Hi all,

👀 Saturday's games recap

Way to go Madison teams on opening weekend!

• 🪙 Silver: We had a great first game. Encouraging to see the effort and improvement as the game went on, and to end the game with a point!
• 🟨 Gold: Got a forfeit win against STEM Owls, since they didn't have Gx players available. Points were had on both sides, and again, we saw great effort and engagement.
• 🟦 Blue: Also had a great first game as well. Really strong sideline engagement and we got a lot of the team involved.

We certainly want to be competitive, but we prioritize the spirit of the game and improving as a team. All teams make it to the playoffs, and our goal is to be at our peak in November.

🎽 Jerseys and sweatshirts

Thank you to all the parents who helped pass things out on Friday. We know it was a bit chaotic. We think we have a handle on what was distributed, but if your player didn't get their gear, please email us so we can make sure they get it to you this week.

Reminder: every player is given a program-provided jersey if they didn't purchase a family-owned one. Program-owned jerseys need to be returned at the end of the season.

For players with family-owned jerseys or sweatshirts, please label them, either sharpie on the tag or a washable clothing label. This really helps with getting gear back to the right family.

If your player received more merch than you purchased (e.g., some players were given both their own jersey and a program-provided one), please send the extra back with them to practice this week. It’s less to keep track of at the end of the season.

🆕 Change: how Silver playing time will work this season

We're going to make a change for Silver. Rather than a separate "practice squad," we’ll have a larger Silver team. Each week we'll activate a subset of players to play that Saturday, based on modeling our team values, and practice attendance/engagement. This lets more players earn game opportunities over the season and rewards positive behavior.

• Please enter your player's availability for every game in the player portal regardless of activation status, as it helps us plan and know who to call on if we need extra numbers.
• The player portal will list if your player is active for a given Saturday. We’ll get this entered by the end of day Wednesday for each week.
• Players who aren't activated for a given Saturday are still welcome (but not expected) to come to the game, join warmups, and cheer from the sideline.
• Note: Blue and Gold players aren't affected by this and always activated.

Full details are in More Season Info.

📅 Please mark your availability in the player portal

We really need families to enter player availability for practices and especially games in the player portal. It helps us know who to expect and how to plan

The players below haven't entered availability yet for at least one of our next two games (10/3 or 10/10):

• 🟦 Blue: Caleb, Daphne, Isaac, Megan, Rosemary, Tate, Vina
• 🟨 Gold: Arlen A., Arlen R., Ayla, Bonnie, Emmy, Flip, Liam, Maxen, Oni, Sophie
• 🪙 Silver: Amelia, Avery, Collin, Emma, Eyoel, Gianna, Jackson, Jonah, Kavani, Kyiara, Levi, Mana, Mateo, Mathew, Naomi, Neil, Rye, Viviana, Weyland, Zoë

🎒 Lost and found

We picked up a few water bottles from the field on Saturday and will bring those to Tuesday's practice. As a reminder, coaches generally eschew becoming a full lost-and-found to keep logistics manageable, so if you're missing something, your best bet is checking with the field or with other families directly on WhatsApp.

If you picked up extra stuff from last Friday's almost-rainy practice, please bring it to Tuesday's practice. A lot of kids used the garbage-bag trick (great!), but it looks like some things got mixed up between bags. For example, the Scheer family is missing some black pants and Columbia pants.

Also, a reminder that the parent meeting recording from last week is still available if you missed it, reach out with any questions.

Thanks,
Madison Coaches