Day 13 in our Countdown to Opening Week

Dear United Families,

In my excitement to get the season started, I was informed that I am a week ahead of myself. We officially have access to the fields at Olympic Park beginning Monday, August 9. The countdown is now 13 days. This means I have more opportunity to share information with you. Yes, that means more emails, however, I will keep it all accessible within these communications.

So 13 more days... Today, I will share the schedule for Opening week. First, I would like to mention that our Club Field Coordinator on the Board, Mike Szwaja, has done a great job of helping us rebound from the field issues we experienced with the park district last season. He has been working with newly hired park district employees to assure we have the fields we wanted for training and match play. This has been in the works since February this year.

Here is the the schedules by age group for Opening Week on Field 9 at Olympic Park:
5:00 to 7:00 PM - Girls 13U and Boys 9U, 10U, 11U, 12U, 13U
7:00 to 9:00 PM - Girls 14U, 16U and Boys 15U

The goals for the sessions include Coach and Player introductions, getting the body back into performing soccer movements, getting the lung in shape for the short sprints, and lots of technical skill polishing. Overall, we want to get the kids focused on the start of a new season as team training sessions begin the week of August 16.

Players should come prepared to play. That includes proper training gear (Gold tops), a soccer ball (filled with air), and water (enough to carry them through the whole training session). All players should have visited European Sports by now to be fitted and to place an order for the uniform kit. If not, you must go ASAP so you can get your uniform kit in time. If it is time to replace a ragged ball that will not hold air then European sports has what you need. Be sure water bottles are big enough so that your player does not run out halfway through the session. Due to Covid, we do not want to have the kids sharing water. Last things to consider, mosquito count is high on fields 7, 8 and 9. Consider spraying down as we get later into the night.

Here is a countdown of topics to come between now and next Monday.

  • Day 14: Introductory message SENT
  • Day 13: Aug 9 four day Opening Week schedule
  • Day 12: Fall Training Times
  • Day 11: Introduction to the coaching staff and team assignments
  • Day 10: Annual Club calendar
  • Day 9: New uniforms
  • Day 8: Organization goals for 2021-22
  • Day 7-2: Other administrative requirements
  • Day 1: Opening Day

I hope soccer balls are not collecting dust. They should be properly inflated and getting hundreds of touches over the next two weeks.
Jose Skrobot
Director of Coaching
SAA Sports Club United
SAA Sports Club United | Website