February 23, 2018
Roma Soccer Club has come to the table and are exploring every possible way to continue soccer on our Berkley fields!
In order to achieve this you need to register your child with the Roma soccer Club asap! They have an online registration form with a notes field where you can indicate 'Concord Kid or Berkley'. This will allow Roma to track the numbers of children per age per division in the hopes of maintaining soccer on the Berkley fields. Roma also has an in person registration this Saturday February 24th from 10-12 at the Roma facility. Again please indicate you are a concord kid wishing to play at Berkley. Here is the Roma Soccer Club link for online registration. romasoccer.powerupsports.com/index.php?page=LOGIN
If Roma does not receive enough registrants to maintain the Berkley site your child will be allocated to play on the Roma fields. Should the location at Roma not be suitable for your family Roma has stated they will provide a complete refund of your child's registration fees.
This is a no risk to you and your family if you desire to continue soccer either hopefully at Berkley or somewhere else. Please consider this incredible opportunity to play on the fields we know and love or to join the premier soccer club in our city!
On Friday March 30th Roma will assess whether the numbers support running soccer on the Berkley fields is viable. Please spread the word and do not delay registering!
February 5, 2018
The Board of Concord Soccer Club is sorry to announce that we are closing down the club, effective immediately and will no longer run soccer programs in St. Catharines. We are currently in discussion with one of the local soccer clubs to continue our house league program to help ensure that every player still has a chance to play this summer and if possible, at Berkley. More details will follow.
We are sorry about the decision because for many of us Concord has been a part of our lives for many years. Most of us have kids who played at Concord, several of us still have kids who played at Concord as recently as last summer.
We value our memories, we value the kids we coached, we value the friends we made when we were parents standing on the sidelines.
However, to everything there is a season. We believe our Concord season is over. Our reasoning is as follows:
Too many Soccer Clubs- Many of us on the Board have felt for years that St. Catharines is over-serviced for soccer clubs. By that I mean that there are too many soccer clubs for our population base. Fewer clubs would benefit from an economy of scale, they would have more players to draw from for the travel program, and there would be less in- fighting and politics.
Over the years we have been involved with Concord we have seen different clubs going their own way, and we don't see the kids benefitting. We believe that kids at the house league and the travel level would benefit from one organization in charge. Four clubs, or five or six as it has been at various times is just too many.
We have tried to talk mergers or associations at various times but we haven't succeeded. Maybe the failure was the result of egos or fear, possibly we presented the idea poorly, or possibly other clubs just thought merger was a bad idea.
Demographics- Western St. Catharines is growing. Northern St. Catharines is aging. The school age number of kids in the North is smaller than it was ten years ago, though the population of St. Catharines is greater.
Soccer clubs have fixed costs that don't change despite a drop in numbers. Whether we have a thousand kids or six hundred there are costs we can't avoid. With six hundred the profit margin becomes perilously small, unless prices are raised-which tends to drive away a part of our population base.
Over the years, especially of late, our costs were increasing and our revenues were decreasing. This is a bad business model-even for a non-profit.
Board Fatigue- Any non-profit Board needs new blood. New Board members bring new ideas and fresh energy. Motivated Board members, with the interest of the kids at heart, are what keeps a soccer club running.
We have Board members like that. I am honoured to have worked with many of the Board members I have served with over the last decade or so. Several are still on the Board. That is part of the problem.
We haven't been able to bring in the new people the club needs. Quite possibly that is our fault. It may also have something to do with a Canadian culture that has seen a drop in volunteerism.
Those of you that have been around the Club for a few years have seen the May-June roaming of Board members round the fields in an attempt to get people to coach. You have seen Board members out coaching one or more teams because we couldn't find coaches. The issue we have with persuading people to coach is nothing compared to the issue we have had getting people to take meaningful positions on the Board.
Whatever the reason, we have a Board that has reached a stage of fatigue.
The last few years have been tumultuous. Several of the fields we used were sold out from under us and we had to scramble to find new fields. We built entire new micros fields and created new intermediate fields, all in the space of a couple of months. There was a lot of labour, a lot of stress, and our costs went up considerably, but we kept going. We invested thousands of dollars in portable nets as the new intermediate fields couldn't accommodate permanent nets. This meant that before every game nets had to be brought to the field and set up, then taken down and brought back after the game was over. The labour was mainly Board members and families.
Each time we moved we did work on the fields, we fixed them up, we repaired and seeded. The labour was again mainly Board members and families.
There was a lot of tension. Some of the judgment calls were difficult. There was a lot of physical labour. All of the fatigue added up.
All these factors worked together in our decision. If we were convinced that keeping Concord running was the best thing for the kids and soccer in general we probably would have kept going. Given that some of us believe that St. Catharines, including our Concord kids, would be better served by fewer clubs in any event-that the demographics of the North end suggest fewer clubs would operate more economically- that the Board is feeling "Board Fatigue"-and that there are other options available for our Concord kids, we feel that shutting Concord down is the best decision for everyone.
Board members with kids who still play will move to one of the other clubs. Those of us without soccer aged kids will miss our nights on the field. Soccer will continue however. Concord will not.
We will keep the Facebook page open for the next few months in case people have questions. We will be happy to give suggestions about other options for playing soccer.
All the best.
John Lefurgey-President, Concord Soccer Club
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The Concord Soccer Club is committed to the training and development of soccer referees by providing an environment that allows them to maximize their potential within the profession. We offer a multi-tiered program focused on the various levels of soccer offered through Concord. These include mini soccer, youth and adult categories. Club programs are focused on the recreational game and the development of fundamental skills for controlling the game.
Career Path
There are two official levels of officiating; the Small Sided Game and the full size 11v11 game. We begin the younger referees in the Small Sided Game category, as it allows them to develop both knowledge of the game and confidence in their abilities.
Referee Education
Entry Level Course
The Entry Level Match Official Clinic is for those who would like to become an accredited match official for 9v9 and 11v11 games and are 14 years of age (by March 31st of the current year) or older. By taking the clinic, the match official is automatically registered for the upcoming season with the OSA and does not have to register again until the following year.
The program covers the FIFA “Laws of the game” and will be reviewing the most recent updates (2017) to the Laws. Attendance at all sessions is mandatory.
Small Sided Game Courses/Game Leader Program
The Small Sided Game Course is for those who would like to become an accredited match official for 7v7 games and are 12 years of age (by March 31st of the current year) or older. By taking the course, the match official is automatically registered for the season with the OSA and does not have to register again until the following year. Course accreditation is valid permanently - no re-accreditation on Small Sided Game (7v7) is required.
Game leaders are used in Concord 's U4, U5, U6, U7 and U8 programs. Using modified rules, the program offers an introduction to officiating for the new Official of any age. The online Game Leader module is an integral part of our Small sided game program.
The Small Sided Course is based on the "Laws of the Small Sided Game - 7v7". The course length is 6 hours in addition to an online “Game Leader” module.
Cost: $75.00
Course Dates: April 28
Course Registration
Registration for courses is done online through the OSA. To register, please visit: www.refcentre.com/ontario
If you any questions regarding the courses available, please contact
Ron Sutherland, Concord Head Ref
ronatsoccer@sympatico.ca
REGISTRATIONS
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