JUST BELIEVE!
Let's Get Started!
Every season is different, and this one is no exception! We've been working hard behind the scenes to allow as many kids as humanly possible to get enrolled, and we are still actively doing that.
 
We are also helping families adjust or modify their registrations to meet their changing needs, and that also is still actively ongoing.
 
There are also additional requirements for all of our coaches, managers, referees, and board members as part of the new US Soccer Safe Sport Initiatives, and these include mandatory background checks, concussion awareness training, and Sexual Predator Awareness Training, and we have most of this completed for everyone involved at this point.  
 
This means we are having to tweak and adjust rosters, delay releasing rosters, practice schedules, and game schedules.
 
So, we thank you for your patience, especially if you have not been contacted by your coach yet. Please rest assured that this small inconvenience is done for the greater good, and specifically for your childs protection.
 
That all said, we are looking forwards to a GR8 fall season! Hopefully, everything will be in full swing next week. We may have some matches scheduled this weekend, and even if your team has not practiced yet, these are still a good learning opportunity, and they are considered as 'pre-season friendlies', so nothing is at stake in the outcome. These can be treated as training sessions in themselves, and coaches will have more leeway in taking advantage of coach-able moments during the match. 
 
REMINDERS/UPDATES YOU NEED TO KNOW!
 
As each season progresses, things come up that we need to address, and here's the list from last season:

- Gear Exchange: This is a wonderful program, and it relies on you to make it go! If you have gently used soccer gear that you are no longer able to use (mainly cleats your kids have grown out of, balls, shinguards, etc.), please bring them to our gear exchange and we will help them get recycled! If your kids have forgotten their cleats, or grown out of them, please feel free to get a new pair out of the gear exchange! It's that simple!

- NO tobacco, drugs, vaping, or alcohol are allowed at our facilities, or at matches our teams are playing at other locations.

NO vaping during a match! Believe it or not, we had a complaint that an older youth player was vaping during an away match!
 
- GOAL SAFETY: NO climbing on goals or rough play with the small portable goals. It's not that we don't want kids to have fun, it's that we don't want anyone to get hurt! Every year kids and adults are getting permanently injured and killed from goals flipping on them. If you see anyone playing on a goal, or hanging from the crossbar, PLEASE ask them to stop and report the incident to the nearest coach or MUSC Board Member.  

Peanuts:  Please be aware that some people in our community may have a severe peanut allergy. If you are eating peanuts in the shell, please do not discard the shells on the ground - collect them and properly dispose of them

Give a hoot, don't pollute! Please pick up water bottles and other litter you may come across around the fields. The guys mowing don't have time to stop and pick it up, so they just run over it

- Bathrooms and Trash: 
PLEASE do not put 'general' trash (food, discarded chairs, car debris) in the bathroom trash cans - use the cans in the pavilion for trash generated at the fields, and use the dumpster if your chair, umbrella or canopy blows out. If you have trash from outside restaurants, please take it home with you and don't leave it for a volunteer to deal with! (Racoons also get in our trash at nights, and food is what they are looking for!)

Dogs: Officially, we have a No dog policy at our fields. We have relaxed that over the past few years, but this is a reminder that not everyone is a fan, so please be responsible - keep your dog on a leash, be respectful of those around you and if you see someone is uncomfortable,  please move away from them it is not their responsibility to move - it is yours).
PLEASE continue the great job you've all been doing of picking up after your dog! (Poop, hair - if you are grooming them, please just leave behind piles of hair, if you are feeding them and they don't eat it all, please take the excess home, etc...)  One incidence of someone stepping in dog poop may be enough to ban dogs altogether. (This ban would not apply to working service dogs, but will apply to emotional support dogs)

Parking:
if you can, please carpool as a family, or as team members - parking is always tight, and we all need to work together to make it work! Parking is always tight at Cheat Lake - please only use designated spots in the lower lot, and do NOT park along the road - use the upper lot. If you have extra gear, or small children with 2 drivers, please drop them off and then park up top if the lot is full. 

ITC: if you need to change your child's diaper, PLEASE don't just discard it in the parking lot! We have a trash can inside and if you're not going to take it with you, at least put it in there

And - saving the most important for last -

- REFEREES: We have a  ZERO TOLERANCE policy for any abuse of referees, especially when it is  directed to a youth referee! This also applies to our away games. If someone is guilty of this (anything directed negatively or sarcastically at a referee), even after the fact, they  WILL be banned from attending future games UNTIL:
- They have served as an Assistant Referee in at least 2 matches that do NOT involve their team. 
- They may also be required to write an apology to the referee(s). 
- Depending on the degree of the infraction, we may also assist the referee in obtaining a restraining order, and work with the West Virginia Soccer Association to ban them from all state sanctioned events. 
This is a serious issue for many reasons - nationally and across all sports, referees are quitting the profession due to abuse/harassment, and several referees have actually been killed in recent years, as a direct result of escalated abuse.

Here is the verbiage from the WVSA Athlete and Participant Safety Policy, pg 16; 
  
 Harassment consists of unwelcome conduct, whether verbal, physical or visual, that is based upon a person's protected status. WVSA will not tolerate harassing conduct that affects tangible job benefits, that unreasonably interferes with an individual's performance, or safety, or that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment.
Among the types of conduct prohibited by this policy are epithets, slurs, negative stereotyping or intimidating acts based on an individual's protected status and the circulation or posting of written or graphic materials that show hostility toward an individual because of his or her protected status.
Prohibited conduct can also include jokes, kidding, or teasing about another person's protected status. While harassing conduct is unlawful only if it affects tangible job benefits and/or interferes unreasonably with work performance and creates an abusive or hostile work environment,  this Policy forbids harassing conduct even when it does not rise to the level of a violation of law.

Friday, September 6
- WVU Women's Soccer Match at Dick Dlesk Stadium!
  7:00 PM vs Penn State


Saturday, September 7
-U12 Academy Boys vs FC Wheeling at Mylan Park
  1:30 PM

- WVU Men's Soccer Match at Dick Dlesk Stadium!
    7:00 PM vs. Wright State

 - ELIMINATION DINNER!
Win Prizes! Eat Great Food! Bid on some great sports memorabilia - including Nick Saban autographed items! Watch some football Games! 
 
Our U11 Girls are holding an elimination dinner in Fairmont this weekend! This is a wonderful opportunity to support this group, and we are looking to expand this idea to Morgantown in the future!
 
There are a lot of fantastic prizes and the entire event will be a great time! If you know anyone (friends, family, co-workers) who might also be interested in purchasing tickets, please let Josh Skidmore know!
 
Josh Skidmore - 304-282-1133 


Mountaineer United Soccer Club
info@muscwv.org | http://mountaineerunitedsoccerclub.org/

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