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Post by chelsea14 on Mar 3, 2016 16:08:30 GMT -5
How many times has your kids club team practiced so far this season? Including makeups, indoors, etc (which there have been none for us) 4 times total thru the first 5 weeks of the season.
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Post by soccergator on Mar 3, 2016 16:46:27 GMT -5
Huge plug for UFA-Forsyth, kids have only missed 3 sessions due to weather, and that is days when it was absurd to be training. like today.
all other days, when it rains, we get switched over to the turf, and now that they have 2 new turf fields for a total of 4, kids get a full 1.5 hour session in. Pretty amazing.
so in summary, we've only missed 4.5 hours of training the entire Spring so far.
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Post by SoccerMom on Mar 3, 2016 17:06:23 GMT -5
Huge plug for UFA-Forsyth, kids have only missed 3 sessions due to weather, and that is days when it was absurd to be training. like today. all other days, when it rains, we get switched over to the turf, and now that they have 2 new turf fields for a total of 4, kids get a full 1.5 hour session in. Pretty amazing. so in summary, we've only missed 4.5 hours of training the entire Spring so far. Same... my son has missed 2 sessions and my daughter 3 (but we made 1 up on a Sunday) Lots of kids on the turf but they still get to train -- its been a blessing Funny thing? we still have parents that complain that we cancel too much
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Post by goteam on Mar 3, 2016 17:30:20 GMT -5
4 total practices .. No make ups No indoors or conditioning in a gym Or Track..
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Post by Keeper on Mar 3, 2016 19:36:51 GMT -5
Maybe two or three, we've been lucky to be able to reserve turf fields and move academy sessions indoors. Should be interesting to see how the spring goes with all the rain, especially since it looks like most clubs didn't do any upkeep on their fields during the break.
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Post by fanatic21 on Mar 3, 2016 21:58:36 GMT -5
Haven't cancelled yet. 2 practices in gym and rest on turf. Don't think we cancelled once all fall either. Had some games cancelled though.
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Post by soccerdad44 on Mar 4, 2016 7:54:22 GMT -5
Most (all?) club's top teams make up practices now indoors. Maybe it's gotten better with more turf fields at Fowler, but you only get a small space to practice because they have so many teams. The turf is a nice selling point for UFA, but many teams are practicing in much better conditions in gyms and on indoor turf.
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Post by chelsea14 on Mar 4, 2016 8:59:31 GMT -5
Most (all?) club's top teams make up practices now indoors. Maybe it's gotten better with more turf fields at Fowler, but you only get a small space to practice because they have so many teams. The turf is a nice selling point for UFA, but many teams are practicing in much better conditions in gyms and on indoor turf. Seems a bit unfair that a clubs top team makes up every single one of their practices while the clubs second or third or whatever team makes up none. This is how it works at our club, one without their own indoor or turf facilities you mention. Do clubs without these facilities have any policies for this? Are coaches totally on their own to figure this out?
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quest
Jr. Academy
Posts: 33
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Post by quest on Mar 4, 2016 9:20:11 GMT -5
I do not think we've missed any practices so far this season, didn't miss much last season either. We train at an indoor location or alternate if necessary.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2016 9:23:36 GMT -5
Our club has very little access to turf so our team could only occasionally get access to it last season. The club has access to some gym space that they take turns offering to teams too. That left us with several practices last season where we made our own arrangements - typically a church gym rental handled by parents from two teams who shared it (everyone chipped in a couple dollars), neighborhood tennis courts (free) or a school track (free). This season, we've missed a few practices but have been lucky that our practice nights have been on some of the drier days.
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Post by SoccerMom on Mar 4, 2016 10:19:29 GMT -5
Most (all?) club's top teams make up practices now indoors. Maybe it's gotten better with more turf fields at Fowler, but you only get a small space to practice because they have so many teams. The turf is a nice selling point for UFA, but many teams are practicing in much better conditions in gyms and on indoor turf. Seems a bit unfair that a clubs top team makes up every single one of their practices while the clubs second or third or whatever team makes up none. This is how it works at our club, one without their own indoor or turf facilities you mention. Do clubs without these facilities have any policies for this? Are coaches totally on their own to figure this out? At UFA-Forsyth every team gets modified practice, no matter the level of the team. As far as the space goes, it works out just fine, with the new turfs the teams get more space to practice. Unless you're scrimmaging how much space do you need for drills? if a scrimmage needs to happen, we have an additional day that we schedule that on
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Post by soccergator on Mar 4, 2016 10:30:18 GMT -5
Even in the fall up at Fowler, when all the older teams were training also, we still had ample space and usually had room to play 7v7 with 4 small goals etc. But like I stated earlier, teams are getting all there sessions in each week and all are 1.5 hours in length. No matter the level, from top to 10th teams like SoccerMom said. Very Impressive. Our squad trains out of South Forysth, but when closed, we move over to Fowler. UFA-Norcross is trying hard to get teams out there every rainout night as well. For rainouts, teams only get 1 hour vs 1.5 hours, and teams are shuffled between indoor facility, Cemetery and Summerour. Cemetery and Summerour can get tight for sure. But they are doing what they can, the county refuses to turf a field Pinckneyville. The club even said they would pay for it, and the answer was still NO!
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Post by Keeper on Mar 4, 2016 10:59:29 GMT -5
Even in the fall up at Fowler, when all the older teams were training also, we still had ample space and usually had room to play 7v7 with 4 small goals etc. But like I stated earlier, teams are getting all there sessions in each week and all are 1.5 hours in length. No matter the level, from top to 10th teams like SoccerMom said. Very Impressive. Our squad trains out of South Forysth, but when closed, we move over to Fowler. UFA-Norcross is trying hard to get teams out there every rainout night as well. For rainouts, teams only get 1 hour vs 1.5 hours, and teams are shuffled between indoor facility, Cemetery and Summerour. Cemetery and Summerour can get tight for sure. But they are doing what they can, the county refuses to turf a field Pinckneyville. The club even said they would pay for it, and the answer was still NO! I believe the reasoning why Gwinnett won't do that is they have a unwritten rule that turf/Multi purpose fields have to be accessible to everyone within that Gwinnett park, at a rental cost, and I doubt UFA will agree to that. That's why they had to leave the park land to build those other turfs.
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Post by SoccerMom on Mar 4, 2016 12:30:53 GMT -5
Even in the fall up at Fowler, when all the older teams were training also, we still had ample space and usually had room to play 7v7 with 4 small goals etc. But like I stated earlier, teams are getting all there sessions in each week and all are 1.5 hours in length. No matter the level, from top to 10th teams like SoccerMom said. Very Impressive. Our squad trains out of South Forysth, but when closed, we move over to Fowler. UFA-Norcross is trying hard to get teams out there every rainout night as well. For rainouts, teams only get 1 hour vs 1.5 hours, and teams are shuffled between indoor facility, Cemetery and Summerour. Cemetery and Summerour can get tight for sure. But they are doing what they can, the county refuses to turf a field Pinckneyville. The club even said they would pay for it, and the answer was still NO! I believe the reasoning why Gwinnett won't do that is they have a unwritten rule that turf/Multi purpose fields have to be accessible to everyone within that Gwinnett park, at a rental cost, and I doubt UFA will agree to that. That's why they had to leave the park land to build those other turfs. But they did the Summerour one...why not more?
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Post by Keeper on Mar 4, 2016 12:57:33 GMT -5
I believe the reasoning why Gwinnett won't do that is they have a unwritten rule that turf/Multi purpose fields have to be accessible to everyone within that Gwinnett park, at a rental cost, and I doubt UFA will agree to that. That's why they had to leave the park land to build those other turfs. But they did the Summerour one...why not more? Summerour isn't part of Gwinnett Parks and Rec like Pinckneyville is. G P&R assets have to be accessible by all Gwinnett residents since the land is owned by the tax payers.
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Post by fan on Mar 4, 2016 13:00:51 GMT -5
Even in the fall up at Fowler, when all the older teams were training also, we still had ample space and usually had room to play 7v7 with 4 small goals etc. But like I stated earlier, teams are getting all there sessions in each week and all are 1.5 hours in length. No matter the level, from top to 10th teams like SoccerMom said. Very Impressive. Our squad trains out of South Forysth, but when closed, we move over to Fowler. UFA-Norcross is trying hard to get teams out there every rainout night as well. For rainouts, teams only get 1 hour vs 1.5 hours, and teams are shuffled between indoor facility, Cemetery and Summerour. Cemetery and Summerour can get tight for sure. But they are doing what they can, the county refuses to turf a field Pinckneyville. The club even said they would pay for it, and the answer was still NO! I think that smaller clubs that are closer to the city have to be more creative than big clubs in finding rainy day field space. There aren't ginormous parks in the city like there are in Forsyth so sunny day practices can be crowded at some clubs (or spread out across several club fields, school fields, church fields, etc.). If you're in a county that's good about putting in turf or if you're with a club big enough to pay for turf, that will help a lot. If the club doesn't have turf fields, they can be creative about renting turf fields (if there are any nearby) or finding gym space. Both of those take effort and money and still may not provide enough space for everyone. If the club doesn't have space, maybe a team member has a flat backyard or access to a tennis court. A team could run some trails at a local park so they can at least do some conditioning.
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Post by guest on Mar 4, 2016 13:23:46 GMT -5
But they did the Summerour one...why not more? I believe the next parks in line for turfing are Bethesda, Peachtree Ridge and Mountain Park. I would not bet on any of them being made available for soccer usage (i.e. Rabbit Hill).
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Post by soccerdad44 on Mar 4, 2016 13:35:48 GMT -5
Seems a bit unfair that a clubs top team makes up every single one of their practices while the clubs second or third or whatever team makes up none. This is how it works at our club, one without their own indoor or turf facilities you mention. Do clubs without these facilities have any policies for this? Are coaches totally on their own to figure this out? At UFA-Forsyth every team gets modified practice, no matter the level of the team. As far as the space goes, it works out just fine, with the new turfs the teams get more space to practice. Unless you're scrimmaging how much space do you need for drills? if a scrimmage needs to happen, we have an additional day that we schedule that on It sounds like with the new fields maybe things are better. I will have to ask parents and see what their feedback is. Last year I know from experience it was not good. My kids said there was not enough space to do much, and too many modified practices and outright cancelations. Maybe others had a different experience.
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Post by SoccerMom on Mar 4, 2016 13:47:30 GMT -5
But they did the Summerour one...why not more? I believe the next parks in line for turfing are Bethesda, Peachtree Ridge and Mountain Park. I would not bet on any of them being made available for soccer usage (i.e. Rabbit Hill). That's crazy... Forsyth Co. has plans to turf some other fields, they were going to turf a field at South but its low priority because its a soccer only complex. The bigger parks get priority because turf fields are used for soccer, football and lacrosse leagues. I think a lot of Forsyth parks right now have at least 1 or 2 turf fields (Fowler-4, Central-2, Sharon Springs-2, Midway-2, Coal Mountain-1, Bennett-1, Joint Venture-1, Sawnee Mountain-2). There is also 2 new parks being built this year that will have 4 turf fields each. Some of the schools also have turf fields but I have never heard of anyone borrowing those?
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Post by soccerdad44 on Mar 4, 2016 13:49:33 GMT -5
Most (all?) club's top teams make up practices now indoors. Maybe it's gotten better with more turf fields at Fowler, but you only get a small space to practice because they have so many teams. The turf is a nice selling point for UFA, but many teams are practicing in much better conditions in gyms and on indoor turf. Seems a bit unfair that a clubs top team makes up every single one of their practices while the clubs second or third or whatever team makes up none. This is how it works at our club, one without their own indoor or turf facilities you mention. Do clubs without these facilities have any policies for this? Are coaches totally on their own to figure this out? I agree, it's not fair. Coaches should be making every effort to practice, no matter the team. Maybe that is happening, I don't know, but I doubt it. However, I have never seen lower teams get treated 100% the same as the top team, and UFA is no different. They go to more tournaments, practice more days, train at different locations, do different training, etc.
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Post by SoccerMom on Mar 4, 2016 13:54:54 GMT -5
Seems a bit unfair that a clubs top team makes up every single one of their practices while the clubs second or third or whatever team makes up none. This is how it works at our club, one without their own indoor or turf facilities you mention. Do clubs without these facilities have any policies for this? Are coaches totally on their own to figure this out? I agree, it's not fair. Coaches should be making every effort to practice, no matter the team. Maybe that is happening, I don't know, but I doubt it. However, I have never seen lower teams get treated 100% the same as the top team, and UFA is no different. They go to more tournaments, practice more days, train at different locations, do different training, etc. Every team gets assigned a minimum # of tournaments, no matter the level. If a coach/team wants to do more, thats up to them. Yes the top teams tend to train 3x week as opposed to 2x, but I know some lower level teams that train 3x. Again this tends to be a coach/team preference and commitment from team. Training locations are all the same as everyone, if a team wants to rent an indoor facility that up to the team/coach, has nothing to do with level. As far as different training? that's a coaching issue
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Post by SoccerMom on Mar 4, 2016 13:59:20 GMT -5
At UFA-Forsyth every team gets modified practice, no matter the level of the team. As far as the space goes, it works out just fine, with the new turfs the teams get more space to practice. Unless you're scrimmaging how much space do you need for drills? if a scrimmage needs to happen, we have an additional day that we schedule that on It sounds like with the new fields maybe things are better. I will have to ask parents and see what their feedback is. Last year I know from experience it was not good. My kids said there was not enough space to do much, and too many modified practices and outright cancelations. Maybe others had a different experience. I can tell you from my experience that it wasn't bad, seems to me that people will find something to complain about. The weather is not something any club can control, i rather my kid get to practice in a smaller place that not practice at all. Last year it was 1hr training on modified, this year is 1.5hr training, some people are getting none.
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Post by Keeper on Mar 4, 2016 15:07:18 GMT -5
But they did the Summerour one...why not more? I believe the next parks in line for turfing are Bethesda, Peachtree Ridge and Mountain Park. I would not bet on any of them being made available for soccer usage (i.e. Rabbit Hill). Bethesda got turf last winter. It opened this fall for football and lacrosse.
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Post by guest on Mar 4, 2016 15:23:43 GMT -5
I believe the next parks in line for turfing are Bethesda, Peachtree Ridge and Mountain Park. I would not bet on any of them being made available for soccer usage (i.e. Rabbit Hill). Bethesda got turf last winter. It opened this fall for football and lacrosse. What's strange is that the fields get permanently striped for football and soccer, yet nobody gets to play soccer on them. Football in the fall and Lacrosse in the spring. Lacrosse has to stripe the fields manually.
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Post by Keeper on Mar 4, 2016 15:30:56 GMT -5
Bethesda got turf last winter. It opened this fall for football and lacrosse. What's strange is that the fields get permanently striped for football and soccer, yet nobody gets to play soccer on them. Football in the fall and Lacrosse in the spring. Lacrosse has to stripe the fields manually. Soccer / GFC has access to them but they have to share them with those other sports. And well in the shambles that GFC is they aren't going to deal with only getting half a field at times. Archer Soccer is a great club at being able to use a multi purpose turf with multiple sports on it. Well until they finish the 4 full size soccer fields that break ground this summer at Harbins.
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Post by guest on Mar 4, 2016 16:43:12 GMT -5
Archer Soccer is a great club at being able to use a multi purpose turf with multiple sports on it. Currently Archer fields only 3 lacrosse teams. As they grow and add teams, watch turf field availability.
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Post by allthingsoccer on Mar 5, 2016 7:42:06 GMT -5
Surprising not one missed. I think you learn to be proactive if your club doesnt have turf fields. Make deposits in advance and share with another team. Very low costs... $2-$4 per player. You can find the indoor locations. Just plan ahead.
I know of a place that just opened up off exit 17 (400). I know its a hike for some but they are new and have the space.
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Post by Keeper on Mar 5, 2016 17:23:10 GMT -5
Archer Soccer is a great club at being able to use a multi purpose turf with multiple sports on it. Currently Archer fields only 3 lacrosse teams. As they grow and add teams, watch turf field availability.
Archer Soccer has U4 thru U14s, three after school elementary programs and will be introducing U13 Classic in the fall. All out of Harbins Park.
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Post by infoguy on Mar 7, 2016 7:47:22 GMT -5
Most (all?) club's top teams make up practices now indoors. Maybe it's gotten better with more turf fields at Fowler, but you only get a small space to practice because they have so many teams. The turf is a nice selling point for UFA, but many teams are practicing in much better conditions in gyms and on indoor turf. Seems a bit unfair that a clubs top team makes up every single one of their practices while the clubs second or third or whatever team makes up none. This is how it works at our club, one without their own indoor or turf facilities you mention. Do clubs without these facilities have any policies for this? Are coaches totally on their own to figure this out? My experience, now with 2 clubs, is that it depends on how proactive and dedicated the coach is. My child played with a club that boasts a lot of artificial turf fields, but the coach was not very responsible or attentive to missed practices. My child is now with a club with zero artificial turf fields, however the coach is great at scheduling make ups--even if it means asking the parents to pony up the money to pay for indoor.
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