Please Support the New Welland Sports Complex

On Tuesday March 1st (7pm) at City Hall, Welland, councillor Dan Fortier will be presenting a motion to Welland City Council to stall the development of the new Welland Sports Complex on River Rd / Woodlawn Rd. IMO, this would be a travesty, but typical for Welland Politics... the previous council approved this project, a few councillors on the new council want to bring it down.

IMO Welland has slipped backwards for years because of short-sighted Political Games... IMO this proposed sports complex is an investment in the future of our city, and most importantly, an investment in our youth...

The obvious financial benefits for our City would be huge... just think of the hundreds of families coming from out-of-town for tournaments and spending their money at the Woodlawn Canadian Tire and Walmart, or the Seaway Mall, Zehrs, at our local restaurants and hotels, at our family-owned variety stores, corner stores and shops, etc etc, etc... Some members of our City Council are blind to this and would prefer to debate this project for another 4-6 years as opposed to honouring what the previous council approved - such a shame!

Please take a few minutes to send an email to Welland City Council "council@welland.ca" (every council member will receive your email), simply saying: "I am in favour of the new Sports Complex being planned for the site at River Road and Woodlawn Road".  Additional comments may be made, but the first statement is the most important.

I don't normally send out messages pushing for one cause or another, but this one is near and dear to my heart...Thank you in advance for taking a few minutes to send an email to tell Welland City Council that you support this project...

As for the City Council meeting on March 1 (7pm) at City Hall, a show of support by all Welland Soccer Club coaches, players, parents and interested citizens would be a positive display in showing our support for this project.  Hope to see you there!

Thanks
Coach Jim

Team Plans - Coaches Thoughts

Hi Players and Parents, I wanted to take a few minutes to give you an update on my ideas and plans for the team...

First, let me say thanks for all your hard work and support. We are roughly half way through our team try-outs and development... many of the boys have stepped up in a big way... Coach Marty and I are very pleased... as I have said before, keep working hard and make sure Coach Marty and I have no easy decisions! It has been great!   ...and a special thanks to Coach Marty - he has been invaluable!

We will continue with Wednesdays at Glendale School (Feb 23, March, 2, 9, 23 and 30 - March Break Wednesday the 16th OFF). On Tuesday, March 29 we will have the dome to ourselves from 6:00-7:00pm for a game where we will divide the players into two teams and have a final try-out evaluation game - Team Marty vs. Team Jim! ...

UPDATE March 1:  We will be making the final decisions on the team roster and informing players and parents at the WSC on Tuesday, March 29, after the evaluation game.

Once the team is set I will formalize the Coaching Staff and Team Manager role... We will focus on team building activities. I want to organize activities such as a Team Weekend Retreat at Sherkston, Movie Nights, Swimming & Pizza Parties, and attending CSL games as a Team... We will have special guest coaches at practice from time-to-time... I am looking at a minimum three to four tournaments, one of which will be out-of-town...  To accomplish these things we will need to do fundraising (such as an M&M Barbeque) and I will look to parents to volunteer and organize fundraising... We welcome any and all ideas...

I’m sharing this information with you now so that all potential players and their parents will know what to expect of our coming season together. As well, to let you know that I am 100% committed to create a very strong team dynamic and that parents and players will be expected to support and elevate that spirit.

My hope is that we have a very fun and social summer getting to know each other while supporting each other throughout the soccer season. The collective team spirit and support within our U11 Welland Wizards is what will make our boys soccer experience memorable for years to come!  I hope to be coach of this group for a long time.

As always, please contact me if you have any questions... See you Wednesday night at Glendale!

Thanks,
Coach Jim

REMINDER - Family Day Try-out at WSC 6:00 - 7:30pm

See you tonight at the Club 6:00 - 7:30pm.  This is the last of the three Monday nights at the club with Coach Rob joining us. We will then continue Wednesday nights at Glendale School

Thanks
Coach Jim

A few videos for you... we will work on kicking and shooting
Lionel Messi Top 10 Goals
Carlos Tevez Compilation
How to fix your soccer shooting
How to shoot with power

Try-out Reminder - Tonight Glendale 6:00-7:30pm

See you tonight boys...

IMPORTANT NEW TRY-OUT INFO:
Parents and Players, please book Tuesday, March 29th from 6:00 - 7:00 pm, indoor at the Welland Soccer Club... Please arrive by 5:45 pm.  We have the Club to ourselves. Coach Marty and I will divide the players into two teams and we will have a full game-style scrimmage as the last step in the try-outs.  More details to follow....

Thanks
Coach Jim

Great Work Last NIght! C U Next Monday at WSC!

Boys, great work last night... Coach Marty and I are very pleased with the effort!

We now have 22 boys going for 14 or 15 spots - and it's EXCITING... Keep working hard to make sure Coach Marty and I have no easy decisions!

See you next Monday night at the WSC (6:00 - 7:30pm)...

In the meantime, enjoy these videos, Messi Free-Style, Ronaldinho Free-Style and Ronaldinho v Ronaldo... Did you notice in the Ronaldinho Free-Style video that he was playing Futsal?  Come out to Ridley College on Sundays (1:00-2:30 for $5.00!) if you can - it's a BLAST!!!

Thanks
Coach Jim

  The full Try-out Schedule (for Feb/March) is located on the left column of this blog.

Glendale School Wednesday - be there!

Hi players, it was a great try-out session last night at the Club... welcome to the new players that joined us! Coach Marty and I were very pleased with the effort and we hope you had as much fun as we did!

We are back at it tomorrow night 6:00-7:30 pm at Glendale School... as always please arrive early, and make sure you have your own water, and that you wear proper indoor soccer/running shoes, shin pads and WHITE shirts...

See you then!
Coach Jim

Confirming Next Try-out is Monday, Feb 7 at WSC

Hi all, to confirm, the next Try-out is this coming Monday, February 7 between 6:00-7:30 pm, indoor at the WSC. This will be the first of three indoor try-out sessions at the WSC (Feb 7, 14, 21). I am very grateful that Coaches Rob Lalama and Gerry D'Angelo, from the Club's Technical Department will be joining us at the dome.

As always, please ensure players have indoor soccer shoes, shin pads and wear WHITE SHIRTS (no club gear). Cost for dome rental is $5.00 per session, it would be appreciated if you could pay the $15.00 at the first session.

Note: These three sessions at WSC are in addition to our Wednesday Try-outs at Glendale.

SPECIAL REQUEST: Please send me an email to james.tober@ontario.ca , ranking by preference, which positions you would like to play (i.e. Forward, Midfield, Defender, Goal Keeper)... rank all four position groups. All players on this team will be encouraged to play all positions. Specifically for now though, we need to know who would like to play Keeper at some time. This does not mean a player will be "pigeon-holed" or "stuck" playing Keeper..Those interested in playing Keeper will get Keeper-specific traning from Coach Gerry and we will have the services of a Guest Goal Keeping Specialist Coach throughout the year... I need to receive your personal positional rankings no later than this Sunday morning.

Lastly, and NOT related to our team try-outs or the WSC, there is a Futsal pick-up program at Ridley College on Sundays between 1:00-3:00pm. The cost is $5.00 per session. There is no coaching or drills - but there is lots of music! The players that show up are divided into teams and play "to-the-beat" for fun. It's great exercise for the kids. Ronaldino has credited Futsal as a big part of the development of his ball controll skills! For more information call Clayton at 289-214-1414.

Thanks,
Coach Jim

TRY-OUT CANCELLED TONIGHT - WEATHER

Hi All, we must CANCEL TRY-OUTS TONIGHT as the DSBN has closed the schools and we can not get into Glendale.

See you next Monday, February 7 for the first of our three try-out sessions at the WSC.

Thanks
Coach Jim