MAPS / MSSL 2007: THE FALL CHALLENGE

and

MAPS CUP 2007

 

FORT DIX / PEMBERTON HIGH SCHOOL / MERCER PARK NJ     

NOVEMBER 10-11, 2007

 

Greetings, Coach / Manager:

 

Welcome to all the teams that will be participating in The Fall Challenge. Additionally, in the U11 through U14 Boys age groups, we will be conducting a new championship event, the MAPS CUP 2007. Outlined below is key information that all participants will need to be familiar with.

 

SCHEDULE OF GAMES

The schedule of games will be posted on the MAPS website on October 23. The schedule will be posted in both Field/Timeslot Grid Form showing all games on all fields, and posted as a separate Age Bracket schedule covering just your own age competition that you will be able to print out. Note that the Adobe PDF webpages are multiple pages that require you to scroll down until you get to the page you want. The program does allow you to print only the single page you want, once you get to it.

 

All schedules are accessible from The Fall Challenge & MAPS Cup 2007 Homepage located at

http://www.socceragency.net/maps/0711/challenge.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. After Tuesday October 6, any changes in the Schedule will be marked in blue on the Saturday and Sunday Field/Timeslot Grids on the website. 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/Timeslot Grid Schedule to the individual Age Bracket schedules. Please bring these to our attention. Almost always, the information on the Field/Timeslot Schedule is the correct info.

 

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 fields at the Headquarters pavilion. You must arrive to register at least a full hour 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 medals in all age groups U11 and older for First and Second Place. Make sure to come to HQ after your last game if you have earned your awards!

 

At U10 and younger, playing on small-sided 8v8 fields, we have a four-game guarantee, but do not maintain standings or present awards. However, we do have participation pins for all participating players. Make sure you pick them up for your players at HQ!

 

TRAVEL DIRECTIONS

 

The Fall Challenge and MAPS Cup 2007 will be held at three separate venues, in order to accommodate the tremendous interest in the event. Games will be at Fort Dix, at Pemberton High School and at Mercer County Park. Note that Pemberton HS Fields have a “P” before the number, and Mercer Park Fields have an “M” before the number on the schedules.

 

Travel directions to all fields can be accessed from the Tournament homepage. There should also be a field layout map posted as the tournament gets close. http://www.socceragency.net/maps/0711/challenge.htm

 

If you use an online map service (try the MAPS function on Google.com), the address for the Fort Dix fields is "6400 Doughboy Loop, Fort Dix NJ”. Note regarding mapping and GPS services: they will sometimes take you to the closest gate. But you must enter from the Special Events Gate to the south of the fields, on Pointville Road.]

 

For Pemberton HS, use “148 Arneys Mount Road, Pemberton NJ

For Mercer County Park, use “1638 Old Trenton Road,  West Windsor, NJ 08550

 

 

ENTERING FORT DIX: VEHICLE DOCUMENTATION

 

Please advise all team members who will be entering the base that each vehicle must have:

**  Valid Vehicle Registration

**  Valid Vehicle Insurance Card

**  Valid Drivers License for the Driver

**  Plus a Drivers License or other Picture ID for each additional adult in the vehicle

 

The first three items are required on a vehicle by law at all times, yet it has become surprising how many vehicles trying to enter the base can not produce these items upon request. Failure to produce these documents has required parents to leave their vehicles at the entry gate.

 

ENTERING FORT DIX: SPECIAL TEAM ROSTERS REQUIRED FOR GATE ENTRY

 

Each team will have to prepare a special team roster which will have to reach us by November 1. The form requires that Player names plus the names of all attending adults (coaches, parents, relatives) be provided. These rosters are collected and presented to security at the Special Events gate at Fort Dix (a US Army military base). They will prove important in allowing your team vehicles to enter the base without unnecessary delay.

 

We are still determining the exact format of the Roster with Base Personnel, and will advise you once it has been established. It is possible that we will be able to develop an online entry format, that will let you input your team data directly.

 

Based on past experience, there will be nothing complex about the form, the information requested is generally fairly straightforward. If uncertain, err on the side of adding more names rather than less.

 

If your roster is not fully settled, if you are still waiting on guest players, and so on, just forward the best roster you have as of the moment. If in doubt, always err on the side of being more inclusive rather than less. This roster will not impact the "playing roster" you present at registration.

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.)

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

MSSLsoccer@aol.com

www.socceragency.net/maps