Pickering FC
Weekly Update
February 12, 2021
Tell your friends, neighbours and co-workers about the great things happening at Pickering FC!
Happy Family Day!!

Our phone calls started this week to current registered members in our system. Please take 5 minutes to share your thoughts with our staff and let us know how you’re doing. The questions aren’t hard and we’re not trying to sell you anything – we’re just checking in on your plans for this Summer and your thoughts on our efforts over the past 12 months. 

Continuing the theme of storytelling from last week we’d like to share with you another couple of insights into your Club and how we operate.
Story 1

One of our main Club sponsors and a long-standing supporter of not-for-profit organizations in Durham Region is Delta Bingo who are located on Dillingham Road in South Pickering. With their support we are able to provide the best equipment for our Recreational players and assist in the development of our referees for their games. This year we will take that to the next level with fresh investment in innovative coaching equipment and additional training for a team of junior coaches who will assist in the program delivery.  

Pickering Football Club is pleased to present Charitable Gaming. Community Good. This new brand name and logo represents the good works in part, that happen locally as a result of our participation in Charitable Gaming through Delta Bingo.
Story 2
 
As we continue to live in a ‘virtual’ world it’s worth looking at what we are doing online with the players and coaches. We like to think of this as a #DareToCompare challenge and we don’t think you’ll find a Club that comes close to our online efforts. Last week we spoke about the range of speakers to our virtual world so now let’s look at the attendance numbers.

  • Mondays are 30 Club Technical Staff in meetings rotating between Grassroots, 11v11 and Full Staff
  • Tuesdays are 80 Competitive players working on areas such as goal setting and analysis
  • Tuesdays are 25 Match Officials with guest presenters in the classroom
  • Wednesdays are 70 OPDL players working online to develop their player profile and goal setting 
  • Wednesdays are 50 Grassroots players doing a virtual practice with Hollie
  • Thursdays our PFC Head Coaches run their own team specific sessions.

A great learning environment is being established here at Pickering FC using many of the technology teaching tools our children use in school. What better way to encourage their growth as people and players.

As a reminder, our Club website has undergone some big changes in the past two weeks to include more detailed program information as we prepare for the 2021 Outdoor season. Make sure you check it out and share with your friends and family.
HIGH PERFORMANCE
Grassroots, Competitive and
High-Performance programs continue training on our virtual platform and weill transition to Indoor training in reduced numebr sof 10 as we have now entered the Red Zone (Control). By then we hope to have a better picture of the coming weeks.  Any missed field sessions will be made up during the break between Indoor and Outdoor (usually April to mid May). We calculated a pro-rated amount per week for every level of play and that will be assessed in late April. At that point we will know exactly how much of our program has not been delivered and this will be refunded to the payee’s credit card.

The Pickering FC structure defines high performance as those programs where teams compete in standards-based leagues. This includes the Ontario player Development league (OPDL) for players from U13-U17 age groups and then for older players they enter League1 Ontario (L1O). These leagues bringing with them a higher cost that reflects the increased training time, coaching level, longer season, uniform and equipment. 

Training Days and Times will be confirmed by your Head Coach for the weeks ahead.
COMPETITIVE
Pickering FC runs teams in the Durham Region Soccer League (DRSL) and the Central Soccer League (CSL). Promotion and relegation allow for teams at U13 and up to be promoted from the DRSL into the CSL. The CSL is confirmed to run in 2021 and will cover an area including Toronto, North York, Scarborough and Peterborough in the east. In conjunction with the Team Head Coach and our Director of Soccer Operations, Dave Benning, the playing group is assessed for their ability level to play at one of these two levels.

Training Days and Times will be confirmed by your Head Coach for the weeks ahead.
GRASSROOTS
If your child is interested in developing beyond the Recreational level and learning from our well qualified and screened coaching staff then our Grassroots program for players aged between U8-U12 started this week. Our Open House philosophy means that new players wanting to try it are more than welcome. If you are interested in learning please contact our Grassroots Director, Hollie Babut (grassroots@pickeringfc.ca).

Training Days and Times will be confirmed by your Head Coach for the weeks ahead.
RECREATIONAL
Recreational programs including Indoor Rec (U3-U18), Women’s Rec are also in a holding pattern until we can safely return to the dome for games.   

The PFC Recreational programs is delivered on community fields right across the City for players from 3-18 and also includes our popular Women’s Rec League. We support volunteer coaches working with our players at all ages through coaching resources, mentoring and equipment. Pickering FC is the only Club in Durham Region to also offer a training session as well as a game. Each game is officiated by our homegrown talented referees.  

Game and Training Days run Monday to Thursday.
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
Community Programs* are suspended until we have confirmed safe access to the Pickering Soccer Centre.  
  • Walk the Dome, daily from Mon - Thurs (9 - 11am). OPEN
  • Walking Soccer, weekly on Tuesdays (10:30-12pm). SUSPENDED
  • Adult Drop-In Soccer weekly on Sunday (8:30-10pm). SUSPENDED
* Covid-19 protocols and participant waivers will be in effect for all community programming
Match Officials
Our next virtual session is Tuesday, February 16 from 6:30-8:00pm and will focus on Match Official communication with team officials, players and the match official crew. In addition, we will have a fitness presentation to help the group stay limber and fit for the start of a new season and to help avoid early season injuries related to conditioning. Although the sessions are created for our active group of Match Officials, we welcome having coaches, parents, match officials from 2019 and those interested in becoming a Match Official in 2021 to join in. If you are interested please email Dave Lord at scheduler@pickeringfc.ca and in the subject line please write Match Official Education session. 

The goal of the Pickering FC is to help our group of match officials become the best that they can be! This will lead to everyone - players, coaches, spectators and match officials - having positive experiences throughout the season.
PFC All Abilities
All Abilities program continue their virtual training platform led by Coach T and Coach Zain. Anyone wanting to join the FREE virtual training can contact Tammy at allabilities@pickeringfc.ca
PFC Digital Rewards
Governance and Operations
The PFC Board have tentatively proposed a date of Wednesday March 24th 2021 (7pm) for the hosting of our 2020 AGM. We will continue to assess whether this will be carried our in-person or hosted virtually.

This gives everyone a little more time to consider our positions up for election and to think about how you might want to volunteer. Club Secretary, Roz Lavoie is managing this area and can be contacted at secretary@pickeringfc.ca for more information. Board positions up for election:  

President - 2 year term and nominee must be a current Board member 
Treasurer - 1 year term and should possess accounting knowledge & experience 
Secretary - 2 year term 
Director at Large - Full Field Recreational Soccer - 2 year term 
Director at Large - Boys' Competitive Soccer - 2 year term 
Director at Large - Girls' Competitive Soccer - 1 year term 
Director at Large - Special Projects - 2 year term
Notices
Our website will continue to be the ‘go to’ place for all the information you need on program structure, costs and schedules. Compare us to others and you’ll see that professionalism, transparency and quality are important to us - after all this is YOUR Club!
Pickering Football Club
(905) 831-9803
PickeringFC.ca
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