Welcome Letter

Summer is fading fast and soccer season is rapidly approaching! Nick Nichols and I are the head coaches and we are both looking forward to coaching your sons this year. There are two 3rd grade Kirk boys soccer teams this year, and our team has about 9 boys...since we play with eight, and there is often a family or two out of town each weekend, we could use a couple more players if you know someone else who wants to play. We'll send around a roster soon.

Sorry for the long e-mail, but I'm trying to get you as much info as possible...you might want to save this e-mail, especially with the link to the various fields where our games will be played.

At the third grade level we are continuing to focus on building fundamental skills, helping the boys to grasp the team concept, and helping them learn how to compete as Christians,. We want them each to gain experience playing different positions during the season, though we will specialize more this year and some of the boys will find their way into fairly regular positions. We'll do our best to make sure that the boys gets an exposed to the different positions, but we won't be seeking to give the boys equal playing time at each position.

Practice will be on Tuesday afternoons from 3:30-4:45 at the Westminster West campus. If you don't know where this is, contact me.

Our first practice will be Tuesday August 26th. We'll practice again on September 2 and every Tuesday thereafter unless you hear different from us (we may have an optional practice on Saturday Aug 30th -- we'll let you know at practice on Tuesday). Your boys should come wearing:

athletic shorts
t-shirt
cleats
shin guards (required)
soccer socks

Please send a water bottle with them as well! I would also recommend that you get out your soccer ball and kick it around with your son.

I don't have the schedule yet, but the season usually starts on the first Saturday after Labor Day. I'll get the schedule to you as soon as I receive it from the league, but I know from past seasons that the schedule isn't often finished until right before the season starts.

There will be a very brief Parent's Meeting immediately after practice on Tuesday Aug 26th! I need to have at least one parent per child there so that we can cover a few basics for the season. I'll also hand out phone chains, game schedules (if we have them), and answer any questions that you might have.

I believe following the link below will give you directions to all of the fields that we play at this season:

Soccer Field Directions

The best ways to contact me are:

1) e-mail - ctsmith53@sbcglobal.net
2) cell phone - 314.612.0053

You can, of course call me at home or office as well, but I'm more available by e-mail & cell phone.

Our coaches & coordinators for the season are as follows, NOTE that we still need an End of Season Party Coordinator:

Head Coaches:
Nick Nichols
Chris Smith

Uniform Coordinator:
Joel & Shannon Hathaway

Snack Coordinator:
Rick & Crista Johnson, Dave & Kate Snodgrass

Phone Chain:
Will & Charlene Tipton

Picture Coordinator:
Chris & Sonja Smith

End of Season Party:
NO ONE YET

Finally, please respond to this e-mail letting me know that you received it. If I don't hear from you I'll need to follow up with a phone call. If there's a different e-mail address you'd like me to use, let me know that as well please.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Nick Nichols & Chris Smith