2008 Club Operations

Below we have detailed the major changes coming up for the 2008 season. In addition, we are working on a detailed calendar for 2008, which should be available in early February.

OVERALL CHANGES

League Play – For the past few months we have been working with US Club Soccer to create a new league, the Central California Premier League  (CCPL), that will offer a broader selection of teams and increased competition for this coming season. To date the following Clubs have committed teams to playing in this league:
California Odyssey
South Valley United
Bullard
CVSA
Chivas (Central Valley)
Bakersfield Brigade
Club Argentina
SMISO (some of their teams)
San Luis Obispo Soccer Club
 
The news of the formation of this league is just beginning to be circulated among local teams. We anticpate other teams will participate in this new league as well. We plan to have our U12-U18 teams play in new CCPL. If there is a sufficient number of local teams to play, our goal is to have our U10 and U11 teams play in the CCSL.
 
The tentative format is that we travel to Fresno or Bakersfield no more than three or four weekends per season. When we travel we get double headers and they schedule them so that we can leave early Saturday morning and return Saturday evening (for example: no games start before 10 and the second game does not start after 3 pm). Those out of the area teams will travel here 3-4 weekends and we will play local teams the other 2-4 weekends. More games in the season (12-16), better competition (the current CCPL members have significantly more teams than our local CCSL did this past year) and the smallest and most cost effective travel we can arrange (6-7 weekends at home with 3-4 on the road).
 
Cal South/U.S. Club – Dual Registration – We will be registering some teams as US Club teams and some teams with dual US Club and Cal South affiliation.
 
Tournament Schedule – We have scheduled each team to participate in 4 tournaments this year, plus national and/or state cup (see below)
 
SLO Fire Invitational – Our goal is to improve our competition and keep our travel and costs down. To that end, instead of going to an increased number of out of the area tournaments, we have created what we are calling the SLO Fire Invitational. It is essentially a four-day tournament played over four months. The first three Saturdays, we invite two teams in each age group from out of the area to come play a round robin so each team gets two games. Winner of each weekend comes back the fourth weekend for a championship weekend (for organizing the tournament, our teams are guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals along with one team from each weekend).
 
Our plan is that teams can travel for one day and get in two games. We will schedule it like league so that they can just come for the day, or spend the night and enjoy the area on Sunday. Projected cost is one-half of a tournament entry fee and by selecting who we invite we should be able to get appropriate competition for each of our teams.
 
National Cup and State Cup – We are shifting our focus from Cal South to US Club. We will enter our boys and girls (U11-U17) teams in the US Club National Cup to be held in June of this year. US Club holds the entire tournament over 4 days (Saturday to Tuesday). If you get knocked out in pool play, you are done on Sunday. If you advance you play Monday and Tuesday. If you win the Northern California National Cup, you advance to the Western States Regionals
 
State Cup – With the formation of the new league, and in essence a third region in the state (Northern, Central and Southern), the US Club state cup picture is a little unclear right now. Preliminary indications are that we will be able to enter the Northern California State Cup with our younger teams (U10-U14). The US Club Nor Cal State Cup is currently scheduled to be played in November and end by mid-December. There is not currently a US Club Northern California State Cup for older teams (just the national cup mentioned above)
 
New age group – This year we are adding a U10 boys and a U10 girls team to the age groups of teams offered.
 
Seasonal Year – U10-U14 will play from roughly May 1 through mid-December and conclude with a season ending tournament or the US Club Northern California State Cup. There will be no team activity until tryouts are held the following March.
U15-U18 teams will play from roughly May 1 through the last weekend in October and end with a season ending tournament.
 
Calendar – see our detailed plans for the upcoming season here.
 
Academy (U9-U14) – Our training academy starts February 19th and runs for five weeks. We are offering the academy in four locations this year; San Luis Obispo, Los Osos, Nipomo and Templeton. Club players may attend if they want, but they do not need to. There is a reduced fee for current SLOSC players and siblings. Boys U14 team is training for state cup and will not attend the academy. Academy details: http://www.slosoccer.com/academy/academy.html

Training Combine (U15-U18) – Our training combine starts March 1 and runs through April 6. It will be held at Laguna Middle School. Club players may attend if they want, but they do not need to. We hope to have enough combine players to attend a tournament or two. Combine details: http://www.slosoccer.com/academy/combine.html

Spring Break Camp – We are holding camp over SLCUSD spring break from March 24-28. The camp runs from 9-noon and is for 8-14 year olds. Club players may attend if they want, but they do not need to. Camp details: http://www.slosoccer.com/academy/camps.html

Tryouts (U9-U14) – We are holding tryouts in March (1 & 2) and (15 & 16) for our U10-U14 teams. Tryouts are in April 14-20 for our U15-U18 teams. The season for teams will begin in late April (we will pick younger teams in March, but not start practice until late April). For more information on tryouts: http://www.slosoccer.com/SLOSC/tryouts08.htm

Tryouts (U15-U18) – We are holding tryouts for olders after the Training Combine ends from April 14-20. Training will start right after older teams are announced.
 
Fees: This year we will charge an $85 registration fee (was $115 last year). We will not be providing training gear on the assumption that many people already have that gear. If you need training gear, we are working with SLOCO soccer store so that you can buy training gear, uniforms, etc. through them. $100 per month for dues for 7 months (last year was $90 for 8 months). Uniform fees should be similar and we will be ordering those through SLOCO.
 
Uniforms – Our jerseys are no longer made by Adidas, so we cannot fill in sets for new players as they are added to teams. We will be switching to new uniforms and that selection process is underway.
 
Roster Size/Reserve Players – After debating the pros and cons, the board has decided to continue with the reserve player program this year. The fee structure will change so that reserve players pay $65/month for training. If/when they attend a tournament, reserves will need to pay a tournament fee of $35/tournament. This will make the fee structure equivalent to rostered players when a reserve attends a tournament (if they attend two tournaments per month, reserves can even pay more than rostered players).

See the chart below for roster sizes for different age groups. Reserve players will be registered with CYSA, eligible to attend all training's, and will pay a reduced fee ($35 less/month than a regular roster player). The reserve players are invited to participate in league games only if some rostered players are unavailable, and invited to tournaments if the coach is short rostered players. For U11-U14 teams, a coach may take up to 15 players to a tournament. For U15 and U16 teams, a coach may take 16 players to a tournament and for U17 & U18, a coach may take 18 players to a tournament. If a reserve player attends a tournament, they will need to pay a $35 tournament fee for every tournament they attend. Reserve players can either be players who did not quite make the top fifteen roster spots, or those players who have too many outside commitments to regularly make practices and competitions.

In past seasons, we have attempted to be very accommodating with other sports or recreational activities. In 2008, we will look to register more committed players over less committed players when considering whom we choose. For older teams (U14-U18), during the school year, we are holding one training session during the week and one on the weekends. The schedule has been created this way to try and minimize the conflict between high school and middle school sports which traditionally practice and compete Monday through Friday.

Team Finances

This year the club will collect all team dues. Instead of paying your team treasurer, you will pay the club treasurer. We hope to get an automated billing and statement service implemented by the time teams are selected.

SLO Friendship Games

The Club has decided to not be a host partner in the SLO Friendship games. We have recently received news that the Futbol Project is withdrawing from hosting the games as well, so it looks like they will not be held this year.

Yearly Calendar

The 2008 Calendar year runs from tryouts in April 2008 through the youngers State Cup tournament for your team in 2008. For 2008, the club will determine a yearly calendar and determine what weekends teams will be playing in tournaments, friendlies, etc.. That schedule will be available in early February. We will work very hard to eliminate all negotiation of schedules. The 2008 Calendar is 95% compete at this time.

Fees: The fees will be set-up this year so that there are only four costs to players/parents;

• annual initiation fee,
• uniform fee
• training uniform fee and
• monthly dues.

The projected costs are shown below. When you compare the total cost of the season from last year with the total projected costs from this year, the fees are essentially the same. Our projected number of competitions (tournament, league and challenge cup games) will average of about 35 - 45 in 2008. Since so many returning players currently have training gear and game socks, those will be not be included in the initiation fee. Instead, you may buy those at SLOCO soccer store on Monterey in San Luis Obispo. Warm-ups will be included in the uniform cost. If you just need parts of your uniform (new jersey, etc.), you may buy those individually. If you have a compete kit, you will have no uniform expense. Camps, competitions, etc. are all included in monthly dues.

Cost Difference            $-15

Below is a chart that provides some detail on team expenses.