Mebane Youth Soccer Association

We all want our kids to succeed and do well, in sports and in life. However, many sports require a gradual development and it can be difficult to have the patience when kids are younger to have them do what is best for their long term development. Why? Because it can often result in short term disappointment or losses. Below is an animated video created by a long time soccer coach with some of the conversations he’s had with parents over the years. It can seem over the top at first, but many soccer coaches will tell you that they’ve had the exact same discussions. So the next time your child’s team is struggling, consider that the coach may be doing what is best for the player’s overall development even if it hurts the score or standings.

Right… Stop That! Don’t be surprised to hear a few coaches and officers say that this season. Too Funny! And apologies to those of you who were offensive linemen in high school!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year! Despite the cold, we’re gearing up for Spring soccer already!

Now is the time to register for Spring Recreational Soccer! Registrations can be submitted online at: http://mebanesoccer.us/programs/registration/

The deadline for registration is January 27th, so please don’t wait until the last minute! This makes it VERY hard on our volunteers to create teams and get practice schedules set. Registrations received after Jan 27th will be subject to a $10 late fee. EVERYONE wishing to play Rec must register, even returning players from last season. If your child is currently on a MYSA travel team – they DO NOT need to be registered. We will take care of all that. Registration is ONLY for Spring Recreation.

We have laid out many important dates for the season in our league calendar at: http://mebanesoccer.us/calendar/, but here are some highlights

Registration Deadline: Jan 27th
Rosters Published: Feb 6th
Practice Schedules Published: Feb 13th
Rec Practices Start: Feb 20th
Rec Matches Begin: March 2nd
Rec Tournament: May 14th-19th
Travel Team Tryouts: May 21st-24th

We’ve pushed the season a little bit later this year and have shortened the preseason practices by a week to reduce wear on our fields and to allow the weather to warm up a little. We also have built in some additional slack towards the end to allow for rainouts.

Coaches – be sure to email your old teams about registration. Click ‘Old Rosters’ in your team management account to see who has registered and use the included link to email the team parents.

If you have young children, please try to spread the word about our program to friends and acquaintances – many people with young children do not realize registration for Spring soccer happens so early, so let them know if they are interested to register ASAP!

Have a Happy New Year and we’ll see you all on the fields soon!

Parents/Coaches,

As the season winds down, I wanted to share a few things with you:

1. Please remember that your child’s uniform is ON LOAN. All uniforms (Jersey’s and shorts. NOT socks) must be turned in to your team manager at the end of the season, even if you plan on playing in the Spring. This ensures we have uniforms for everyone next season. If you have lost all or part of your uniform or it is damaged beyond normal wear and tear, you will be responsible for purchasing a replacement ($30 for the complete kit or $20 for the jersey and $10 for the shorts) Thank you for your help in ensuring all of our teams are properly outfitted each season.
2. Managers – if you KNOW you’ll return next season – simply email the uniform coordinator ([email protected]) when you have all uniforms on hand or list any that you could not get back. If you are unsure if you or your coach will return in the spring, then arrange to turn your uniforms in to the coordinator before December.
3. The Rec Tournament is coming up! Given the formats we use, don’t assume you are eliminated – ALWAYS check the schedule, which is updated every morning. You don’t want to forfeit when you still have a chance to advance.
4. Once the Rec Tournament is over, the Mebane Soccer Complex will be CLOSED to allow the winter grass to strengthen.
5. If you find your team near the bottom of the standings or it feels like you rarely won – it’s important to stay focused on what REALLY matters. Did your child improve as a player and did they have fun? Most kids forget about losses or the score faster than you’d think. So remember that it’s natural to be disappointed after a loss or a tough season, but your kids follow your lead and if they see you dejected or upset after a loss, they’ll think they did something wrong and stress about it. Highlight the good things they and their team did and encourage them to try harder next time. This is especially true during the tournament – the pressure is a little higher, emotions stronger, and healthy competition is a good thing as long as everyone keeps perspective. At the end of the day it’s a game and who wins/loses is quickly forgotten by those that matter most – the kids.
6. A number of our travel teams, especially at the younger ages, are looking for some additional players. Our travel program is similar to Recreation in that teams practice twice a week, play 1 (or occasionally 2) matches per weekend, and you ‘travel’ at most 4-5 times during the regular season (often to Burlington, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, or Greensboro) The biggest difference is players get professional skills training once a week and they get to play teams from outside of Mebane. Supplemental tryouts will be held Sunday November 13th!!! Players do NOT have to be super stars, especially at the younger ages, just excited to play soccer and wanting to get better. Complete details can be found at: http://mebanesoccer.us/2011/11/mysa-travel-team-supplemental-tryouts/
7. Registration for the Spring Rec season will begin on or around November 15th. We’re trying to reduce/eliminate late registrations, so please don’t forget and wait until mid-January. In addition to triggering a late fee, it makes our job harder trying to plan for how many coaches we’ll need and balancing out the teams.
8. Coaches/Managers – PLEASE make sure all your matches are properly scored! We use the standings to seed the tournament brackets, so please check that ALL your completed matches have scores.
9. The tournament schedules and rules can be found at http://mebanesoccer.us/current_season/fall-tourny/ Given the formats we use, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to take scheduling requests into account, so please make every effort this one week to adjust and accommodate the matches as when you play often depends on previous results. We’ll plug in teams into the brackets as the standings finalize.
10. Don’t lose sight of why we do all this every Fall and Spring – for the kids to learn soccer and have fun. Keep that in mind during those close matches during the tournament – stay positive, let the coaches coach, and the referees officiate. Nobody is perfect, mistakes will be made, and life will go on. We’re all doing our best to ensure the KIDS enjoy themselves. See you on the fields!

The Mebane Youth Soccer Association will be hosting supplemental tryouts on Sunday November 13th for certain age groups for our Select and Classic soccer programs. If you and your child are looking for something a little more challenging than Rec, we encourage you to come out to tryouts. Your child doesn’t have to be a superstar to tryout, the main focus of our travel program is skill development. While travel soccer is more of a commitment, it is NOT as drastic as many believe. You still practice twice a week, including one session of professional soccer skills training provided by Premier UK, and half of the matches are played here in Mebane with the other 4-5 usually between 15 and 90 minutes away. Much more information can be found on our Travel Soccer information page. Note players joining teams in November pay the single season fee, regardless of age.

MYSA Travel Team Tryouts – Fall 2011
When: November 13th
Where: Mebane Soccer Complex

We will be holding tryouts for the following age/gender groups:

• U9 and U10 Boys and Girls: 2PM-3PM Nov 13th
• U11 GIRLS ONLY: 2PM-3PM Nov 13th
• U15-U16 BOYS ONLY: 3PM-4PM Nov 13th

Coaches and Parents,

We have a unique opportunity for us and our players Thursday October 27th. Scott Green and Dylan Crowe are going to be putting on a Goalie Clinic for players and coaches. Both Scott and Dylan are great goal keepers and both really love teaching their skills to young players.

This will be a great opportunity for your goalies to come and get some quality training and for coaches to pick up some pointers and ideas on how to coach goalie skills and tactics.

Parents and coaches alike who are interested should confirm they are attending by sending email to MYSA Director of Coaching Dave Riley ([email protected]) so that Scott and Dylan can plan accordingly. Parents, please include your child’s name and the division they play in. Times for different age groups are below:

6:00-7:00 for U8, U9
7:00-8:00 for U10 -U14

Field 4 at the MYSA Soccer Complex

Thanks!
Alan

Kicking a ball seems simple enough – but shooting/chipping a soccer ball accurately is difficult. These players from UNC Asheville decided to show off their skills with an Angry Birds flair.

The MYSA is excited to finally have car magnets available for sale. Show off your soccer club pride with these 6″ vinyl car magnets. They’re just $5 each and can be purchased through your team manager, at the concession stand, or at IT Xpress at 109 N 3rd St in Mebane. Be sure to get one for each of your vehicles!

MYSA 6" Car Magnet

Premier UK Soccer, the exclusive skill trainers for all MYSA Travel Teams, are offering two very exciting programs this winter:

Winter 3v3 Indoor Futsal Tournament

6 Weeks for ages 6-16. $150 per Team with matches to be held in the Mebane Area (exact location TBD). Starts December 4th. Futsal is a very exciting and fast paced soccer game played indoors on hard surfaces. The event will feature a vibrant atmosphere including music, specially designed soccer balls, and a fun environment to develop soccer skills.

Premier UK 3v3 Indoor Futsal Tournament Brochure

Brazilian Foot Skills Winter Season 2011

Held at the Burlington Sporting Goods Gym on Saturday mornings, starting November 19th for ages 4-14, the Brazilian Footskills Program is designed to help soccer players improve their technique with the ball in a fun fast paced environment. If you sign up before November 5th, you’ll receive a free T-Shirt! Players receive 7 sessions of training for $67

Premier UK Brazilian Foot Skills Program Brochure

For more information on these or other Premier UK programs, visit their website at http://www.premieruksoccer.co.uk or contact Andy Thompson at [email protected] or 336-263-7347

This weekend we will have several players selling cookies and drinks during the soccer games. All proceeds will go directly to Little Pink Houses of Hope. The mission of this organization is to promote breast cancer recovery by offering opportunities for survivors to reconnect and celebrate life. Please stop by and help our children raise funds for this wonderful organization. Look for the special tables set up near the concession stands at both the soccer and baseball fields. For more information on the organization, please visit www.littlepinkhousesofhope.org. Also, every person who makes a donation will receive a free kid’s meal coupon to Texas Roadhouse.

We would like to give a huge thank you to Sheetz for donating the cookies and waters to help make this a success.

Thank you in advance for helping with this fundraiser.

For teams thinking about pictures and looking to schedule them –  while the MYSA does not contract with nor restrict choices of photographers for team photos, Upside Images and Spotlight Photography are local companies that contribute back to the league a portion of their profits earned from MYSA photos.

Both Upside Images and Spotlight Photography are local companies which have served the Mebane community and surrounding areas for several years covering a variety of sports in team and individual photos.  They are both excited to be working with the MYSA again this season and both companies will be donating 15% of all net photo sales back to MYSA.  In addition, both companies will donate two 5 x 7 team prints with a large white border for the teams to sign to each team for which they do team photos.  Upside and Spotlight offer affordable package prices as well as specialty items in addition to quick turnaround on all photo orders.

Team coaches/managers are encouraged to contact either of these companies to schedule your team’s picture date and time.  Their contact information is below:

Upside Images - Reyna Upchurch
[email protected] / 336-264-1167
UpsideImages.com or Find us on Facebook ” Upside Images ”
MYSA Photo Gallery at facebook.com/pages/Upside-Images-Reyna-Jon-Upchurch/117917124899161

Spotlight Photography - Tracey Ebert
[email protected] / 336.263.6400
www.myspotlightphotography.com (see MYSA Gallery under Sports)
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/myspotlightphotography

Don’t miss Autumn Fest 2011 Saturday October 1st in Downtown Mebane (Clay Street) from 10AM to 6PM. Over 40 vendors will be on hand plus lots of activities including:

• Antiques on the Street
• Pit Cooked BBQ & Hot Dogs
• Hay Rides
• Mum & Plant Market
• Photos with Mrs. Scarecrow
• Dance/Martial Arts Exhibition
• Little Miss/Mr. Autumn Fest Contest
• Silent Auction /Final Bids due @ 5:00 p.m.
• Select Crafters
• Downtown Shopping Specials
• The Pumpkin Patch
• Book Signing (by Mebane Authors)
• Live Music….featuring:
• Mace
• Salt River Band
• Them Darn Bruners
• Mebanesville

For more information, download the Autumn Fest Flyer or go to www.downtownmebane.com

Sponsored by Destination Downtown Mebane

POSTPONED Due To Weather

The Eastern Alamance Eagles have invited all MYSA players/families for the Eastern Alamance vs. Cedar Ridge soccer match on Tuesday, September 6. JV kickoff will be at 5:30 followed by the Varsity game at 7:00. Any MYSA players wearing their current or past MYSA jersey will be admitted free. Gate admission for adults is $5 (total for either/or both games). Eastern soccer parents will be serving hot dogs, pizza and nacho’s for your dining enjoyment. Please come out and support the Eagles! Also, the Eagles are in need of a few teams to act as ball runners during home matches. If your team (or even just a few players) are interested in working any of the home matches, please let us know! Hope to see you at the fields!

As we approach the start of our youth soccer season, the Men’s High School season is also about to kick off. MYSA players are represented on a number of HS Varsity and JV squads in Alamance and Orange County. Complete schedules and results for area HS Men’s Varsity and JV teams can be found on our School Soccer page.

By far the biggest contingent of MYSA players play for the Eastern Alamance Eagles, whose season kicks off Monday August 15th at Orange High School. JV will play at 5:00PM with the Varsity match slated for 6:30PM. The Varsity squad boasts a number of players from the 94 MYSA Storm who finished one game away from promotion to the NC Premier Division and the 95 MYSA Revolution who finished strong in the 2nd Div Classic Piedmont Division. The JV squad has a number of players from ’96 MYSA United and ’96 MYSA Real.

We encourage everyone to try and make some of the matches this season. With more and more MYSA players moving up to the high school level along with players from Triangle United, Burlington Soccer Club, and others, the Eastern Alamance teams are sure to have some very exciting matches going forward. Be sure to print out the EA schedule or bookmark it. Most other area HS schedules can be found on our School Soccer page. The women’s season kicks off in April 2012 and we’ll be sure to have complete details for them as well!

It’s often very easy to lose perspective about what’s important to our kids as they play the beautiful game, especially at a younger age. This commercial captures it…

The MYSA is excited to announce our new corporate partner, the Museum of Life and Science! Thanks to the museum’s generous support of the MYSA over the next two years, our cost of sponsorship for our younger teams has dropped to a level that more local businesses can afford. At the same time, we’ll be able to ensure those teams all have excellent kits to wear throughout the year. We also look forward to working with the museum throughout the year to ensure our membership are aware of the many exciting activities and exhibits they have that appeal to our  younger players. Be sure to check out their website for all the latest! The upcoming Heroes, Villains and Special Effects looks like it’ll be very interesting!

As planned, the funds raised during the first annual MYSA fundraiser are being used to help restore our badly damaged playing fields this summer.That money, combined with funds from the City of Mebane and the MYSA general budget will ensure the $12,000 restoration project proceeds as scheduled. The restoration has been a fairly involved process, including:

• Soil tests and adjusting treatments as necessary
• Aerabation and aeration to break up the hard ground
• Topdressing – putting down a think layer of sand to level out the fields and help the new grass grow
• Sprigging – where new grass sprouts are plugged into the ground to grow
• Watering and fertilizing throughout the summer growing season

The soccer complex will remain closed for the rest of the summer.

Field 1 about halfway through the sprigging processes

Players from the 01 MYSA Cheetahs and 01 MYSA Pride joined together over Memorial Day weekend to play in the Wrangler/McDonald’s Soccer Tournament in Greensboro. Playing at beautiful Bryan Park in hot sunny weather, the ‘Cheetah-Pride’ played four exciting matches against teams from eastern and western North Carolina. The girls scored 19 goals and won the U9 Girls Platinum Division with a 3-1-0 record. Congratulations Ladies!!!

02 MYSA Cheetahs & Pride - 2011 Wrangler/McDonalds U9 Girls Champions

Seven travel teams from Mebane headed to the coast to wrap up their season at the 18th Annual Seaside Soccer Classic, hosted by the Cape Fear Soccer Association. The Seaside Classic has grown into one of the biggest soccer tournaments in North Carolina with over 300 teams playing at dozens of soccer venues in and around Wilmington, NC. This tournament is a great way for our travel teams to wrap up their seasons with some exciting soccer and a trip to the beach. A lot of fun was had by all and many of the players are already looking forward to next year!

Three MYSA teams came home with more than just tans from the beach… The 94 MYSA Storm won the U16 Boys Gold division with a 4-0 record, allowing only 3 goals all weekend while scoring 18! The 92 MYSA Inferno were finalists in the U18 Boys Gold division after CASL Arsenal scored in the final minutes of the championship match which ended 1-2. The 96 MYSA Lunachicks were finalists in the U14 Girls Silver division, after an exciting championship match that saw the teams exchange goals back and forth right up until the end of regulation (3-3) and the match going into overtime. Congrats to all the MYSA teams for a great weekend of soccer!

Parents – if  you have more pictures you’d like us to add to this tournament album, send them to [email protected]!

94 MYSA Storm - U16 Boys Gold Champions - 2011 Seaside Classic

96 MYSA Lunachicks - U14 Girls Silver Finalists - 2011 Seaside Classic

Read the rest of this entry »

The MYSA had almost 800 players on 90 teams participate in our Spring 2011 Recreational season. From age 4 up through 18, these players kicked off their season in the chill of February and wrapped up their season with our seasonal end of season tournament in the warm temperatures of May. Below are the Spring 2011 Regular Season and Tournament Champions… Read the rest of this entry »

The MYSA wrapped up it’s first league wide fundraiser, hoping to raise enough funds to help repair our fields. As a league, we collected a bit over $14,000 during our Spring event. The amount includes revenue from just over 600 booklets sold plus many generous donations. That left us with a net profit of $7200. For a first time through with lots of rain during the sales period, this is a great result! Earnings from this year’s event will go towards improving the quality of our fields and other improvements. Those efforts are already well underway and green playing fields are in our future thanks to your efforts!! Look for the same event in the 2012 Spring season with an even better booklet with more local merchants, plus we’ll be able to start earlier. The revenue from this and future fund raising endeavors will allow MYSA to further its programs and facilities as we grow. Thanks to all that participated.

Special recognition goes out to our top three players / teams for their extra efforts in making this a success!

Top Selling Players:

1. 16 Booklets – Maddux Harrell – U6B Kickin’ Kubs
2. 12 Booklets – Saren Black – 99 Girls Cyclones Challenge
3. 6 Booklets – Randy Winslow – 98 Boys Barcelona Challenge

Top Selling Teams:

1. 26 Booklets – 96 Girls Lunachicks Challenge
2. 24 Booklets – 94 Boys Storm Classic
3. 23 Booklets – Tied 96 Boys Real and 99 Girls Cyclones

Teams with the highest dollar amount (including donations):

1. $570 U6B Kickin’ Kubs
2. $540 96 Girls Lunachicks Challenge
3. $460 Tied 96 Boys Real Challenge and 00 Girls Hurricanes Challenge

Teams with the highest per player average:

1. 3.67 Booklets per player – U6B Kickin’ Kubs
2. 2.09 Booklets per player – 00 Girls Hurricanes Challenge
3. 1.73 Booklets per player – 99 Girls Cyclones Challenge

THANKS AGAIN TO ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!