To EYSA members: 

Happy New Year!   I hope that each and everyone of you enjoyed your holiday season.   As the New Year always brings changes, fresh starts and resolutions, so will the spring season with EYSA.

EYSA’s fall season is now behind us and our spring season is just around the corner.  Registration is now up and ready for you to register your child for the spring season.  As we head into the spring season we as a board are striving to make this a much better season and a positive soccer experience for your child and your family.  

I took the position of President for EYSA to make changes and to make a difference in youth soccer in our community. Unfortunately, changes cannot come overnight and takes time to get the bugs worked out.   With these changes come a few growing pains which we suffered through -out the fall season.   We, as a board, no longer want to do things just because that is the way they have always been done in the past.  We want all of the participants to be able to enjoy the sport of soccer and get the most out of it that they can.

Our first steps in not doing things as they have always been done were to implement the Dinomite Program for U6, add goal keepers to U8, increase the number of players in each age group and fill our empty slots on the board, most of which we saw success.  As we continue into the spring season we hope that coaches are now comfortable with these changes and will continue to grow and develop their players.  We still have a few empty slots on the board and would encourage anyone who would like to have a say in some of the decisions made concerning the EYSA soccer program to step up.  A position on the EYSA Board should not be taken lightly as we are making decisions for 500+ children in our community.  We have board members who put numerous hours into the operation of this soccer program, whether it be striping fields, registering and compiling teams, stocking concessions, scheduling games, and much, much more.  With this we have determined that our parents should be helping in the success of our soccer program by giving up to 2 hours a season of volunteer service.  Our goal for the spring season is to see that this happens.  With this decision came about the implementation of the volunteer deposit and the director’s of volunteers to attempt to get to the appropriate volunteers needed to run this size of an organization.  We hope that this will instill a pattern with our EYSA families to see that it isn’t that hard to put in a couple hours in a 3 month period to help the growth and development of our soccer community.  We, as a board will be working harder to increase communication amongst our coaches and EYSA families.  With this in mind we have decided to hold the very first “Meet-n-Greet” where we hope that each one of you will take an active part in and participate.

The “Meet-n-Greet” will be a one stop all process where each age group will have a designated time to come to the soccer field, pick up your roster, schedule, jersey (if needed), meet with your coach, visit our vendors, and meet the board members who work diligently to make this program work for you.  We will also be preparing the fields to start our season and would hope that some of you will hang around and help with that preparation which will fulfill your volunteer duty for the season. 

We encourage each and everyone of you to become more active in the EYSA soccer program and hope that as our communication as a board increases your will be more comfortable voicing your likes and dislikes (respectfully to the board member(s)) as they are happening and not at the end of the season.  Our board meetings are the 2nd Monday of each month and are open to the public.  We invite you to join us and help us adjust as needed during the season to accommodate as much as we can as the members overseeing our soccer children.    The Annual General Membership Meeting will be held on April 13th at 7 PM at the Pritchard Community Center.   All EYSA members (parents/guardians of players, coaches, etc.) are asked to attend.  The AGM Meeting is where elections are held and major decisions are made for our program.  If you don’t attend you have no say in what happens.  Mark your calendar today and play to attend. 

With the events of Mother Nature this past season, I ask all before you vent on why games were cancelled to ask yourself this question, “Is it in the best interest of my child to play another day without an injury due to unplayable field conditions deemed by the board of EYSA?” 

See you on the Pitch

Sean C. Hall 

EYSA President