Hi all,

Lots to cover in this one, please read through to the end.

🔀 Team assignments and divisions

We will have three teams this year playing games:

• 🟦 Blue is in the B division
• 🟨 Gold is in C/D (these were combined)
• 🪙 Silver is in 6th grade A

You can read the division definitions here. We also have a practice squad for players who are invited to practice, but not to play at games. (Practice squad players are still more than welcome to come to games and cheer on the team.)

A few notes on how we got here:

• This is a tough process given how many kids we have and how little concentrated time we've had with everyone so far. We're balancing division guidelines, player skill, how players demonstrate our team values, and coach availability. We're doing our best here.
• Regardless of team, we hope every player can focus on doing their best where they're at, growing, and having fun.
• These are our assignments for the first week of games. We may make some adjustments as we get more practice and game evaluation in, but we don't expect much movement.
• Coaches still reserve the right to adjust based on major swings in a player's behavior or performance.

🎯 Game schedule

We know the time and location for our first three games:

• Game times and locations are up to date in both the team calendar and the player portal.
• Players are expected to show up ready for warmups 45 minutes before game time.

⭐ Game help (snacks and stats)

Thank you to everyone who's already offered to help around games.

• We'll get a Sign Up Genius set up this week for game snacks. We’ll share later this week.
• We'd also like a couple of people per team who can keep stats (only one needed per game). We'll get you logged into the stat app we use and trained up. Good candidates are parents or players who can stay dedicated to watching the game, whether that's a player who won't get pulled in by peers or a parent who's fine sitting out from the sideline conversations to focus. We collect stats to inform future practices (e.g. boys rarely passing to girls, a specific player not getting targeted, high collective percentage of drops). Please email back if you're interested.

🖥️ Use the player portal to mark availability

Use the player portal to mark expected practice and game availability. This is really helpful with our planning, even if your player will be at everything. Notes are welcome. Coaches see it, and it's the preferred way to communicate. Save email for morning-of, game-day situations.

🏘️ Optional parent meeting, Wednesday 8-8:45pm

We're trying something new this year: an optional but encouraged virtual parent meeting, Wednesday, 8-8:45pm. It'll be recorded if you'd rather watch it later (2x speed encouraged). This is our first time doing this, but with so many new families and a lot of information to cover, we wanted to give it a shot.

Join https://meet.google.com/hgw-mwrd-rss (or join by phone with +1 231-981-8015 and enter this PIN: 555 441 399#)
(You can grab the invite from our team calendar as well).

🩹 Player injuries

We're not always aware of injuries or a player not feeling well during practice. Our message to players that you can reinforce:

• "Do what feels right to you." We want players in touch with their bodies: if something feels off, they can sit out.
• "The next practice is the most important practice." We don't want players pushing through something that would sideline them longer.
• Concussions have their own protocol and require a doctor's note to return to play. (We’ll discuss with families if that should ever happen)

🎒 Cleats and water, every practice

We're still seeing players show up without cleats or a water bottle. Please help make sure your player is prepared.

🎽 Apparel order update

Thanks to everyone who participated in the apparel order. It was submitted successfully last week and is in progress. We'll share a pickup/handout plan later this week.

👀 Watch West Seattle's high school team

Past Madison players, including some current older siblings, play for West Seattle's high school teams. Anyone's welcome to come watch; it's pretty amazing to see the caliber of play at that level. Boys are in season this fall: JV and Varsity both play at SWAC on Tuesday at 7pm.

As always, reach out to [email protected] with any questions.

Good times!
Madison Coaches