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HBC FCNY
DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM
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?? FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ??
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1) What is the HBC FCNY Developmental program?
The HBC FCNY Developmental program is designed specifically to provide U9 (birthdates between 8/1/99 - 7/31/00) players in the HBC soccer program the chance to learn and develop their skills and a love for the game of soccer. We focus on the development of the childrens skills and understanding of the game and follow specific curriculums outlining the skills and understanding the children should have based on their age. The program is committed to providing this opportunity to all of the children of the HBC Soccer community regardless of their level of ability and will accept almost everyone into our program. We recognize that children develop at different rates and can be "shut out" of opportunities if they are slower to develop than others. We also accept children who have never played before and will provide them with the basics necessary to participate and learn.
2) What is "Interleague" and do I have a choice of registering to play "intramurals"?
As the children get older, it is no longer beneficial to divide our players into teams for them to play "in town" in an intramural setting. So, beginning at the U9 age group, we play teams from other towns as a part of either the Suffolk County Interleague of Just Say Soccer Programs. This affords our children the opportunity to continue to play and exposes the children and the parents to what is involved in playing "travel" soccer which begins at the U10 age group. There is no intramural program for U9 and older players.
3) Why is the HBC Soccer Club supporting this developmental program?
There are many reasons why the HBC Soccer Club supports this program. One is that we recognize as a club that our intramural children are not getting the type of training and opportunity they deserve. If your child got "lucky", you were placed with a coach who knew something about the game and had the ability and time to teach. More often than not, you were placed with a volunteer who did not know the game but simply wanted the children to play. While they "coached" the team, they were not teaching the proper skills or understanding of the game. Even if you did get lucky enough to have a good coach, just as your child started to learn something, the season was over and the develpment stopped. The club recognizes this and wants to provide a consistent training program so the children can properly learn the game.
Additionally, HBC is a soccer club deeply rooted in the history of soccer on Long Island. As one of the oldest and certainly one of the largest clubs, we have had much success over the years winning State and National titles and many of our travel players have gone on to successfully play college ball. With one of the best soccer facilities in the area, we now want to re-focus our efforts to bring this success back to the club with our own, "homegrown" players.
We also recognize that today's children have a tremendous amount of demands on their time. While some of these other activities are beneficial, some are not. Sitting in front of the TV, computer or video screen are not doing anything to help these children with their physical fitness. Playing soccer, with the right leadership, can help our children develop a healthy lifestyle while learning how to work in a group setting and gain confidence in their abilities. It will also help them learn about the successes and failures they will experience in life as they get older.
4) How do I register?
Complete the HBC Inter-league registration application along with the HBC coaches/player/parent standards of conduct form and attach with a check in the amount of $80.00 made payable to the HBC Soccer Club.
The club pays for 2 training sessions per week and also provides coaching for all the interleague games. The only other expense you will incur for the fall season is the purchase of an official HBC Xara uniform from our approved supplier, which all the children must wear per the club.
5) Can I register for the winter season?
There is no other paperwork necessary. Any player who wants to play and train over the winter will be given that opportunity. We will train outdoors on a weekly basis as weather permits and can participate in tournaments or leagues (based on participation). Information regarding fees will be provided to those who are interested in participating. Fees for indoor field rental, leagues and tournaments will be collected and paid for seperately by the participants.
6) How do I register for the spring season?
If you have participated in the fall season, simply complete the HBC Inter-league registration application and attach a check in the amount of $100.00 made payable to the HBC Soccer Club. Unfortunately, the HBC club does not subsidize the training for the spring season so there will be a training fee for those who wish to continue with the program.
7)What comes next?
After the first year of developmental training, the children will be seperated based on their ability and athleticism. Some children may want to continue at a less committed level and remain in the interleague, some may wish to play at the travel level, while others may be identified to participate in the HBC FCNY Academy Program. Since the goal of the club is to be all inclusive, we will try to accomodate all of these situations. FCNY will continue to provide the training and coaching for any team that wishes to play in the HBC Soccer club. The fee structure will be provided to those who are interested in continuing with the program. It is quite possible, based on registrations, for the HBC Soccer club to have an interleague team along with a travel team and an HBC FCNY Academy team.
We currently field the following teams for the Fall 2008 Season:BU9, GU9, BU10 Interleague, GU10 Interleague and GU11 Interleague.
8) What is "travel soccer"?
Travel soccer begins at the U10 age group. The main organization on Long Island is the LI Junior soccer league which registers almost 400 teams from over 100 clubs on Long Island. At this level, children travel to other towns and are placed in divisions based on their level of ability. By the time the teams are U12, most teams are playing at the level they belong.
9) What is the HBC FCNY Academy Program?
The Academy program will be for those players who have been identified by the coaching staff as being capable of playing soccer at a very high level and are who are committed to doing what is necessary to improve. Placement will be based upon criteria such as: technical ability, tactical understanding of the game appropriate to the age level, level of interest shown by the child and their parents and adherence to the standards of conduct. You will not be a part of this program simply because the child or their parent wants join. Our Academy is designed for the top level athlete who wants to play soccer at a high level. Unlike other soccer clubs, we will only have an Academy team if we have the players to do so. We will not start an Academy team unless we feel we can compete against the best teams in our age group. If we do not field an Academy team, but we have players to field as a "travel team" we will do so.
10) What is the HBC Standard of Conduct form?
This form outlines the responsibilities each of the participants (player, parent and coach) have in the success of this program. Unfortunately, our experience has shown us that parents can be a major disruption to both their own child and to the team as a whole. We want to be quite clear that the role of the parent is to be supportive of our efforts. Parents CANNOT coach or give direction to any child during our games. Sit back, enjoy and support what the children are doing.
11) Why can't a parent coach or give direction from the sidelines?
The simple answer to this question is you can, just not in our club! As a parent, you are not involved in the development of the training sessions or the planning of the short and long term goals of our program. You are simply focused on your child...which is great, but you do not understand the dynamics involved with the plan for the entire team. Please do not be so presumptuous as to assume that you see something that the coaching staff does not. Yelling direction from the sideline only serves to confuse, anger and embarass the children. We want you to have a supportive relationship with your child not a confrontational one. Find the things they do successfully and point those out, let the coaches work on the things they need to fix. Try to keep in mind that you don't sit in your child's classroom yelling answers to the teachers questions out from the back of the room and you don't stand at their music or dance lessons and yell what the next step or note should be, so DON'T DO THIS ON THE SOCCER FIELD!!!! Respect the children enough to let them learn, succeed or fail on their own!!!
12) How do I pay for this?
Soccer, like any other youth sports activitity (including dance, travel lacross or travel baseball among others) can be very expensive. Some people are fortunate enough to be able to pay for their child while others will struggle. Our policy has always been that your child will not be denied the opportunity to play because you could not afford to pay for them. To help those who cannot easily afford the cost of participating, FCNY Soccer is a non-for-profit 501c3 organization that has the ability to fund raise. Donations are tax deductible to the donor and 95% of all money's raised will go directly to the team or player who obtains the donation (5% will be kept to pay for accounting fees for filing the corporate tax returns with NY State and the IRS). In addition, some companies (such as Verizon) offer charitable donations to organizations in which their employees children participate and we have the ability to do other fundraisers.
13) My questions haven't been answered?
Call (516 810-8023 cell) or email (fcnysoccer@optonline.net) with any concerns or questions that are not answered above.
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