Update

All - just a couple of things. The league schedule isn't up yet, but as far as I know, our first game will be Sunday, September 9. I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything for certain.Only Kurt has registered so far. Please remember to do so by the end of next week.This Monday marks the last Monday kickaround (the following Monday is Labor Day, the next week is in-season). If you can, please try to make it at 6.45/7 (due to earlier darkness) at CD East. Should we try to set something up for next Wednesday at Fiala? We need at least 10 guys to show. Respond if you're up for it (and for Monday as well).The first batch of jerseys arrived this week. The rest are scheduled to arrive Monday, so I will bring them then. Cost is $50, and let me tell you, it's worth it. They're beautiful and I think you'll hang on to them for a long time.Have a good weekend, and I hope to see you Monday and Wednesday.jc

It's a Wash

Well, fellas, the rain seems poised to continue. I say call it a washout this week - even if the rain lets up, the odds of enough people showing are slim. See you Wednesday,

more thanks, this week's practice, registration

All,
Once again, another thank-you is in order. Please express your gratitude to Chris Dawson when you see him as he has secured CD East as our home field for this season. That took a lot of time and effort.
Also, as far as I can tell, we will still have a kickaround tonight (7pm, CD East) barring any heavy rain. What does everyone think about that?
Finally, we can now register for the fall and spring seasons on the league website. Please do so by the end of next week, if possible.
Thanks, see you tonight and Wednesday,
jc

Say Thanks

the next time you see Matthew. He volunteered to go to the meeting tomorrow night and represent us, in the sense of rep-re-sent.
Guess it helped to promise strippers and free beer.

Practice Tonight, Field, Meeting

7pm, CD East. Last week was great. Bring anyone you can.

Right now it looks like CD East is going to be the home field again this season. Let's play on that bottom field as much as we can and see if there is any possible way to get used to it.

No one has said they can make it to the meeting Thursday night. I will see if the league will exempt us from its attendance requirement this time around. I'll let you know...

Practice Monday

Let's do it - Monday, 7pm, CD East. Bring anyone you can. See you then,

jerseys et al

1. Ordered the jerseys last night. They will arrive at roughly the beginning of August. The picture illustrates a suggested uniform. I'll let you know what the cost is once I divide up shipping, customization, etc.

2. Chris D has been searching dilligently for a new field. Right now our only offer is at Gelder Park in Hummelstown. This field, which I know well, is pretty much crap, is unlined, but is huge. I would like a second opinion before turning this down. If we do turn it down, we might very well be 'homeless' this fall. Any problems with that?

3. I guess we should start up the Monday night pickup. Anyone up for starting next week?

pick a jersey

Ok, apparently I have to order these soon so we have them ready for the fall.

Below are some options from soccer.com. To get a ballpark figure for the price, click the "quanity pricing" link. We get the goal club price, which is 10% off. Also remember that adding numbers and a logo adds about $10-15 bucks to the price of the shirt. Since there are no sponsors yet, we will each have to pay for our shirt. I'd say we should get a few extras for future members.

So here we go. Let me know your vote for style and color (and that's a pseudo-democratic vote, by the way). The important thing in my opinion is to get something in a moisture-wicking fabric that will hold up for a couple of years of indoor and outdoor seasons. We don't have to order from here - if Angelos has something, that would be fine, and if anyone knows anywhere else, that would be good. An old team of mine once ordered kits from Ireland - really nice and not expensive, believe it or not.

http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1262&pcount=&Product_Id=217418

http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1262&pcount=&Product_Id=217403

http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1265&pcount=&Product_Id=212897

http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1265&pcount=&Product_Id=217395

http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1265&pcount=&Product_Id=212916

http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1271&pcount=&Product_Id=213054

http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1316&pcount=&Product_Id=252725

was there much of a turnout last night? i caught tied up with my kids & couldn't make it.

i just found out pick-up at in the net won't start until september (the manager will let me know when they start - she's expecting to post it in august & she's considering having pick-up next summer since there have been alot of people calling) / they don't do any men's tournaments - only kids / & the cost to rent their outdoor field is $75/hr in the spring & $100/hr in the fall (so unless everyone wants to chip in towards $750 in field costs in the spring & $1,000 in the fall in the net is not a good option - the indoor field is $360/hr!!!)

i'm going to try & make it to hershey's pick-up tomorrow evening.

End of Season / Summer / Next Season

All,

Thank you all for a fun season. We started well, and although our results fizzled a bit, we certainly played better over the last three games. That's something to build on for the fall.

Summer pickup - I propose starting next Monday, July 9, at 7pm at CD East, then Wednesday, 7pm at Fiala in Camp Hill. The only way these pickup games are going to work is if we have at least 6 guys every time. We need to post here or send out an e-mail each week. I'll copy this post to an e-mail and see what response we get. These are great ways to get touches and keep your fitness up over the next two months. Plus you get to abuse Gary and Nick by slide-tackling them as often as possible. The league also sent out an e-mail reminding us that there are also pickup games Sundays at Linglestown Jr. High between 4 and 6. Those of you who've been there know what that's about, others, well, go and find out for yourself, if you dare. Also, there are still games Wednesdays at 6.30 at the Hershey Med Center.
Let me begin the response by saying that I'm 50/50 for Monday and out most Wednesdays (I'm going to stick with the Hershey game as the numbers are pretty much guaranteed, unlike our 2v2 Wednesdays that happened quite often in the past).

Fall - the season starts Sunday, September 9. We need to accomplish three things: 3 new players, a new home field, and new jerseys (too many guys in t-shirts).
I may have a keeper for us. Nick has at least 2 leads. Anyone else?
Anyone have a suggestion for a home field? Preferably something with grass or field turf that isn't as demoralizing as CD East.
I will order jerseys the beginning of August. This time I'm not going to go bargain basement hunting, so we'll be able to get the sizes we need (you're welcome, Chris Dawson). That said, it will cost a bit more than last time, but hopefully we'll get something that will last for 2 years. If you can't commit for 2 years, no problem - the team will buy the jersey back from you. Do we still want red? We had to use a different color for 40% of our games, so maybe we want something we can wear every time out, like black.

This leads to the next issue - are you in for the fall? Please let me know by the beginning of August. Also let me know your jersey size and the number you want. I will post 'claimed' numbers as I receive the requests. I hope all of you will continue on with us.

Thanks, and have a great summer. See you out there for pickup.

Jeff "big industry" Cothren

Last Game and Last Game

All,

The game on Sunday was our best effort of the year. The result sucked, but such is the game. It's great to see how we've improved over the season and are definitely a better team than we were during the first week.
This Sunday we have one final chance to put it together before the summer break. 3pm, CD East. See you there.

jc

article

it's been a slow day - here's an article about the US soccer teams' "uniform crisis"

http://www.slate.com/id/2168476/fr/rss/

Yesterday's Game, Next Game, Pickup

1. To everyone who played yesterday, great job coming back from 3-0 down. They scored good goals, so we can't take anything away from them. However, we fought hard in that second half. Five more minutes and we would have had them for sure. For those who weren't there, it was a 3-2 loss. I haven't heard from Marat, but he needed at least 10 stitches I would guess (being rather experienced in that field). Again, and this was echoed by EVERYONE, we are unstoppable when we play the short game. We picked those guys apart once we played the easy ball on the ground.
2. Our next game is Sunday, 1pm, against Lower Dauphin: NOTE - FIELD CHANGE: GAME IS AT KELLER FIELD. CHECK WEBSITE FOR DIRECTIONS. This will be a tough game, but a fun one, so let's get our positive energy up and ready for it. Let us know if you will not be there.
3. With only a couple of votes, the trend for summer pickup is to retain our schedule from last year - Mondays at 7 at CD East, Wednesdays at 7 at Fiala in Camp Hill. Any other suggestions?

by the way

Nick's new nickname is "triple espresso."

Rescheduled Game

All,

Just received word that the rained-out game against Lower Dauphin has been rescheduled for July 1 (same time and location). Let me know ASAP if you would be available on this date. I can't make that date, and I'm sure there are at least one or two more. If enough people can't make it, we could possibly reschedule again - Lower Dauphin might have similar issues. Let me know.

Apologies, Next Game, Summer Pickup

I greatly apologize for yesterday's debacle. I'm especially sorry to Gary and Kurt, who showed up for the game, but at different times and different locations. Both of you get a refund for this past week.
Here's what happened: we showed up at Redland High School for our 1:00 game. A youth game was taking place on the only available field. The Redland captain explained that we just got booted because of a scheduling conflict with the kids. The Redland team had no prior knowledge and neither did the refs or the league. So a couple of guys on the Redland team went to the Redland soccer club to see if there was an available field. At around 1:00, they returned, said the field was available, and we headed out in a caravan to the field. I tried calling Gary, but had an old, inactive number. Tim tried Kurt, but had to leave a message at his (Tim's) house for his wife to call Kurt. Tim also volunteered to hang around a bit to see if anyone else showed. No one did, so he came to the Redland complex. Meanwhile, I found out later, Gary had headed to Redland high school, didn't see anybody, so returned to his house to double-check the schedule, then ended up back at Redland high. He called my wife, who only had the info that the game was at the high school. Meanwhile, back at Redland soccer club, we started the game at around 1.40, played 2 30-minute halves, and ended at around 2.45, winning 1-0 thanks to a great goal by James. Again, sorry for not being prepared with current numbers. Sorry to Gary for having to endure that BS.
Our next game is Sunday the 17th at 1:00, at CD East, against Londonderry. Nick and Mike will not be there. Anyone else? Last time we played them, they outhustled us, and that's the only way they beat us. Not this time, right? Let's be ready to play harder, faster and more physically than they do.
Now is the time to start thinking about a day and time for summer pickup. Last summer we played Mondays at CD East and Wednesdays in Camp Hill. Attendance was generally pretty good, and obviously picked up in August. I'd like to propose having one game on either Saturday or Sunday and trying to get everyone out for that. Any votes for a day, time and location?
I've removed all the restrictions, so now you can comment on this post without logging in. Publish the comment anonymously and sign your name in the comment itself.
I'll repeat this message on e-mail.
Later,

next game

good work in the second half on Sunday. how does our game keep turning out so ugly? we need more aggressiveness, more ball winning and quicker passes. believe me, i'm looking in the mirror on this one.
our next game is against Redland, Sunday at 1 at Redland high school. Directions are on the website. Do we wear red or blue against them? I don't remember. Bring both unless someone lets us know.
pickup tonight at Hershey Med, 630.

Next Game

Sunday, June 3, 3pm, CD East against Hellenic. Remember, they gave us trouble even though we ended up winning comfortably.

Let everyone know your status by commenting here or by sending out a blast e-mail.

Reminder that there is pickup tomorrow night at Hershey Med Center.

Anyone want to play over the weekend?

Sunday or Monday? Time and place? Anyone?

Yesterday's Game

Before this day gets any nuttier, I just wanted to let everyone know I thought we did a great job yesterday securing the win. We started very strong in the first half and may have played our best half of the season. What made it work? We played the ball on the ground, we switched the field and used the width, through-balls were on the ground, we won the second ball. In the second half I thought we succumbed to our long ball habit a bit too often, but still had great chances. Our defense did a tremendous job - three at the back is tough, but you guys read the game and our opponents perfectly. Any win when you only have 10 is a good win. Again, great work.
There is pickup this Wednesday, as you all know, at Hershey Med, 615pm or so.
There is no game this upcoming Sunday because of the holiday. Is anyone interested in kicking the ball over the weekend, Sunday or Monday? Please post here or start an e-mail.
Take it easy,
jc