The Spotswood BluePrint
The Spotswood BluePrint
And the survey says…. Good day Parents, First and foremost I wanted to thank you for attending the awards night on 1st June. It was a pleasure to meet you and I very much look forward to becoming more acquainted as time goes by. As you know, during the course of the evening a survey was handed out with the request that you provide an honest assessment of the club and where you think we can look to improve. I am happy to say, we had a decent response, so I wanted to take the opportunity to discuss some of the comments and concerns that were raised. I have broken these down in 3 key areas, General, Website & Communication and I will try to provide clarity on these topics. General: “The Season is too short” – In the case of Recreational Soccer, a program duration is typically between 10-12 weeks. Historically, we have entertained a 10 week cycle but we can certainly consider a 12 week program. However, this will be dependent upon other sport schedules and field availability. “Youth Division Games need to be fair” – At the outset of the season, we designate children into teams in a draft type scenario and we of course do not know the skill level of each child that registers to play. During the course of a game, if one team has a significant advantage, I would expect that the coach makes certain changes, like limit a player to his half for X duration, so as not to score. However, please understand this cannot be a permanent solution as every child has a right to play, express themselves and enjoy. “Coaching Licenses should be considered” – This is definitely something we should look into. I am amazed at the generosity of parents giving up their time to teach children the basic building blocks of soccer, but as a club we should be in a position to assist the coaches to develop further which in turns helps the children. “Fields are poor” – Some of the fields, Inland in particular, are not always in pristine condition. However, please be aware that this is a private field owned by International Paper and they allow us to use it. We are hoping to make some potential changes in the future, but we are reliant on approval from International Paper. The high school fields are generally a much better quality, but once again, the fields are “loaned” to us for the soccer program, so we are limited to what we can do. “Offer Summer Clinics” – This topic is a difficult one. Personally I would like to entertain the possibility of a Summer clinic, but realistically Summer is a time for vacations and family time. We shall continue to evaluate the possibility and if sufficient interest is attained, we will look to develop a program.
The Spotswood BluePrint
General continued: “Offer Rain dates” – Unfortunately, no one can predict the weather in advance of the soccer program, so we do need to set expectations that maybe 1 week will be cancelled due to climate conditions. If we were to experience subsequent cancellations, we would look, where possible, to arrange a makeup game. “We need more kids” – ABSOLUTELY. 100% agree, but we need help here. Unless we have a population boom in Spotswood we will always be somewhat limited. The long term plan is to develop the structure of the club and have other towns stand up and take notice of Spotswood. Too many Spotswood children end up moving to different towns to play soccer. We need to attract out of town residents and to do this we have started to utilize Social Media and make changes to how we communicate, but you are the best resource we have. Promote Spotswood Soccer Club to whoever you encounter and help us better serve you. Website: We had multiple requests for this section, so I will provide an update based upon Recreational and Travel. Recreational: We can certainly look to add the game schedule and more importantly, the snack schedule on the website. Additionally, Team information and Coach Information is something that should be available as well. However, results and statistics will not be included. At this stage of their development, this is just not important to have on the website. Travel: Practice and Games schedules should be available online as well as statistical information as the season progresses. Team and Coach Information should also be available. Another request that was mentioned was the ability to complete paperwork and forms online. We will certainly look to see if this function is something we can explore for the future. Communication: “Advanced Communication needed for scheduling purposes” – I do believe that this is an area we can look to improve upon. If we can provide a minimum of 30 day’s notice for upcoming events, I believe this will aid parents for scheduling purposes. “Organization of events needs improving” – Our aim is always to provide the best that we can with the limited resources we have at our disposal. We would love to have you join us as a volunteer to work the event, to ensure things run smoothly. “SMS Text Service for Game Cancellations” – This is a good idea, but there will most certainly be a cost associated with this. However, it is certainly something we can explore if financially viable. Please note that we now/will provide updates via an Email, Spotswood Soccer Website, Facebook & Twitter.
The Spotswood BluePrint
There were many great questions raised and I do hope that I have provided you with the answers that you were looking for. This is a community club and we will strive to achieve great things, but we do need you to support us. If you can have time to volunteer your services, we would love to hear from you. If you have additional questions or concerns, I would welcome you to send me an email so I can address them. There are exciting times ahead and it is a great time to get involved.
Thanks again
Dan Baker President Spotswood Soccer Club [email protected]
Club – (Like)
SpotswoodSoccerClub (Follow)
@Spotswood_SC (Follow)
And the survey says…. Good day Parents, First and foremost I wanted to thank you for attending the awards night on 1st June. It was a pleasure to meet you and I very much look forward to becoming more acquainted as time goes by. As you know, during the course of the evening a survey was handed out with the request that you provide an honest assessment of the club and where you think we can look to improve. I am happy to say, we had a decent response, so I wanted to take the opportunity to discuss some of the comments and concerns that were raised. I have broken these down in 3 key areas, General, Website & Communication and I will try to provide clarity on these topics. General: “The Season is too short” – In the case of Recreational Soccer, a program duration is typically between 10-12 weeks. Historically, we have entertained a 10 week cycle but we can certainly consider a 12 week program. However, this will be dependent upon other sport schedules and field availability. “Youth Division Games need to be fair” – At the outset of the season, we designate children into teams in a draft type scenario and we of course do not know the skill level of each child that registers to play. During the course of a game, if one team has a significant advantage, I would expect that the coach makes certain changes, like limit a player to his half for X duration, so as not to score. However, please understand this cannot be a permanent solution as every child has a right to play, express themselves and enjoy. “Coaching Licenses should be considered” – This is definitely something we should look into. I am amazed at the generosity of parents giving up their time to teach children the basic building blocks of soccer, but as a club we should be in a position to assist the coaches to develop further which in turns helps the children. “Fields are poor” – Some of the fields, Inland in particular, are not always in pristine condition. However, please be aware that this is a private field owned by International Paper and they allow us to use it. We are hoping to make some potential changes in the future, but we are reliant on approval from International Paper. The high school fields are generally a much better quality, but once again, the fields are “loaned” to us for the soccer program, so we are limited to what we can do. “Offer Summer Clinics” – This topic is a difficult one. Personally I would like to entertain the possibility of a Summer clinic, but realistically Summer is a time for vacations and family time. We shall continue to evaluate the possibility and if sufficient interest is attained, we will look to develop a program.
The Spotswood BluePrint
General continued: “Offer Rain dates” – Unfortunately, no one can predict the weather in advance of the soccer program, so we do need to set expectations that maybe 1 week will be cancelled due to climate conditions. If we were to experience subsequent cancellations, we would look, where possible, to arrange a makeup game. “We need more kids” – ABSOLUTELY. 100% agree, but we need help here. Unless we have a population boom in Spotswood we will always be somewhat limited. The long term plan is to develop the structure of the club and have other towns stand up and take notice of Spotswood. Too many Spotswood children end up moving to different towns to play soccer. We need to attract out of town residents and to do this we have started to utilize Social Media and make changes to how we communicate, but you are the best resource we have. Promote Spotswood Soccer Club to whoever you encounter and help us better serve you. Website: We had multiple requests for this section, so I will provide an update based upon Recreational and Travel. Recreational: We can certainly look to add the game schedule and more importantly, the snack schedule on the website. Additionally, Team information and Coach Information is something that should be available as well. However, results and statistics will not be included. At this stage of their development, this is just not important to have on the website. Travel: Practice and Games schedules should be available online as well as statistical information as the season progresses. Team and Coach Information should also be available. Another request that was mentioned was the ability to complete paperwork and forms online. We will certainly look to see if this function is something we can explore for the future. Communication: “Advanced Communication needed for scheduling purposes” – I do believe that this is an area we can look to improve upon. If we can provide a minimum of 30 day’s notice for upcoming events, I believe this will aid parents for scheduling purposes. “Organization of events needs improving” – Our aim is always to provide the best that we can with the limited resources we have at our disposal. We would love to have you join us as a volunteer to work the event, to ensure things run smoothly. “SMS Text Service for Game Cancellations” – This is a good idea, but there will most certainly be a cost associated with this. However, it is certainly something we can explore if financially viable. Please note that we now/will provide updates via an Email, Spotswood Soccer Website, Facebook & Twitter.
The Spotswood BluePrint
There were many great questions raised and I do hope that I have provided you with the answers that you were looking for. This is a community club and we will strive to achieve great things, but we do need you to support us. If you can have time to volunteer your services, we would love to hear from you. If you have additional questions or concerns, I would welcome you to send me an email so I can address them. There are exciting times ahead and it is a great time to get involved.
Thanks again
Dan Baker President Spotswood Soccer Club [email protected]
Club – (Like)
SpotswoodSoccerClub (Follow)
@Spotswood_SC (Follow)
