June 2024
Hello and happy summer to all soccer families,
Purpose of this email:
Quick update on our Coming off another fantastic year of local youth soccer, I wanted to provide an annual CYS update and remind you of some key summer needs.
Reminder to please register for fall soccer
Encourage you to consider coaching a team in the fall - our numbers keep growing, and we need coaches! Our plan is to have two coaches per team.
Update on CYS:
Our spring 2024 numbers provide continued support for fun, competitive and local programming in a world where this is increasingly rare.*
Greater than 2150 total registered players - compared to 1200 in 2019, 1000 in 2016.
Approximately $100,000 of financial aid for Cambridge families to play - compared to approximately $20,000 in 2019.
1300 3rd-8th grade players played a total of 115 games on our first two-day “Cambridge Cup” championship weekend.
Nine teams of Cambridge City Football Club competed, with considerable success, against local clubs in the New England Club Soccer League - at 1/10 the cost and less than 1/10th the logistical burden to families.
If you are at the fields on the weekends, you see what these numbers mean. Our kids are having a great time and playing a very good game of soccer. Some are also learning leadership skills as referees, and many stick around in the fresh air, away from their phones, and watch their friends play or scout their opponents for next week.
Register for fall soccer:
Please register for fall soccer. We are going to make an attempt to get fall teams formed by August 15th. In order to do this, we need people to register early. Please register now! And please pencil in September 14 for first day of games (pending permitting from city)
Consider coaching:
I cannot say enough about the support we provide our coaches** and how much our coaches enjoy their time on the field. We need coaches at all levels (you really can do it!)! And with our professional coaching support, we will help you learn how to be a very effective soccer coach. Please let us know if you have any interest in coaching here.
Wishing you a terrific summer,
Best wishes,
Jason
*https://www.slowboring.com/p/high-pressure-youth-sports-is-bad
**Prior to every season, we have been running coach training sessions where coaches participate in a “play-practice-play” session run by our Director of Coaching Alvaro Amaral and Technical Director Mario Prata (play-practice-play is a format of practice recommended by US Youth Soccer and Mass Youth Soccer so players are challenged to develop their skills in game-like environments as opposed to drills. The idea is that development and fun work best together, not in opposition to each other). We can see the effect during weekday practices and weekend games, our coaches are doing a great job. Details to be finalized, but we will be running sessions for every age group before the season starts.