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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: Policy

Weather Policy

If games are cancelled due to severe or inclement weather, the City will notify Concord. We encourage parents to stay in touch with their child's coach and monitor the Concord Facebook page. The club will then issue an email to all coaches.

If there is no notice on the Club's website or Facebook, coaches and referees must show up to the field. Once at the field, a decision to cancel can be made by the Convenors and/or referees if necessary.

Safety Comes First

Policy On Volunteers with Criminal Records

St. Catharines Concord Soccer Club feels a significant responsibility to our child clients.

We also owe a responsibility to our staff and to the community. Acceptance of this duty will be reflected in all Club programs, services and activities, as well as in our policies and procedures.

St. Catharines Concord Soccer Club recognizes that some of the positions in the Club are of significant trust. People applying for and undertaking positions of trust will be subject to more intense initial and ongoing screening and supervision than individuals in placements which are not positions of trust.

For certain positions in the Club, a Police Vulnerable Sector Check will be required as one element of the screening process.

Police Record Checks submitted to the Club shall be considered valid for a period of four years from the date stated on the original certificate, after which time the applicant shall be required to resubmit a current Police Record Check application.

Individuals who have relevant Criminal Code convictions that were registered within the five year period prior to their date of application or who have relevant outstanding criminal charges will not be accepted for on field positions (coaches, managers, trainers etc.) with vulnerable clients. These offences include, but are not limited to the following:

Five years or more recent

* Outstanding charges or convictions for criminal driving offences, including but not limited to impaired driving.

* Outstanding charges or convictions for drug offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act or its predecessor.

* Outstanding charges or convictions for any violent offence, whether or not it involved weapons.

Individuals with Criminal Code convictions or outstanding charges for the following offences will not be considered for a service position with the Club.

* Any Sexual offence, or any offences relating to child pornography.

Applicants may be rejected as a result of other information gained during the police records check process or through the screening process as a whole, or as a consequence of other factors.

It should be noted that every volunteer once accepted, is obliged to inform the appropriate Club Executive if he or she is charged, tried or convicted of any offence under the Criminal Code or under other provincial or federal statutes, if that offence is relative to a position of trust held by the individual.

TEAM BALANCING
While every effort has been made to put balanced teams
onto the field at the start of season re-balancing may
occur up to 2 games into the season. Players involved in
any re-balancing will be asked to ‘swap’ jerseys.

EQUAL TIME POLICY
All players are entitled to their fair share of playing time.
We have a policy of “equal” time for all, subject to the
practical considerations of the timing of substitution
opportunities, player fitness and other factors. Coaches
are simply not to play or favour some players more than
others nor are they to “stack” their lineup or “shorten their
bench” to gain a competitive advantage over the teams
they are playing. Our program is about participation and
having fun.

REFUNDS
The Concord Soccer Club is a non-profit organization.
The Concord strives to maintain the lowest possible fees
and ensures that our members receive the highest level
of soccer programming possible.
The club incurs an administrative cost for each player
during registration including but not limited to staffing,
credit card and debit fees, and equipment and uniform
expenditures.
It is because of these costs that the Concord Soccer
Club adheres to a strict refund policy.
To receive a refund from the Club, the member/parent
must fill out the refund request form completely.
Please click to access the Refund Request Form
Refunds requested prior to May 15 for the Outdoor
Season and November 10 for the Indoor Season will be
subject to a $20.00 Administration fee.
Refunds requested after the season has commenced,
Will not receive a refund.
Refunds requested after May 15 for the Outdoor Season
or after November 10 for the Indoor season will be
subject to a $20.00 Administration fee, plus a pro-rated
discount based on number of games played by the team,
and will only be considered with a Doctor’s note.*
The refund request form must be completed in full. Any
form after the aforementioned deadlines will not be processed
without a doctor’s note.
Please note that the timeline for receiving refund cheques
will be 4 to 6 weeks from receipt of refund request and
will be mailed to the address provided on the Refund
Request form.

SMOKE-FREE FIELDS
The Region of Niagara recently approved a smoke-free
outdoor spaces by-law. This by-law applies to parks,
playgrounds, sports fields, arenas and splash pads in St.
Catharines, as well as other public recreation properties.
The smoke-free outdoor spaces by-law is enforced by
the Region’s Tobacco Control Officers. For more information
or to report a complaint, contact the Region’s
Tobacco Hotline.

HEALTHY SNACK POLICY
In light of the fact that obesity and nutritional deficiency-
related diseases are on the rise in North America, the
Concord Soccer Club feels that promotion and modeling
of healthy eating habits and balanced lifestyles to
members of our Club can play a crucial part in this issue.
Whether as Players, Team Officials, Match Officials or as
Supporters we all have a part to play. We are committed
to helping improve the well-being of our community and
in doing so have implemented a Healthy Snack Policy.

Children learn about healthy eating at school, but they
need a supportive environment, both at home and in the
community to help put those lessons into action. The
Concord Soccer Club can help make this happen. Community
sports also provides adults with an opportunity to
become role models for healthy eating. Please take the
time to consider appropriate half-time snacks, pre- and
post-game meals as well as treats. A Healthy Snack Policy
empowers participants to nourish their bodies appropriately
and limit ingredients that will impede performance
or wellness.
For further information on providing proper nutrition and
maintaining a balanced lifestyle, please check the links on
our website (and listed below):
• Fuelling Healthy Bodies
• Healthy Snacks for Sports

REGISTRATIONS

There are currently no
events open for registration