The WSA is 1300 players strong with as many as 1000 participants in the Recreation Program. Starting with the Pre-K group (4 and 5 year olds) playing small sided games with the emphasis on fun, through U14 select travel soccer playing against the best teams from northern Ohio, the WSA is committed to teaching soccer to kids.

The Recreation Program gives kids from every skill level a chance to play soccer and develop the skill to be the best player they can. The WSA has many programs to foster a life long love for the game. Through the guidance of the Recreation Director of Coaching we offer foot skills programs, coaching clinics and play nights.

For second graders we offer the U8 Development program. The U8 development program is an intro to the Travel Program and a great learning experience. For 3rd grade and up we have Rec Plus teams available. Rec Plus is for those players interested in more development but do not whish to commit to the travel level. Rec plus offers additional training and tournament opportunities. The board of the WSA appreciates you being a part of our association and looks forward to seeing you at the fields.

Over the years the Rec program has evolved. Some of the changes that have been made to better teach soccer and operate the program. Some changes have come with little notice or resistance, others have taken time to gain acceptance.

 

All players will play in their appropriate grade level. This is a recreational league based on having fun.  Due to liability cocerns, players may not play in other grade levels.  Players are placed on teams at random, with grouping by school affiliation as much as possible.  Due to size of our league, request for specific placement on teams can't be honored.

 

 

The Small Sided Game: The WSA along with all the major governing bodies have implemented a teaching philosophy of playing small numbers for the younger ages, 12 and under. The deployment of the "small sided" game is a direct result of years of evaluation into why American youth soccer is behind many less developed nations. The one point that stands out is the over structured youth sports environment. Kids rarely play pick up style soccer in the back yard. Under developed countries do not have structured soccer for developing soccer skill, it is learned on the sand lot. One way to help de-construct youth soccer is the use of the small sided games, 3v3, 4v4 5v5 6v6 and 8v8. Low number of players on the field leads to more touches on the ball. Small sided games are the key to getting kids to handle the ball and learn soccer skills. Little to no tactical teaching is required in this format, the players on the field will figure out the game by playing. As the player develops good sound technical skill they then can be taught the tactical side of the game when their intellect is suited to do so, for this reason the larger 11 v 11 game is not introduced until the player matures physically and mentally.

Reversible Uniforms for Pre-k through 3/4: The idea of reversible uniforms came from the desire to eliminate the need to hand out uniforms every new season. logistically it is a snap. The real value in the uniform is that they are re-usable. As we discussed this change many people voiced their concern that team identity are lost and the children enjoy playing for their team. Not originally a benefit we were looking for but one we have seen is the kids love playing in their home town colors.  The community aspect of what we do is great, you can't help but notice how many of these uniforms you see around town, it makes the kids part of a much bigger team. One down fall is it is hard to find your team at the field. This is overcome by good communication. Have a team meeting spot for game days and practices. In most instances the games fields have a small break between games and it should be easy to find your team. I think the concept works and is a vital part of the success of the WSA.

 

Rec 5/8 League Uniforms:  At this level, we bring in the soccer style uniforms with various colors.  We still encourage sharing players when needed and ask that each coach bring an extra team color t-shirt to each game if sharing is needed.  We hope the added style of these jerseys will encourage continued play throughout the middle school grades. 

 

All uniforms are sold by the WSA during registration or pre-determined dates before and immediately after the start of the season at prices to be determined.  Pick-up dates are posted on the News & Updates tab.

Director of Coaching: At this time we are without a director of coaching. The position has been handled by two wonderful coaches for the past 4 years and they have moved on to other areas. The director of coaching is the key to raising the level of skill for all the players. The WSA has coaching clinics to help teach new coaching techniques, a coaching guide to give coaches a helpful place to find new ideas and practice plans on the web. I look forward to getting this position filled in the near future with an energetic person to continue the great success this position has had on developing coaches for the WSA.

The 2nd grade Development Program : 2nd grade is a really great year, the players are starting to rely get it. They are begging to know what it takes to play the game and their able to do it. We have established a great program to help instill in the players a real love of the game. The 2nd grade development program is an introduction to what players will be exposed to in the Travel Program. At this time the boys and girls programs differ a bit but in the future we will stream line what we do in this program for consistency. The main concept for this age group is developing foot skills. The players are coached by a professional foot skills coach one night a week. In addition to training the players the Pro coach also instructs the coaches. At the end of fall the program moves in doors for those who wish to go on through the winter. Teams are formed to play in a in- door league and then in the spring they continue with the rec program one night a week and Saturday games along with a practice for the developmental team and a league game on Sunday. This is a great year and all players benefit even if they do not wish to play travel.

On line Registration: Death to paper registration could not come soon enough. I know not all families have computers in their home, but public access computers are available. Porter Library and the Rec Center have computers that can be used to register on line. Starting in 2007 we will no longer offer paper registration. Payment for registration will be by credit card on line or mail in a check. A player is not fully registered until payment has been made. There is so much upside to this as far as running the league, this allows the WSA to continue to provide soccer to over 800 players each year.  Help is available on the main WSA home page under the WSA Documents, downloads tab.  Choose WSA Rec registration help for step by step instructions.  Refunds are available for the amount paid less $20 administration fee by sending an email to rec@westlakesoccer.org before the first game of the season.  No refunds after the season starts (1st scheduled game).

Email notification and E- Newsletters: One of the benefits of the on line registration is the accuracy of data entry. We can capture good email account through the registration system which allows us to then communicate effectively by email. Again I do recognize that not all families have email, that being said they should get it as soon as possible, the world is leaving you by the road side. I do believe every family should again be able to establish an email account and have access to a public computer to receive emails. It is a huge time saver for the WSA and all the coaches being able to communicate by email. All members have access to their account information by logging on to the registration web site and entering you login and password. All have access to all your file information, if you change emails or phone number you can update us, what a beautiful thing. Your players roster and schedules are on line and update through your file. At the start of the season the WSA can push out team rosters and schedules to the whole league instead of coaches having to call everybody and printing schedules. The WSA will continue to communicate through the E-Newsletters and posting to the web site.

Free Foot Skills Nights: A few times a year we host foot skills clinics open to the Rec Program. The clinics are allot of fun and help give the players some new tricks and skills. The clinics are taught by professional coaches specializing in player development. Look for information on foot skills clinics in the coming year at the WSA web site.

Summer Skills Camp: The WSA summer skills camps are a time for all age players to have allot of hands on tracing with professional coaches teaching the basic skills that each player needs to master to improve their ability. This past summer we held the first camp and it was very well attended and we look forward to continuing the program in the future. The web site will have details during the season.

The WSA is very committed to making the Rec Program the envy of all other community soccer organizations. We have a great group of volunteers and continue to add to this program. I encourage any interested member to help in anyway possible. I would love to hear any thoughts or ideas you may have to enhance this program. Below are some of the ideas we already have in the works.

Rec Plus Program: This program is just getting started and has great potential to offer the players who are interested in learning more soccer and play some competitive soccer but do not want to commit to the Travel level. Rec plus is for the age groups of 3rd grade and up. Rec players who do not play in any other organized league are invited to play. There are no try outs, this is first come first play. The program will have 12 person rosters who are also members of a Rec Program team. The Rec plus team will meet for additional training by a professional coach and play in a tournament with other Rec Plus teams. Additional scrimmages may be arrange to allow the teams to have other activities as schedules allow. The emphasis in this program is to help those players who whish to further soccer learning have access to more advanced training and additional game opportunities. We are very happy with the initial success of this program and look forward to growing it in the coming season. The success of this program is very dependent on parent involvement, this is a parent driven program. The WSA will help organize and arrange this program but we need parents to run it. At this time we have teams for 3/4 grade boys and 3/4 and 5th grade girls. If you are interested in helping or getting you player involved please send me and email and I will get you to the right person.

Jr. High Program: The 7th and 8th grade group have had a decline in numbers over the years and we struggle to offer them an opportunity to play in an atmosphere were they can develop additional skills and play in an environment that is interesting to them. We need to grow this group so we can offer a league where the players are challenged or come up with a different idea. One potential idea is to incorporating into another communities program to allow for numbers large enough to form teams. We are looking into fixing this age group and appreciate the support form the coaches and parents.

Roving Professional Skills Coach: The WSA is going to start having a roving skills coach who will be assigned a night to conduct practice for an age group. The idea is for the roving coach to conduct practice so the players are exposed to some new ideas and the coaches will see some of the techniques and drills that can improve their players. The idea is a mini version of the 2nd grade development program. We are very excited how this can impact our players.

3 v 3 Rec Tournament: Our 3 v3 tournament is really growing in popularity. We will be hosting our 5th annual  tournament open only to Rec players during the Fall 10 season. The tournament is made up of 4 to 5 player teams playing a small sided game. This is a ton of fun for the kids. Look for more information on the Rec 3v3 tournament coming early in the fall season. The WSA also hold an open 3v3 tournament for players from all over the greater Cleveland area in partnership with 3v3 Live. This years event will be held in August and more information will be posted on our website in the Spring.

Free Play Nights aka Street Soccer:  If you have not heard of street soccer yet you will. This is de-structured soccer at its best. Just like the 3 v 3 tournament it is small sided games with little to no parent involvement. Simply kids of a like age are grouped and then placed on fields for a 6 minute game. After 6 minutes they get a small break and go to the next field. The kids run the game, they make up the rules, they decide what position to play simple put it is their time to play and be in-charge. We would like to have this on Friday nights as a walk up program. You will see more on this soon.