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MAPS / MSSL 2008 WINTER CLASSIC DECEMBER 6-7, 2008 Greetings,
Coach / Manager: 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
A
requirement for acceptance for out-of-area teams is that your team utilizes
sanctioned tournament lodging. We have reviewed these facilities, and they
meet our standards for quality and reputability. Note that we reserve blocks
of rooms at these facilities well in advance to ensure that our participating
teams’ needs are adequately met. If we do not utilize these reserved rooms,
the hotels may not make these rooms available at future events, especially at
times of the year when lodging demands in the area are greatest. Therefore,
your cooperation here is expected. If your
room situation has still not been squared away, please contact Lodging
Coordinator Linda at Linda@titanlodging.com
as soon as possible. Online information is found at http://www.socceragency.net/maps/Lodging/INFO_Lodging.htm. .
REGISTRATION We will have Registration at the
Philadelphia Soccer Club clubhouse at Agusta Fields
on 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 Remember: All players on your team
must have player passes from the SAME governing body, whether USYS or US Club
or AYSO, etc. CONTACTING COLLEGES HAVE YOUR
PLAYERS CONTACT COACHES! Even if they are only vaguely considering a school,
contact the Coach, it costs little or nothing (by email), and one can never
be sure where it may lead! Your players should follow up their initial
contacts again when we release the schedules, to let coaches know what times
and fields they will be on. Remember: The key point is Contact, Contact, Contact! ENTERING PLAYER PROFILES ONLINE Once you have an application
on the system, you can follow the steps provided below for entering your
team's Roster / Player Profiles. You should plan on completing this process
by November 20th. As it usually takes a while, you should get
started as soon as possible. The Player Profiles
will be available to college coaches online in their full version. Also, a
truncated version for each player with key data will be printed into a
Coaches Binder that allows two pages for each team; these binders are
distributed to each attending coach at Registration. 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.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When we print the Player Profiles for the
coaches binder to be distributed onsite to coaches, each player's vital data
will appear on a two-page per team summary: contact info, graduation date,
GPA, SAT scores, etc. More extensive information will only be available to
college coaches online. CRITICAL RECOMMENDATION to ensure player gets maximum benefit: The ONLY information entered online which will allow narrative text to be printed in the Coaches Binder is the entry for "Provide Details of Sporting Achievements". Players should not list team achievements here, but rather their own most important player info: ODP, high school honors, all-star teams, acceptance to significant training programs, etc. Use this space to get across the most important info being brought to coaches’ attention. About four lines will print up, so edit remarks succinctly and wisely. USE OF PLAYER PHOTOS:
Also, we will print a small thumbnail of any player photo submitted
next to the player info. 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. Please COMPLETE the roster / profile
information about BY NO LATER THAN
NOVEMBER 20th. This will allow us time to review submissions, ensure
that they will print up correctly, then publish, collate, bind and transport
the binders to the fields. If you
receive an email that your Player Profiles are not
showing on your Roster, DO NOT IGNORE
THE EMAIL, even if you think you have fulfilled the requirement. Your team probably started a NEW Team Account (with a different
username and a different password) when you applied to the Showcase, rather
than re-using the account that had the profiles already in it. In short,
you probably have multiple accounts, with multiple passwords. I need to have
the team account with the profiles in it applying to this Showcase. The
solution is invariably the same: Go to the account where the profiles are
entered, and apply to the Showcase again from that account. When I see the
requisite info in the new application, I will transfer your financial
info to the correct account, then delete the application
without the profiles. 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 brackets
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! SCHEDULES AND 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 a week 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. In addition to the five fields at
Philadelphia Soccer Club, we will be using four fields at Parkwood
Soccer Club. There are travel directions and field layouts for all fields, accessible
from the Tournament Homepage at http://www.socceragency.net/maps/2008/0812/classic.htm
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.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 |