We thank all of the girls who attended our recent NASA Tophat (NTH) Junior Academy Girls soccer program tryout sessions.

The girls showed a lot of effort and enthusiasm over the course of a hot week. Great job girls! We also thank the parents for their time and positive support. Link:  photos and videos

Invitations

We’ve identified 24 girls who we think are a good fit for the NTH Junior Academy Girls groups at Metro North Park and United Quest Park.

Players who are invited to join for the 2016-2017 soccer year:

• tryout numbers:  1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31
• tryout letters:  A
• spring tryouts:  KR

We’ll follow-up with an e-mail to confirm the invitation. If your daughter’s tryout number is listed here, jump to the “What happens next? section below for further information.

If you have not yet heard from a coach about your daughter’s result, please e-mail ward.swain(at)nasa-ga(dot)org to follow-up.

Missed tryouts?

If you missed our tryout sessions due to vacation or another schedule conflict, but are interested in the NTH Junior Academy Girls program, please e-mail coach Ward to arrange an informal tryout.

Not invited?

If your daughter isn’t invited, we strongly encourage her to continue playing! The NTH recreational program has leagues for players age 4-19, and participation doesn’t require a tryout.

Your daughter should set a goal of becoming a player who wants to have the ball at her feet (has the confidence to dribble and looks to score goals), stays alert when teammates have the ball, and works hard on defense to regain possession when the other team has the ball. If your daughter wants ideas for improving her skills, please check our play at home activities.

If your daughter loves the game and sticks with it, she’ll always have a chance to achieve her goals. Players develop at different rates, and a player who isn’t selected this time around could blossom by this time next year.

We’ve had many cases where players tried out one year and weren’t selected, but kept playing and made it into the Academy program the next time around. These players showed that determination and effort (and sometimes an extra year of maturity) can help you reach your goals.

What happens next?

1. Make an informed decision:  We want everyone to be fully informed about our program. Please review the information and links below for general information about the NTH Junior Academy Girls, along with details about fees, our schedule, and player / parent guidelines. If you have questions, please contact coach Ward.
   1. Junior Academy overview and goals
   2. Frequently asked questions
   3. Junior Academy fees
   4. Schedule:
      1. Summer 2016:  We’ll have parent orientation meetings in June, dates TBD. The girls are off until Academy Team Camp in July. We may have an occasional informal kick-around, but we won’t have any regularly scheduled training. (NTH offers summer camps for players who are interested in scheduled training. If the girls want to practice skills on their own, here’s a list of play at home activities.)
      2. Fall 2016:  We’ll start regular practices in August, exact date to be determined pending field maintenance schedules. Girls in the United Quest Park group typically practice Monday and Wednesday. Girls in the Metro North Park group typically practice Tuesday and Thursday. (Girls are welcome to attend practices at the other park if they want additional training opportunities.) We’ll start our regular season the weekend after Labor Day. We’ll finish the weekend before or weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
      3. Winter 2016-17:  We’re off December and January. We may have an occasional informal kick-around, but we won’t have any regularly scheduled training. We fully support girls playing basketball or participating in other activities during the break. NTH offers summer camps for players who are interested in scheduled training.
      4. Spring 2017:  We’ll start regular practices in February, exact date to be determined. We’ll play an intra-Academy festival in February, then start weekly Junior Academy play in late February or early March. We’ll finish the season by playing in the NTH Friendship Cup tournament in mid May.
      5. Summer 2017:  Players will go though tryout sessions for the 2017-2018 soccer year. (Current invitations to the NTH Junior Academy are in effect for the 2016-2017 soccer year.) Some of our current girls will tryout for an older Academy group, while our younger girls will tryout for Junior Academy again. Tryouts typically start the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
   5. Player and parent guidelines:
      1. training sessions
      2. game days
2. Notify the coach:  Please respond via e-mail to coach Ward by Friday, June 10th to let him know if you accept the invitation. (There is no obligation to join. If the level of commitment isn’t right for your daughter or family, the NTH recreational program is still available as an option.) Please include the following info in your message:
   1. Your daughter’s name and date of birth
   2. Her preferred park (Metro North or United Quest)
   3. Her uniform number preferences (link:  uniform number selection)
   4. Parent names
   5. Phone number(s)
   6. E-mail address(es)
3. Orientation meeting:  We’ll have parent orientation meetings at each park in mid June. Check the orientation meeting link for schedules and an agenda.
4. Registration:  Registration opens Thursday, June 9th. NASA Registrar Jane Jarrett will e-mail all new and returning players that day with registration details. This is mostly an on-line process. If you registered on-line for tryouts, skip down to the registration paperwork section.
   1. Pre-requisite – register for tryouts:  You won’t be able to register your daughter for the Junior Academy program unless you have already registered her on-line for tryouts. This is independent of the actual on-field tryout process. In other words, if you didn’t register for tryouts, and your daughter checked in at the tryout table, the check-in didn’t automatically enter her into the NTH registration system.
      1. Returning NASA players (Academy or recreational) can register on-line using their existing NTH account. Players who are new to NTH will need to create a website account. Link:  home screen for login or to create a new account
      2. Once you’re logged in, select My Account, and then select available programs. Scroll down the list of available programs, select 2016/2017 Under 8 Junior Academy Tryouts and follow the prompts.
   2. Registration paperwork:  The on-line registration system handles initial fees and the majority of player / family information.  There are only two items you’ll need to submit by hand. We’ll collect these items at the orientation meetings. (These papers go to the team coach or manager, not to the NTH office.)
      1. A notarized medical consent form (all players)
      2. A copy of the player’s birth certificate (new Junior Academy players only)
5. Uniforms:  We start a new uniform cycle for the fall 2016 season. All players will need to order the uniform package. We’ll review the ordering process during our orientation meetings in June. Please submit uniform number requests by Monday, June 13th. Link:  uniforms