We start fall season prep with Academy Team Camp the week of July 31st. We start regular fall 2023 season practices the following week on August 7. We end fall season practices the week of November 13.
Fall 2023 Practice Schedule
| Day | Location | Field | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mondays | United Quest Park | UQP field #7 | 5:30 - 6:45 PM |
| Tuesdays | Metro North Park | MNP "Tops" field | 4:45 - 6:00 PM optional goalkeeper training, 6:10 - 6:45 |
| Wednesdays | United Quest Park | UQP field #7 | 5:30 - 6:45 PM optional goalkeeper training, 6:55 - 7:30 |
| Thursdays | Metro North Park | MNP "Tops" field | 4:45 - 6:00 PM optional goalkeeper training, 6:10 - 6:45 |
Before we get started with regular practices, we ask that you please take 5-10 minutes with your daughter to review our practice session guidelines: what to wear (and what not wear, for example, earrings and jewelry), what to bring, and so forth.
Label backpacks, balls, water bottles and warm-ups:
We ask each family to take a few minutes to customize their daughter’s soccer backpack, and label her ball, water bottle, warm-up jacket and pants. This will thwart the plans of the evil lost & found gremlin and minimize lost and found angst!
- Backpacks: Link: customization ideas for backpacks.
- Balls: Use a Sharpie to mark your daughter’s first initial and last name, or initials and uniform number.
- Water bottles: Apply a unique sticker, or write initials and uniform number with a Sharpie.
- Warm-ups: Use a Sharpie to note initials and uniform number on internal tags / labels. Or you can have her initials and uniform number embroidered on the warm-ups.
Which / how many practices to attend?
We ask the girls to attend two sessions each week. For most players, these will be the two sessions at their home park. If a player has a schedule conflict with a session at her home park, or wants to attend an extra practice, she’s welcome to attend a session at the other park, no reservation needed. We’ll make sure she feels welcome!
Early-bird scrimmages:
Coaches try to have the field setup 15 minutes early. If your daughter arrives early and the coaches already have the field setup, we often have an informal early-bird scrimmage or other competition that runs until our official start time.
Bad weather procedures:
Rain itself isn’t a problem, but cold or driving rain, waterlogged fields, thunder or lightning, or unsafe driving conditions due to storms can affect our schedule. We generally practice in cold weather as long as the wind chill doesn’t drop below 20 degrees. (Link: tips on cold weather attire).
For info about how we deal with bad weather, please check our weather link.
United Quest Park practices:
Our usual Quest Park practice field is field 7, which is natural grass. When UQP field 7 is closed (not uncommon during wet weather), we usually try to reserve the “puddle jumper court” instead of canceling. (This is the outdoor rink play area on the left as you drive toward the Quest Park clubhouse.)
The puddle jumper court has an asphalt surface covered by re-purposed artificial turf. Turf shoes are the best footwear for this surface, with sneakers the 2nd choice. Soccer cleats aren’t recommended.
Rainout make-up sessions:
If we have a rain-out, your daughter is welcome (but not required) to attend a practice at the other park as a make-up. If your schedule doesn’t permit, we encourage your daughter to create her own practice by trying some of our “play at home” rainy day activities.
Goalkeeper training:
We offer optional goalkeeper training sessions once a week at each park starting the week of August 14. These are 35 minute sessions after one of our regular Junior Academy training sessions.
Any player who is interested may attend. There’s no cost for these sessions.
Fall 2023 Game Day schedules:
We’ll start weekly regular season game days the weekend after Labor Day. We’ll finish the weekend before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. We normally receive our game day schedules in late August.
Link: Fall 2023 game day schedule (coming August 2023)
Schedule conflicts:
Please let us know as early as possible about any game day schedule conflicts, including conflicts with travel related to school systems’ fall break weeks. (E-mail to Ward is the preferred method.) We can work around most conflicts as long as we know about them by the weekend ahead of the game day.