Tryout Information for Fall 2013 U11-U19 teams

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Each year in the Spring, the Club holds tryouts for teams for the U11-U19 teams for the following academic year.  These tryouts are designed to place kids on the most appropriate teams and evaluate teams for placement within the league structure.  The club makes an effort to place everyone who tries out on a team.

Click here to download the tryout form with the full calendar of dates.

Tryout dates are June 3-13 and the costs are $15 before with early registration and $20 for late or same-day registration.  Offers are made in conjunction with league rules on June 17 or 27, depending on the age group.

Players currently in the U9 age group are welcome to try out for U11 teams for the fall (i.e., to "play up" next year), and positions will b offered on a U11 team or players will be counseled to play the ordinary U10 year, as appropriate.

Special note for current U11-U14 players:

Because the current U11-U14 age groups move up more or less en masse, we will not hold formal tryouts that interfere with practice times for our current players for these age groups.  Coaches will use seasonal performance this spring to make any necessary judgments about next year.  Current U11-U13 players should email Gary Eyles (garykix@mchsi.com) by June 1 to express their intention to play next year.

Note for "new" players currently at U11-U14 age group wanting to play U12-U15 in Fall:

Please contact Gary Eyles (preferably by May 28, 2013) and a special tryout will be arranged, generally practicing with the current team.

Annual Corporate Meeting 7:00 pm June 18, Ames City Hall

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The annual meeting of the corporation (this means you!) of the Ames Soccer Club will be at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, June 18, at Ames City Hall room 135.  The main agenda item is to elect a board of directors for the following year.  

If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact Alan Constant at alcon@iastate.edu.

The regular meeting of the board of the ASC will follow immediately after the annual corporate meeting.  As with all board meetings, members are welcome to attend, and a portion of the meeting at the beginning is reserved for members of the club to bring forward issues, proposals, or concerns.

No Games at HYSC May 4 or 5

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Due to the snow, rain, and inability of the fields to recover (drain and dry out) before game time, all games at HYSC are called off for May 4-5.

CISL games (U5-U10 games) will be rescheduled en masse for June 1 for the same time of day and field.  As of this writing, we do not know whether the "away" fields in our league will also be closed and rescheduled for June 1, but we hope to update that information ASAP.

Gary Eyles will communicate with U11-U14 players directly to inform them about their games.

Volunteer to Help Out with Kohl's Cup June 8-9

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The Kohls American Cup is the premier recreational soccer tournament for the Spring season in Iowa, and Ames Soccer Club has had the privilege of hosting it for the last several years.

We need your help to put on this great event that will also be a big fund raiser.

Please click on the link below to take a shift or two doing one of our very easy jobs and be a part of a great weekend of soccer for 1000+ kids and our community.

Skills Videos for U5-U10 Players added to ASC Web Site

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Our program focuses on technical skills so that players become comfortable on the ball, especially in 1 vs. 1 situations (1 attacker vs. 1 defender).  During the practice sessions players work on these skills BUT to become accomplished players they MUST work on these skills outside of regularly scheduled activities. 

In order to facilitate this we have placed some YouTube videos on our club website that give clear pictures and examples of what skills the players are working on.  This way when they come home and confuse you by saying they have been working on the Matthews move you can now go to our website and access the video that shows players performing the specific move.  We are hopeful that parents will then help their children further develop these skills so that their coaches can then encourage them to use them in practice sessions and ultimately in games.

The videos are available from our "Resources for Players and Parents" page, available through the Players menu bar at the top of the page.

We will be adding more content to our club website so that all of our members have a clearer understanding of the skills that we are trying to teach and how they fit into the game.  Often as coaches we have clear pictures of what the game should look like but often that is difficult to communicate if players or parents do not watch the game or did not grow up with the sport of soccer.  My experience is that it is very easy to tell which players spend time with the ball outside of regular activities.  By working together to encourage players to get more touches on the ball we will raise the level of play in ALL of our players.

ASC Coaches Receive Training Certifications

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Four of our club coaches recently attended and passed the USSF E License in Gilbert: Taner Sen (U8), Jacob Beste (Skills Coach), Michael Kreber (Skills Coach), and Alex Osanya (U8).

Damien Corrieri, a member of our professional coaching staff, attended and gained the NSCAA Goalkeeping Level 1 and Level 2 Diplomas in Eden Prairie, MN

Information about the US Soccer Federation's A-E licenses is available here.  The NSCAA Course information is available here.   Ames Soccer Club supports the training and education of our coaches and makes the USSF D and E licenses routinely available to coaches at club expense.

U5-U10 CISL Game schedules are now available

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As many of you know, Ames Soccer Club administers our local U5-U10 league, known as Central Iowa Soccer League (CISL, pronounced "sizzle"). The league has its own web site, where schedules, directions to away fields, league rules, and so on can all be found.

Visit CISL at centraliowasoccer.org.

Two important announcements regarding CISL

  1. Game Schedules are now out.  Visit the CISL web page and click on "Game Schedules" on the menu at the top.
  2. If the weather is dodgy on a day where you have an away game, visit the CISL page to see if the club you are visiting has reported their fields as closed

You can also "Like" Central Iowa Soccer League on Facebook.  (And you should "Like" Ames Soccer Club while you're at it!)

Late spring registration still open in most age groups

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Openings remain in most age groups for Spring leagues.

U11-U14 players should contact Gary Eyles (515-360-5117) direclty

U5-U10 players should check with the relevant registrar to check on space in your age groups.  Teams have already been set and new players will only been accepted until those teams are filled.

Questions about what age group you are in are answered here.

Once you know a spot remains, please visit our Sign Up to Play page or returning vets can go directly to the online sign-up page and register by credit card. Both returning and new players are welcome! 

Brief summaries of the ASC Soccer program for each age group and the rules of the game that we use for each age are given on our Program Descriptions page.

Ames Soccer Club has a Twitter Account: @amessoccer

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Ames Soccer Club is going mobile!

We have set up a Twitter account, which we will use primarily for weather related announcements, like practice cancellations or field closures.  The account is set up to send messages to our Facebook Page and to the widget on the front of our web page.  Thus, by us sending the note to Twitter, you'll still be able to see it in all the "old" ways, but you can additionally see the message via Twitter.  We know that it is always the case that some people do not receive our text message notifications, so the Twitter message is another alternative way for you to find out.

If you are a new user of Twitter or have not signed up for a Twitter account, you may not know that Twitter can be configured to send you push notifications to your smart phone or texts  any time particular accounts send out a message.  There are many different Twitter clients out there, so an exhaustive set of instructions is impossible.  However, here are two straightforward ways to set this up so you get @amessoccer tweets automatically without having to log into your Twitter app:

Field Working Equipment Needed

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Ames Soccer Club plans to develop new fields in the area between the current fields and the river that runs to the east of the complex.  This area is about 15 acres and will provide training fields that will - in turn - allow us to maintain the current fields for game use only.  Having game-only fields will increase our ability to keep these fields in optimum condition by reducing the wear and tear.

We do need some assistance from our club members to develop these fields.

We are looking for equipment to clear small trees and grade the area: back hoes, dozers, and/or excavators.  If you have or have access to such equipment or even know how we could get access to these resources in other ways, please contact Rick Beste at thebeste@msn.com

Central Iowa Soccer League Web Site

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The Central Iowa Soccer League (CISL) web site has moved.  The new URL is centraliowasoccer.org.

Both the CISL and new ASC sites are built to work much better with your cell phone browser.  You'll now be able to get all the resources available there (directions to fields, contact information, schedules, etc.) in an easier to read format.

Any suggestions about the new CISL web site can be directed to William Jenks.

New Ames Soccer Club Web Site

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If you're here, you're seeing it!

We have moved our web site to a new platform that will give us flexibility to do some more "modern" things with our page.  A great example of this is that our page now reformats for readability with your mobile phone or tablet.  We hope you like the change.

Organization and content are still very flexible.  If you have suggestions, please contact us!

Ralph Ackerman 2012 "Joe Merchant Volunteer of the Year"

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Ames Soccer Club is proud to name Ralph Ackerman as the Joe Merchant Volunteer of the Year. Ralph has served as a parent coach for approximately 357 seasons and has served as our registrar for about the last 8 years. Ralph has served as the coach of a U8 team for the last two years without having a child in that age group. The club and the parents of that team are grateful. He has been president, vice president, and director of coaching. 

Ames Soccer Club's Volunteer of the Year Award was named to honor Joe Merchant for his exemplary volunteerism with the club over many years including a term as its president.

Amazon Affiliate Program - 2012 results

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Ames Soccer Club is an Amazon Affiliate.  If you make purchases at Amazon.com, having clicked onto their site using our link (or you can bookmark the URL yourself!), the club gets 4-10% of your purchase price, without affecting the cost to you.

In 2012, over $2000 came to the club as a result of this program.

Click here to shop at Amazon through our link.