Tullahoma!

The on-line registration has been delayed. The state (TSSA) is changing their web site completely and actually working with our registration provider (active.com) so they have asked us to hold off a bit so our stuff will be compatible with theirs. It’s coming, just not yet…..

Welcome to the President’s blog for Tullahoma Soccer Association. Eventually someone else will be taking over, so I’m using this forum to document what we do to keep TSA running. This will somehow be turned into a rudimentary operations manual so as us “old timers” roll out the new folks won’t have to repeat our mistakes.

Oh, and blogging is new for me too. I’ll be changing this around too as we go. To contact any board member feel free to hit the home page and look up our contact info on the “contacts” page.

Enjoy the game!

Bob