Welcome to all the teams that will be participating in the Winter Classic.

SCHEDULE OF GAMES

The schedule of games will be posted on the MAPS website. All schedules are accessible from the Winter Classic Homepage located at

http://www.socceragency.net/maps/2008/0812/classic.htm

Please check and confirm the dates, times and fields of your games as soon as they become available. We will email notices to team contacts to re-check the schedule if there are any subsequent changes. Team Contacts (as provided on your application) are responsible for checking their emails on a regular basis, especially the last week before the event, to ensure that no last minute communications are ignored.

Whenever checking your online information, click REFRESH on your WEB BROWSER. This ensures you are seeing the actual information available online, and not a previously-memorized page being stored in your computer cache. (Failure to do so is the most common reason teams discover they have incorrect information.)

LODGING

If you still need lodging, contact our Travel Coordinator Linda Hogancamp at MSSLlodging@gmail.com.

REGISTRATION

We will have Registration at the Philadelphia Soccer Club clubhouse at Agusta Fields on Decatur Road. You must arrive to register 50 minutes before your first game.

All teams must have:

A copy of the team roster they can leave with Registration officials. Pencil in any Guest players being used.

Player Passes for all participating players, rostered and guest.

Authorizations for Medical Treatment, more commonly referred to as Medical Releases, for all participating players. The ones executed when the player was first registered with the team for the season are usually adequate. Remember, these documents are critical to ensure that a player can be admitted to an ambulance, clinic or hospital for treatment, especially in the absence of a parent or legal guardian in attendance. These documents have to show original signatures. (And preferably be notarized, as we have heard of clinics that questioned how they could confirm the signature was actually a parent’s or legal guardian’s.)

Permissions To Travel for those out-of-state teams (non-New Jersey) using USYS passes from state associations that require a Permission To Travel.

Remember: All players on your team must have player passes from the SAME governing body, whether USYS or US Club or AYSO, etc.

RULES OF PLAY & REGULATIONS

Rules of Play can be accessed from the Tournament Homepage or directly at:

http://www.socceragency.net/maps/INFO_tournament_rules.pdf

All team coaches, managers, players and supporters are required to abide by these Rules & Regulations, covering both competition and conduct on premises. Coaches and Managers are responsible for distributing this information to their teams.

In particular, note the summary page at the end that covers procedures on scoring, playoffs, tiebreakers, foul weather, etc.

AWARDS

There will be awards in all age groups for Champions, and awards for Finalists in all brackets with eight and twelve teams. Make sure to come to HQ after your last game if you have earned your awards!

TRAVEL DIRECTIONS

The schedule of games for the Winter Classic will be posted on the Tournament website, as separate schedules covering individual Age BRACKETS that you will be able to print out. All schedules are accessible from the Showcase Homepage located at

http://www.socceragency.net/maps/2008/0812/classic.htm

Please check and re-confirm the dates, times and fields of your games as soon as possible after they are posted. Within two weeks of the Tournament, any teams affected by changes in schedule will be notified by email. Team Contacts (as provided on your application) are responsible for checking their emails on a regular basis, especially the last week before the event, to ensure that no last minute communications are ignored.

REFRESH YOUR WEB BROWSER / CONTACT MOBILE PHONE# / MESSAGING

Please check your team account on www.GotSoccer.com and make sure there is a valid mobile phone number listed for the TEAM CONTACT PERSON INFORMATION. This will be the first number called if there is a scheduling or weather problem at the fields.

Also, make sure you avoided using corporate or government email addresses for your team contacts entered in www.GotSoccer.com. These networked computer systems tend to have strong firewalls and spam filters that invariably prevent group messaging functions such as we rely upon from operating. Please provide email addresses from residential accounts (AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Comcast, Verizon, Optonline, etc.)

Finally, do NOT list the same person for coach, manager and team contact. If there is a problem in communicating with that individual, it is useful to have alternatives. That is the whole point for the system allowing multiple contact listings.

ON-SITE CONCERNS

Some simple rules for each facility we use:

· Park only in designated spots

· No pets, on a leash or otherwise.

· No smoking anywhere near the showcase.

· Cooperate with tournament officials and field marshals. Anyone caught abusing the above items will be evicted from the premises, and it may lead to early termination of an offending team’s participation.

Sorry if it sounds restrictive, but there is no reason to feel constrained if everyone uses common sense.

Looking forward to a great soccer festival,

Steve Shilling

Director

Bohdan E. Porytko
Director
973-998-9731

bohdan@mssl.org

www.socceragency.net/maps