2006 MAPS / MSSL WINTER COLLEGE SHOWCASE

THE WINTER INVITATIONAL (U15 & U16 Boys)

MERCER COUNTY PARK NJ       

NOVEMBER 25 - 26, 2006

 

Greetings, Coach / Manager:

 

SCHEDULE OF GAMES

The schedule of games for The Winter Invitational is released on the MAPS website. It is posted in both Field / Time Slot Grid Form showing all games on all fields, and in Age Bracket form which can be printed as a single sheet covering just your team’s competition. All schedules are accessible from the Winter College Showcase Homepage located at

http://www.socceragency.net/maps/0611_showcase/0611_homepage.htm

 

Note that you need Adobe PDF to read the schedules. Both the Schedules and the Brackets are multi-page items, so you have to scroll on the bottom of the PDF window to get to the “page” with the information you seek. Nice thing about the PDF files is that each entry prints neatly onto a single sheet once you get to the page you want (When you click Print, set the “Print Range” in the window to the page you want printed up.).

 

Please check and confirm the dates, times and fields of your games as soon as possible. After Tuesday November 21, any changes in the Scheduling Grid will be marked in blue on the Saturday and Sunday grids on the website, and teams will be notified by email if they are involved in a material change. 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.

 

Occasionally a typo occurs when transferring information from the Field / Time Slot Grid to the individual Age Bracket schedules. Please bring these to our attention. Usually, the information on the Field / Time Slot Grid is the correct info.

 

LODGING

If you still need lodging, contact our Travel Coordinator Linda Hogancamp at 609-997-0690 / MSSLhotels@comcast.net. Teams staying overnight while participating are required to book lodging through the Tournament.

 

We have reserved rooms with various convenient hotels at attractive rates throughout the year, to ensure that there is adequate lodging for all MAPS & MSSL events. If we fail to utilize these rooms, they will be released and unavailable to teams at other events, including many during periods of the year when accommodations can be scarce. Hence, we appreciate your cooperation with this policy.

 

REGISTRATION

We will have Registration at the fields at the Headquarters pavilion or tent. You must arrive to register at least a full hour before your first game.

 

All teams must have:

 

A photocopy of the stamped, official 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 be signed within the last twelve months. (And preferably be notarized, as we have heard of clinics that questioned how they could confirm that 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.htm

 

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

Medals are awarded for First Place (Champions) Make sure to stop by the Headquarters pavilion to receive your awards.

 

TRAVEL DIRECTIONS

 

Travel directions to the fields can be accessed from the Tournament homepage. There should also be a field layout map posted.

 

PLAYER PROFILES

 

While teams at the Winter Invitational are not part of the Showcase proper, they are still welcome to enter information online for each team player. College coaches browse these listings to identify future prospects. It also gives your team a head start on the process, so that your team is ready when your players are showcasing themselves in earnest. Many major showcases nationally use the www.soccerscheduler.com system.

 

Instructions for entering Player Profiles appears at the end of this letter.

REFRESH YOUR WEB BROWSER / CONTACT MOBILE PHONE# / MESSAGING

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.)

Please check your team account on www.SoccerScheduler.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.SoccerScheduler.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.)

Note that the online registration form had space for four individuals (manager, coach, contact and lodging person). Please DO NOT list the same person for all four positions. If we are unable to get through to this one individual, it leaves us no alternatives to pursue.

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.

·         No alcohol on the site of the competition.

·         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 to sound so restrictive, but there is no reason to feel constrained if everyone uses common sense.

Looking forward to a great soccer festival,

Bohdan E. Porytko
Director
973-998-9731

MSSLsoccer@aol.com

www.socceragency.net/maps

 

 

ROSTERS AND PLAYER PROFILES

 

The Player Profiles will be available to college coaches online in their full version.

 

Even if you have entered Player Profiles for previous or other events, you should still have your players review their profiles. Information needs to be updated: SAT scores, school grades, change of address or email, soccer achievements, etc.

 

Remember, one advantage to this system is that you can log out and log back in and resume where you left off. You do not have to complete all players in one session.

 

ENTERING PLAYER PROFILE DATA

 

If you are entering Player Profiles for the first time, please follow these steps (if only updating, obviously some steps will be omitted):

 

   1 - Go to the web site http://www.soccerscheduler.com/ and click the mouse on the “Team Manager” selection. Enter your team username and password.  The username and password were created by you when the online application was completed on the system.

 

   2 – On the next screen, “Team Manager – Main Menu”, click the mouse on Roster.  It is located on the grey top bar.  Enter the player profile information following the system instructions.  A username and password is needed for that player at the end of the profile for future updates.  Save the player profile data at the end.

 

   3 – Review the player profile data on the next screen and make corrections.  If corrections are made, click on save again.  When the player profile is completed, you can click on “Return to Roster” or “Delete Player”.

 

Note:  An email is sent with the username and password to the player’s email address entered on the roster, so that player can complete profiles or make updates on their own!

 

   4 – If you need to change a player’s profile on the roster, click the mouse on the N/A column to make the change.

 

   5 – After all the profiles are completed, you can click the mouse on “Log Out” to end the session.

 

USE OF PLAYER PHOTOS:  It is best not to waste this on a full body shot, use the opportunity for a head shot. Otherwise you will just have a tiny, indistinguishable stick figure show up in the profiles.

 

 

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