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| Fall Edition | October, 2015 |
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Greetings friends of soccer!
We would like to thank all of our members and countless volunteers for making this a GREAT PLACE TO PLAY Soccer! We hope that this Fall season has brought has built some great memories and meaningful moments for you.
Please enjoy this edition of Press from the Pitch and be sure to give us your feedback! Our Fall wrap up newsletter will be published next month. Please send any pictures and team news to soccer@cbaasports.org.
Sincerely,
Becky Barlow
President, Buckingham United/CBAA Soccer
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For Parents and Coaches
Release Your Child to the Game
"I don't know where to turn," an exasperated dad recently told me after a speaking event. "My son is fast, and he is skilled. We do lots of extra practice, we go to a private skills coach, we are doing everything it takes to get to the next level, but something is not right. He is not doing as well as he should. He seems to have lost his motivation. What should we do?" "We?" I asked the dad. "You keep using the word 'we.' Whose experience is this; his, or yours?" The dad paused for a second, looked at me, and [ read on]......
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For Players & Coaches
The One Quality Great Teammates have in Common
"Coach, can I talk to you?" "Sure," I said. "What's on your mind today Michael?" "Well, I just want to know what I can do so I get to start more games and get more playing time as a center midfielder. I don't think I am showing my best as a winger, and my parents tell me I am not going to get noticed by the college scouts unless something changes." Well Michael," I said, "there is something that all coaches are looking for from the players they recruit. In fact, it is exactly what I am looking for from you as well. If you approach every practice, every fitness session, and every match with this one thing, I think you will see a huge improvement in your play, regardless of where you play. Interested?" "Of course, coach. What is it?" I waited a moment before I answered to make sure he was listening.[ read on]
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Info coming soon!
Last summer's pilot of our very own camp was a HUGE success. We are looking forward to the Summer of 2016 with several options for our players! Attend one, or attend them all! We will be announcing our dates soon.
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Soccer Office
Who's in the office at CBAA Soccer?
We welcomed Jeannie Blokker, Faye Delorenzo, Rocio Fisher, Beverly Lutes and Liz Zwickle this past season! The office has gone under a great transformation which has allowed us to streamline many support functions within our committee. We do have plans to find a physical office space in our off season!
We implemented a virtual office back in May of 2014. Thank you to Barbara Prajzner who helped organize the office and keep us on task! She now returns back to her career, but continues to volunteer in her role as the Director of Spiritwear & Uniforms!
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Intramural / Rec News
News in brief
Clinics for players and coaches with Neil Smart had huge turnouts this season. Players, parents and coaches have all given favorable reviews!
Seasonal Coaches Game Attention all IM Coaches! It's that time of year again! Check your email for Neil's invitation.
Spring Registration opens in December! Watch your email!
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 BUSC Lil' Bucks 2-3 year olds Lil' Bucks 2 & 3 year olds - We introduced a morning program for our budding little 2 and 3 year old stars this past Fall. We will be opening registration for our Winter indoor Lil' Bucks program soon! |
BUSC Futsal  Registration to open in November
Futsal is back with winter! Stay tuned for more information and online registration.
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Junior Coaches  Mentoring Program News
Central Bucks Athletic Association and Buckingham United Soccer Club are pleased to present our Youth Mentoring Program. This program is available for BUSC and CBAA IM players that would like to give back to CBAA by working with the youngest players in the organization. Players that participate in this program will be required to fill out an online application for the program, and once accepted, will be required to meet a set of clearly defined objectives to graduate from the program.
Junior Coaches' Spotlight
Erin Lutz, Katie Dolf and Ian Lutz have all been a huge asset at Buckingham United as role models and Junior Coaches for several years. This year marks their final year as they are all high school seniors. It will be hard to say goodbye to these dedicated young adults who have been great role models and inspiration for the kids in our programs. These 3 individuals helped us shape our formal mentoring program that exists today. We had 20 Junior Coaches apply!
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TeamSnap Tryout
Pilot News 
Thank you to all of you that answered our recent survey regarding the TeamSnap App!
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CBAA Executive Board
New Members and Changes
The CBAA Executive Board is undergoing a makeover! We have many new members who are involved in helping continue to make this a great place to play in all of our programs! Be on the lookout for announcements!
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adidas - Member Survey!
adidas is looking for our feedback! Please read below from our uniform partner. Our partnership is extremely valuable to us and in a collaborative effort, having your participation ensures we provide the best possible product experience for your club.
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Intramural DOC Corner
Neil Smart, Small Sided Games - Embrace The Changes
In this article Small Sided Games = SSG's
As another fall soccer season draws to a close a recent announcement on SSG's from US Soccer has caused much healthy, and perhaps heated, discussion in the world of youth soccer. One aspect of this announcement is a new structure of SSG's where players who are u8 or younger will play 4 v 4 with no goalkeeper. Having worked with grass roots players for many years I am firmly in agreement with this move - it is a player oriented decision.
For many years many professional coaches, including my-self, have advocated for such a SSG approach, particularly among the younger players. The benefits of SSG's are many, and differ depending on the age and level of the players. Benefits for the younger ages include more touches on the ball, more involvement in the game and an emphasis on player development over positional responsibility. All things considered I am convinced that the correct implementation of SSG's over the long term will produce better players with an enhanced understanding of the game.
As far as an IM-Rec program implementation should be relatively painless this change will get more kids involved actively in the games and make coaching games less complex and challenging. Festival based sessions with rotating teams can form the basis of league play and the prospect of this actually makes me look forward even more to the spring season!
If you are a parent or coach skeptical about the benefits of SSG's my plea to you would be 'give them a chance'. My experience has been many young players enjoy them immensely essentially the new approach will not be substantially different for our younger IM players, since I have been developing a SSG approach and 'mentality' for several years now. More on this to come in the coming weeks and months no doubt!
Finally I would like to close by saying, as always, that it has been a great pleasure to coach the CBAA IM players this fall season I hope to see you all again in the spring.
Thank-you
Neil M. Smart "Coach Neil"
Director of Coaching
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EPYSA Touchline Magazine
Spotlight on CBAA Soccer!
Did you see our club featured in the latest Touchline Magazine. mailed last month?
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BUSC Bob Kline
 Scholarships
Applications due by December
BUSC Bob Kline Player Scholarship applications are open. For details and applications, please click here. |
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Clearances
Volunteers, Coaches
Thank you to all of our adult volunteers for complying with the new PA Child Protection laws and completing your clearances. Your clearances are valid for 60 months from the date that appears on the certificate and we will not be asking to see them again until your certificates are due for renewal. Everyone appearing on the Approved List can [ read more ..... ]
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Open Committee Positions
Director of Finance
 IM Director of Operations At Large Member We have committee positions open for the following areas: Director of Finance; Intramural DOO as well as an At Large position.
Both the Director of Finance and the Operations positions are available immediately. The positions are currently being served as interim by Michelle Obetz & Emmily Hobbs.. The At Large position, 2 year term opens in December. Please contact Becky Barlow, if you are interested in hearing more.
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Coaching Education
Resources
We had 15 travel coaches complete the "Coaching Mastery Course" though the Changing the Game Project organization. There were six online modules that also included interactive live chats with many professionals and experts. We hope to publish what our coaches take a-ways were. Thank you to our dedicated coaches who jumped at the opportunity for this great course! We hope to publish what our coaches take a-ways were and be able to provide more coaching educaiton courses like this.
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Spirit Gear  Holiday Gifts
Online Store opens soon! New merchandise!
 
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Philadelphia Union Soccer - New! 5k
The Philadelphia Union Inaugural 5k Run/Walk will be a fun filled day allowing competitive & amateur runners, as well as general Union fans to join together and grow our annual ToyDrive benefiting families in Chester. Participants are encouraged to dress for the holiday or show off your favorite Philadelphia Union gear! Prizes will be awarded for the top male and female runners in the 5k Run. Winners of each age category will receive a voucher for two tickets to a regular season MLS match in 2016.
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Buckingham DOC Corner
Kevin Blokker, Coming Changes to Youth Soccer
As I write you today, most of us are starting the second half of our Fall league season. I have gotten the chance to meet and talk to many of you about the development that I've seen occurring across our club. The challenge I have as the Director of Coaching is to balance the immediate needs of the current season with the big picture of looming fundamental changes in youth soccer.
I would like to inform the families of Buckingham United and CBAA of the coming changes to youth soccer being implemented by United States Soccer Federation and United States Youth Soccer Association. As some of you have already heard, these changes will affect the development of every youth soccer player in the United States.
This email is to inform you of the coming changes. Next week, I will follow up this message with details about how we will implement the changes as a club.
-The way that games will be played at ages U12 and below (numbers of players on the field, size of goals, etc.). For further information, please read the article Neil Smart wrote recently for the CBAA Newsletter.
-The more controversial part, fundamentally changes the age groups. This is a shift from the current school year registration (Aug. 1 - July 31) to birth year registration (January 1 - December 31). Simply put, players will now be grouped in age appropriate divisions based on their birth year, not school year.
As you read through the above referenced documents, US Soccer says that the changes are not required to be in effect for 2016-17 season but will be mandated for the 2017-18 season. You should know that since the original announcement, national (US Club), state (EPYSA) and local organizations have announced that they will be implementing the changes for the upcoming 2016-17 season. Because of the early adoptions by both our state organization and all the leagues we participate in, we have decided as a club to become an early adopter as well.
Over the last six weeks, members of the CBAA Soccer Committee, Buckingham United Coaching Staff and key members of our community have held a series of meetings. Next week we plan to announce our plan for implementation of these changes. Our goal from the start has been to make sure that Buckingham teams remain competitive and ensure that all players continue at a developmentally appropriate level.
As you start to digest these changes, I ask that you remember a couple things:
-There is nothing we can do to fight or overturn these changes. They will go into effect and all of the clubs around us will make the change. We must also make the change if we intend to compete in youth soccer leagues locally and regionally.
-We are a community built around soccer. This community is stronger than the challenges that face us.
-Sometimes change is tough and a shock to our system. Help me, help our players deal with these changes.
You will see another email from me in the next week, detailing the clubs plans and our next steps.
Thank you for your time.
We are United
Kevin Blokker
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Intramural Fall Festivals
New and Improved!
This Fall, hundreds of our CBAA intramural soccer players were provided with an opportunity to play in round-robins, practice/show-off their soccer skills and hang-out with friends in a non-competitive environment. Faye DeLorenzo has shown amazing perseverance in ensuring that theses festivals happened.
Faye and Neil Smart, our Intramural Director of Coaching, have been working together to great effect. The kids liked playing with their friends in a more relaxed atmosphere and having a snack together after. The U12 players were the most enthusiastic and hungry according to Faye. Our U05 - U08 players enjoyed an opportunity to meet their teammates and meet their coaches prior to the official start of the season. This helped make their first day of practice a little less stressful. Our U15 - U18 players learned that soccer can be fun even in driving rain. They also proved to be a very hardy bunch!
The Festivals also provided opportunities for our local soccer community to contribute to spreading goodwill throughout the soccer community at-large through donations to Goals Beyond Nets. Additionally, we were able to accept donations for the Bucks County SPCA. Faye's idea of helping others was well accepted by our parents and we look forward to looking beyond our own fields again in future seasons.
As always, our volunteers, both in the soccer office and for this event specifically, were hugely instrumental in making these events the successes that they were. We appreciate the planning that Faye put into the festivals and the work it took to bring her vision to life. We all look forward to more festivals like these in the future.
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Clearances
PA Child Protection Laws
Thank you to all of our adult volunteers for complying with the new PA Child Protection laws and completing your clearances. Your clearances are valid for 60 months from the date that appears on the certificate and we will not be asking to see them again until your certificates are due for renewal. Everyone appearing on the Approved List can volunteer for any CBAA Program.
As a Coach, we are counting on you to make sure that any adults that are interacting with the players appear on the Approved List that you have received. If you have any questions, please contact me immediately. See the Q&A below for further clarification for adults needing clearances. A few Q&A: Q: Can I have an unapproved (not cleared) parent on my team run my team's practice for just one night, or to coach just one game, especially if some of the parents agree to stay and watch? A: Unfortunately unapproved (uncleared) substitutes are not permitted for practices or game days. We specifically asked this question to the lawmakers and the fact that parents are around is not a consideration when defining who needs clearances. DHS (Dept of Human Services) has also weighed in and said 'no uncleared substitutes' are permissible. Q: Do snack bar workers, tournament day volunteers, or my team volunteers that don't train or coach need clearances? A: No, the definition of someone needing clearances (1) person acting in lieu of, or on behalf of the parents OR (2) they are responsible for the care, supervision or control of the children AND they have regular and repeated interaction with the players as an integral part of their volunteer role. The lawmakers have specifically identified snack bar workers as an example of volunteers that do not need clearances and parents acting as the team photographer or team treasurer for example, also do not need clearances. If you don't know if someone needs clearances, please email me to discuss. Michelle Obetz Compliance Director, CBAA Michelle.Obetz@cbaasports.org
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Partners &  Sponsors
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Mathnasium, The Math Learning Center
of Bucks County
Meet one of newest sponsors of our Soccer Programs!
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C & C Photo Studios
Team & Player Portraits
A Huge Thank you goes out to Mark Chiavon and his staff for their flexibility and professionalism! We look forward to seeing all of the team and player pictures!
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Fred Beans Chevrolet
Thank you to Fred Beans Chevrolet for the continued support!
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Sports Authority
Thank you Sports Authority for your partnership and helping make this a great place to play!
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Angelos Soccer Corner
Our Uniform & Spirit Gear Partner Last Winter, CBAA hosted a night with John O'Sullivan. He presented two interactive workshops - one for Players and Parents and the other for Coaches and leadership. For those of you who missed it, be on the lookout in the next 6 months or so for a visit from John! In the meantime, we encourage everyone to visit the Changing the Game Project Website. |
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Changing the Game Project
A Great Partner!
Last Winter, CBAA hosted a night with John O'Sullivan. He presented two interactive workshops - one for Players and Parents and the other for Coaches and leadership. For those of you who missed it, be on the lookout in the next 6 months or so for a visit from John! In the meantime, we encourage everyone to visit the Changing the Game Project Website.
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Philadelphia Union Soccer
NEW! The Philadelphia Union Inaugural 5k Run/Walk will be a fun filled day allowing competitive & amateur runners, as well as general Union fans to join together and grow our annual ToyDrive benefiting families in Chester. Participants are encouraged to dress for the holiday or show off your favorite Philadelphia Union gear! Prizes will be awarded for the top male and female runners in the 5k Run. Winners of each age category will receive a voucher for two tickets to a regular season MLS match in 2016. Click here for more information!
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adidas
As it always has and will remain, the brand's passion is to continually develop premium products along with create experiences that enable the adidas soccer player to truly "be the difference" when competing for their team and club. This inspiration is what drives our daily pursuit to develop the very best sport products. In the spirit of our partnership, adidas soccer requests that your players contribute their input and feedback toward a short survey. This survey was put together by our global team wear colleagues to gather valuable insight from players, coaches & other key technical staff members who represent your club.
Our partnership is extremely valuable to us and in a collaborative effort, having your participation ensures we provide the best possible product experience for your club.
Please find the survey link below and feel free to share it amongst your staff members and players.
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