NPL kickoff this weekend in Dallas

Here we go!

Most of us are heading to Dallas tomorrow morning (maybe some today) for our games this weekend.

Both games are at Toyota of Lewisville Railroad Park.

Valley Ridge Blvd.
Lewisville, TX 75057

Google maps shows 4 hours and 8 minutes in no traffic from my house (near McGovern).

Saturday we are on field #5 at 2:00 pm against Liverpool FC America. Plan on wearing white.

Sunday we play on field #4 at 9:00 am against Tulsa United Blitz. Let's wear green/navy.

Please bring all of your kit to each game in case of a uniform conflict.

On Saturday, especially if you're driving up that morning, please plan on being there 1 hour before game time. It will take a little longer to get warmed up after the drive. Also, plan your lunch accordingly, eat early enough so that it's not a problem with warmups, and try to avoid greasy fast food if possible.

For those of you staying at the Sheraton Stonebriar, I will be there. There are a couple restaurants next door, so I'll work on getting a dinner reservation. (I'm thinking Cantina Laredo and a margarita or two...)

The Stonebriar is at:
5444 State Highway 121
Frisco, TX 75034

It's a straight shot to/from the fields down 121.

The weather for the Saturday game looks like it will be OK. 66 degrees and only a slight chance of rain. Sunday is another story. The forecast now says it will be 35 and windy, with a chance of sleet or freezing rain later. So come prepared for all sorts of weather. Girls will probably want gloves and something for their heads/ears. The one thing we know about weather forecasts is that they are certainly wrong. It could be cold and miserable on Saturday too. Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.

Also, Mark will not be in Dallas. As you may know, Express is hosting a tournament here for younger teams, and he will be tied up with that. Gui Gui will be in Dallas for us instead.

Some NPL information:
The NPL is asking teams to make a FIFA field entrance with handshakes prior to each game kick off. It would be great if someone got some pictures.

There are some slightly different NPL Rules that you and the girls should be aware of:

3.10 Substitutions. Once a SCPL Registered Player is substituted in one half of any SCPL Competition, such SCPL Registered Player may not re-enter the game for the duration of the half. Once a SCPL Registered Player is substituted in one period of overtime of any SCPL Competition, such SCPL Registered Player may not re-enter the game for the duration of such overtime period. There shall be a maximum of seven (7) substitutions in any half or in any overtime period of any SCPL Competition.
 3.12 Yellow and Red Cards (Players). Any SCPL Registered Player receiving a red card in a SCPL Competition will be suspended for the remainder of that SCPL Competition and also for the next SCPL Competition played by the SCPL Club at all age groups. For purposes of clarification, if a SCPL Registered Player receives a red card in a SCPL Competition, the SCPL Registered Player will not be eligible to participate in the next SCPL Competition for any team within the SCPL Registered Player’s SCPL Club.

And finally...check our our NPL schedule, we've added some games.

This week...

Slight change of plans.

Tomorrow, we are going to have a training session, instead of evaluations. So, please come McGovern from 6:30 until 8:00. We will do the same on Thursday.

If you've checked the NPL schedule, you may have noticed they cleaned up the errors, and everything looks accurate now. We have games in Dallas 2/1 and 2/2. The Saturday game is at 2:00 pm, so driving up the day of is certainly an option.

I know I promised hotel information, and I'm still working on that. I should post something here tomorrow morning about that. The good news, is that we're not locked into any one hotel or booking through the tournament. So, you're free to stay wherever you like.

We'd like to schedule some friendly games for the weekend of 1/25 and 1/26. I know some of the girls have high school entrance exams. So, I'm working on a 3:00 pm time on Saturday and something earlier (noon?) on Sunday. Will you please let me know if you can't make these?

Feb 1-2

More spam...I know...

It seems that we are ON for NPL games in Dallas for the February 1 and 2 weekend.

However, the NPL website doesn't look quite right. Until I confirm it, or get it corrected, I'm holding off on making travel plans.

Since this is NPL and not a tournament, we won't get penalized for using a hotel outside of the system, but the local team has offered to help. As soon as we get the exact schedule nailed down, I'll send out another note about booking rooms. The schedule doesn't reflect this now, but our Saturday game is supposed to be in the afternoon, so we should be able to drive up the day of, rather than the Friday before.

You can see the NPL schedule by click on the the link at the top right of the blog home page.

Stay tuned.

Sorry for the spam...

I apologize for the recent flood of posts/emails. I just want to keep communicating everything to help you all plan accordingly.

We are NOT going to participate in the Texans Madness tournament. There weren't enough U14 teams. Stay tuned as we are considering other tournaments.

We are going to start training a little earlier than I had previously said. Please try to come to the evaluations on Tuesday 1/14. And also for our first training session on Thursday 1/16 from 6:30 - 8:00 on L4 at South Campus. 

- Ryan

Tournaments, State Cup, and Spring Break

Well, that didn't take long...

We are signed up for the Texans Madness Tournament January 18-19 at Meyer Park. No word on schedules yet, I'll be sure to update you on that. If you can't make it that weekend, please let me know ASAP.

We are looking at other tournaments as well, so stay tuned.

In the spring we will be playing the State Cup which is part of the National Championship Series. The format is round robin among the top 6 teams in South Texas. From those games, the top two teams play each other, with the winner advancing to a regional tournament and then possibly the Nationals!

Here are some dates for you to consider:

March 22-23 – Group Play Begins for U14
March 29-30 – Group Play Date: U14
April 5-6 - Group Play Date: U14 and U15
April 12-13 – Group Play Date: U14; Group Play Begins for U15-U18
April 18-19 – NO GAMES: Easter
April 26-27 – Group Play Date ALL age groups
May 2-3 – Group Play Date ALL age groups
May 10-11 – Group Play Date ALL age groups
May 17-18 – RAIN DATE
May 24-26 – State Cup Finals Weekend
June 19-26 – Region III Tournament, Baton Rouge, LA
July 21-27 – Nationals Championships, Germantown, MD

Now, if you've looked closely at the calendar, you're probably thinking what I'm thinking. Spring Break is book-ended by games. We have NPL games on March 15-16 and State Cup games on March 22-23. I know many of you already have travel plans. Would you please email me to let me know if you'll be available for those weekends? ryan@craneonline.com

EDIT: We don't have an actual schedule for the State Cup games, I'm just sharing what's on the stxsoccer website. I'm sure it's possible that things could change. I just wanted you to know what I know.

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

RC

Happy New Year

Greetings!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays and the time off.

We will start training again on January 20th. But prior to that are the Express evaluations. As you know, attendance isn't required since we are an SCL team. However, there will be some girls from outside the club showing up, we will need enough of our team there to give them a real challenge. The time slot is January 14th from 7:00 - 8:30 at South Campus. Please try to make it if you can.

State Cup play doesn't start until a little later this year, but we are looking at some tournaments. So stay tuned. I will get back to you when I have some dates and locations to report.

Ryan