Fall is here, which means cooler weather and shorter days. Followed by the end of Daylight Saving Time on November 5. This results in some schedule changes, and some tips on dealing with cooler weather. First, we end our fall season the weekend before Thanksgiving, and then take a winter break through December and January.
Practice schedule changes:
Metro North Park, 4:30 until 5:45:
Starting the week of November 6, our Metro North practices shift to a 4:30 PM until 5:45 PM time slot. Optional early bird practices start at 4:00. We won’t have goalkeeper training sessions due to lack of daylight. If the 4:30 start is a challenge, just do your best, and ask your daughter to join us with a bounce in her step, not a hang-dog entry.
United Quest Park:
Our Quest Park practice field (field #7) has lights, so our practice schedule stays the same: Monday and Wednesday, 5:30-6:45 PM.
Cool / cold weather alerts:
Label warm-ups:
There will be days when players want to wear warm-up jackets and pants (link: tips on cold weather attire). As a player warms up, she may want to remove a layer, so off comes a jacket or pants. And on comes the evil lost & found gremlin.
Let’s stop that evil gremlin in its tracks! Please take a moment to use a Sharpie to note your daughter’s initials and uniform number on internal tags / labels. (If she has an older item that’s been through several laundry cycles, make sure the ID is still readable.) Or you can have her initials and uniform number embroidered on the warm-ups. This will prevent needless lost and found angst.
Lost and found mystery:
There’s one unsettled mystery where we need some investigation help to locate a missing youth small NTH hoodie. Here’s the story:
- Player A: Her youth small NTH hoodie was misplaced during our October 7 game day. It wasn’t yet labeled.
- Player A ended up with player B’s hoodie.
- Player A returned player B’s hoodie (it was labeled), but player B didn’t have player A’s hoodie.
- This leads us to believe that a player C picked up player A’s hoodie by mistake. If so, one player likely has two hoodies: her own, plus the missing hoodie. Investigation help requested: we ask each family to check their daughter’s equipment backpack to see if she has an extra youth small NTH hoodie. If so, you can contact Ward to arrange the extra’s return.
The Quest weather effect:
This note applies to Quest Park practices. As cooler weather hits during the fall, temperatures at Quest and Noonday tend to feel 5-10 degrees colder than the actual temperature due to the close proximity to Noonday Creek. Whatever the weather is at your house, have your daughter dress for 10 degrees colder and she’ll be prepared. Link: tips on cold weather attire
Cold fingers and untied shoe laces:
Cold weather affects finger dexterity and makes it a tough task to retie loose shoelaces. You can prevent this from being an issue by getting Caterpy laces for your daughters’ soccer shoes. They look bizarre, but they work! You can find them on Amazon or order directly from Caterpy by logging onto Caterpy.us.
our Caterpy Club