This weekend, next weekend, and your weekends in the Fall...

This weekend: We are officially on for a game this Saturday morning against the Dynamos at 10:00 at the St. Thomas' Episcopal's field on Willowbend (where we played Eclipse a couple weeks ago). Let's wear white-white-navy. This is an NPL game. Please be there by 9:15.

Next week: I'm sorry I haven't mentioned this earlier. We have evaluations for the Fall season. They are Monday and Wednesday June 1st and 3rd from 7:30-9:30 at South Campus #4. Mark would like for all the girls to attend both sessions. Please try to make these!

Next weekend: Our rained out flooded out games from last weekend will be June 6-7 in College Station. Here is the schedule. 10:00 am on Saturday and 2:00 pm on Sunday. If we win those games, there is a very good chance we will be in Little Rock for the Region III Championships.

If you can, keep that week of June 18-25 open for the Region III Championships.

Many of you have asked about the Surf Cup tournament we mentioned. I think we are waiting to see what happens next weekend to make a call on that.

Your weekends in the Fall: Or maybe I should say, every other weekend next Fall...we will be traveling. Here is our Premier League West schedule.

Last thing. The summer training program at HESC is filling up! Don't forget to sign up, if you're interested.

May 9-10

This weekend we have our last two state cup games. Tomorrow we play Albion at Zube Park #5 at noon. Remember that Zube is way the heck out 290, so please allow enough time to get there for warm up. Tomorrow we will wear white/white/navy. But bring it all. 

17400 Roberts Road

Hockley, TX 77447

Sunday we are playing Challenge at 2:00 at Lyndsay Lyons #26. Wear navy/white/white. 

For those keeping score at home, we are in first place so far. The top two teams from State Cup will advance to the finals. The finals are in San Marcos on May 23-24. At the finals, the top two teams from the eastern district (that's us) play the top two from the western district (Austin and San Antonio). The winner of that advances to the Region III championships, which is in Little Rock on June 18-25. 

Better late than never

State Cup is finally kicking off. We will end up playing all 5 games in the course of 9 days!

Have a look at the schedule. 

http://events.gotsport.com/events/schedule.aspx?eventid=43471&FieldID=0&applicationID=2719354&action=Go

This Saturday is at 2:00 at Lyndsay Lyons #25 against SCFC again. Wear Navy, bring white. 

Sunday is at 10:00 at Burroughs #4 against Rush. Wear white, bring navy. 

Thursday is at 7:30pm against Eclipse. We will play at St Thomas Episcopal's Willowbend facility. It's at 4113 Willowbend. Just go down Stella Link (like you're going to South Campus), go through the light at Belfort, then right at Willowbend. Wear Navy, bring white. 

Let's keep the girls rested, recovered, and healthy. This is an important week!

Games!

Tuesday (4/28) evening we have a NPL game against Space City at Dad's Club at 6:30. Wear navy, but bring white. 

Dad's Club is at:

14500 Village Evergreen Trail

Houston, TX 77062

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dad's+Club+Sports+Park,+14500+Village+Evergreen+Trail,+Houston,+TX+77062,+United+States/@29.575287,-95.1507,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x86409bf2e5291ca5:0x483424abb3faa8e2

Also, we are planning on making up our state cup game against Eclipse next Thursday (5/7) at 7:45 at St. Thomas Episcopal.  Stay tuned. 

This weekend we have two games. Saturday against Space City again. At Lyndsay Lyons #25 at 2:00. Let's go navy again (bring white). 

Sunday we play Texas Rush at Burroughs #4 at 10:00 am. Wear white, bring navy. 

State Cup, week 2.

Happy Friday.

It looks like the weather should cooperate this weekend...or at least on Sunday. I haven't been told when last week's game will be rescheduled, so stay tuned on that. This week we have Albion at 10:00 am at Burroughs #7. Let's wear NAVY, but bring everything.

Other news:

Registration for the fall is open now. You only have until the 20th to register early and keep your current jersey number. Remember, this is a new kit for the fall and we're on a 2-year cycle. You probably got an email about all this earlier this week. If not, you can always go check the HESC home page.

It looks like we will have critical mass for both an appearance at the Challenge Shootout here in town at the end of May, and the NPL games in Dallas (which we will move to) June 6 & 7.

Also, we will have someone video taping several of our games over the next few weeks. You may remember my email about this. Everyone will have access to the game videos. If you want the folks at Next Level Soccer to build a highlight reel for your daughter, I believe that is $50/game. I realize this was an unplanned expense, and that not everyone wants or needs video. Some of you have volunteered to chip in, and I would ask that if you're using the video for your daughter's individual needs that you help cover the costs of the taping. I don't have exact numbers yet, but just wanted to remind you. After the first taped game, we'll have more details. A big thanks to Rick Schachter to setting all of this up.

You probably heard about the HESC trip to Europe in 2016. Unfortunately, I missed the meeting on that last week, so I'm a little light on details. There is some basic info on the website. I'll try to learn more and get back to you all.

Lastly, I just noticed that registration is also open for the summer training program. Claire and a few others did this last summer, and I thought it was really worthwhile. She didn't go to every session, but it was a nice option to have, she stayed in decent shape, and she got to see some of her buddies on a more regular basis. I highly recommend it.

Tulsa

This time the weather looks decent. 70's and 50's with only a small chance of rain on Sunday morning.

Both games are at 9:30 am at the Bixby-Keas Soccer Complex.

615 N. Riverview Dr.
Bixby, OK 74008

https://goo.gl/maps/9h3dm

Google maps says it's about a 22 minute drive from the hotel.

Check this out: Home team wears dark. We are listed as 'away' for both games. So, bring everything, but odds are that we are wearing white on Saturday and smelling bad on Sunday. Maybe we can go white-navy-white the first day and all white on Sunday? Stay tuned.

I'm on the United flight that gets in just after 7:00 pm. I think y'all know how to get a hold of me. Call or text if you need something. 713-504-5049.

If I don't happen to see you Friday night, let's plan on meeting at the hotel lobby at 7:50 am on Saturday morning. Or, you can be adventurous and just meet us at the field. Allow for a little extra time, just in case. We want to make sure to have the full 45 minute warm up beforehand.

I think all the girls traveling alone have a room/family to stay with. If anyone needs last minute help with that, let me know.

I couldn't get the giant van this time, but I did get a large SUV. If anyone wants to send some kids my way and sleep in a little extra, I'm happy to help.

College soccer and video

Many of you were able to attend the meeting last Saturday with all the college coaches. I thought it was very helpful, so first off...a big thank you to Mark for putting that together. 

I don't know if I can sum up everything we learned in the meeting, but one of the takeaways was that it can be very helpful if the girls have video highlights for the coaches to look at. Another important takeaway was that the college recruiting process starts earlier for girls than for boys. And that this summer and next are potentially very important for those girls that want to play in college. 

It stands to reason that our daughters might have more "highlight opportunities" this spring in State Cup play than this upcoming fall in PLW play. So, it would behoove us to film these upcoming games. 

I realize that this year has been an expensive one, so I don't want to force this on the team. We can have the same people we've used before come out and tape our games and even put together highlight clips for individual players. Rick Schachter has done all the leg work on this, and it looks like the economics are like this:

$170 base fee for taping the game. 

$50 per player per game for highlights (which you can choose to add after the fact). 

They can come to 4 of our games this Spring. 

Obviously, the whole team benefits from taping the games. And I suppose, if your video editing skills are good, you could even make your own highlight reel. 

I'd like to get some feedback from you all. Who would be willing to chip in and split the costs of having them come to the games? I am in. Please email me if you are interested. 

HESC College Combine and Thursday Training

Tonight we are moving our training to 7:30-9:00 on L4.

Saturday we will play Texas Rush at 10:00 on SC1. Please be there by 9:15. We will be wearing green-white-white. Please bring your white jersey just in case. 

Sunday we are on SC4 again at 10:00 against the Dynamos. Same drill...be there by 9:15. This time we will wear all navy. Bring white in case. 

Don't forget that Saturday evening is the college coach Q&A session at Hotel Derek from 5:00 to 6:30. Your daughter is welcome and encouraged to come. 

Lastly, hopefully you've finalized your plans to Tulsa. Will you please shoot me an email if you have any issues or conflicts with this trip? 

Weekend Update

Tulsa
I count only 5 reservations for our team in Tulsa, and the guaranteed block has run out. There are still rooms available, but now it's first come first serve. See the prior post for the link to make a reservation.

If you are unable to make it to the Tulsa game let me know ASAP. If your daughter needs to stay with someone please let me know that too. I booked an extra room under my name that can accommodate a couple girls if need be.

Practice this week
Mark is out, and we are going to skip this Sunday practice. Tuesday we are on L4 with Coach Mac. Wednesday we have Roz, and then Futsal. Thursday our fearless leader, Mark will return, and back to usual programming.

State Cup
The State Cup schedule has been posted. You can view it here or from the link on the homepage. There are 5 games. They start April 12, and are every Sunday. Burroughs park for the first four games and Lindsay Lyons for the last one.


Questions? Comments? Concerns? Call or email me!

Updates on this season

First off, I was remiss in my job as manager. I want to formally welcome Jessica and Erika to the team. We have gotten to know them for a while now, and loved having them at the Disney tournament. You all know this by now, but they are officially on the roster now. 

We are signed up for State Cup. Play should begin on the weekend of April 11-12. We will have five games from that weekend on, and if we place first or second, we will play in the State Finals in San Marcos on May 23-25. If we win there, we advance to the Region III tournament in Little Rock. As you may know, Mark used to live in Little Rock, and I spend a fair amount of time there (for work). So, suffice it to say that we have connections there and know the town. A trip to Little Rock would be a lot of fun! This is our goal!

Don't forget about NPL games. We have our Tulsa trip coming up. It's March 21-22. Our games are at 9:30 am both days. If you need to send your daughter up by herself, let me know. If you can host another girl or two, let me know about that too. I don't have any information about what flights people are taking. Southwest and United both fly there direct. I know many of you will be coming back from Spring Break or perhaps flying straight there from some fabulous vacation. There are reserved hotel rooms, but we only have a couple of weeks to make that reservation. See the info below. 

Also, we have NPL games in Dallas on May 30-31. Stay tuned for more on that one. 

I have the confirmation of our group booking at the Embassy Suites Tulsa I-44 for March 20-22nd for the NPL weekend.

Hotel details:

Embassy Suites Tulsa I-44

3332 South 79th East Avenue

Tulsa, Oklahoma 74145

Telephone: 918-622-4000

I have 6 teams that said they wanted to be part of the group:

U13/U14/U15 boys

U13/U15/U17 girls

 

I have reserved 90 rooms for the group (about 15 per team), all of which are $124 a night, not including tax, (which is far lower than the standard rate). The rooms booked are:

2 Double Beds suites + sleeper sofa (sleeps 6) - 65 rooms

Accessible 2 Double Beds suites  + sleeper sofa (sleeps 6) - 5 rooms

King bed suites + sleeper sofa (sleeps 4) - 20 rooms

The room rate includes a complimentary breakfast buffet, complimentary high speed internet, evening reception with complimentary cocktails and free parking. There is also a free airport shuttle for those flying.

The accessible rooms are handicapped rooms. They were the only remaining doubles they had. Please note you have to click the special "show accessible rooms" click-box on the website to show those rooms. This will really only matter once all of the other doubles are reserved and if people really want / need a double room.

To book the rooms, you can call in to 1-800-EMBASSY and using the booking code HOU or by asking for the “Houston Express NPL” group rate. You can also book (much easier in my opinion) by going to our personalize booking page:

 http://embassysuites.hilton.com/en/es/groups/personalized/T/TULESES-HOU-20150320/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG

 

All rooms must be booked before February 20th to secure the group rate. However, in order to guarantee the type of room you want, I'd recommend doing it as soon as possible. There is no cancellation fee as long as you cancel before 4pm the day before check-in.

I doubt we'll need more rooms than this, but I can add more rooms to the group if needed, but they will be more king rooms, as we took all of the doubles. If you think your group needs less rooms, or especially if your team ends up not going, let me know so that I can cancel part of the block.

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Gary Doughty