CLUB PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE - December 2009
Salutations and What's New

Merry Christmas and all the best to you and yours in 2010.

Our club is the number one ranked youth Club in Canada based on the last 5 years national competition results (per Dick Labrom's report as posted by the Canadian Soccer Association). This is a true testament to the quality and dedication of our players, coaches, parents, volunteers and alumni. We have embraced the concept of being a true club not just a collection of numerous autonomous teams. We are on the cutting edge, choosing to lead in the Calgary soccer scene with our programs, club interaction and club national successes. In addition, we can boast that we have one of the finest technical programs in the nation, led by Technical Director Tommy Wheeldon Jr., Assistant Technical Director Leon Hapgood, Director of Coaching Graham Kennedy and Colin MacKay, Grassroots Technical Director. We continue with our proud traditions established since 1972 and are proactively responding to today's challenges.

Thank you to all of our players, parents, coaches, managers and volunteers for their time, support, effort and commitment to the Calgary Foothills Soccer Club, let's keep the momentum going as we continue to grow. We further acknowledge and appreciate our continued relationships with community partners Lake Bonavista, Deer Park and Deer Valley, the Calgary Men's Darts and beginning spring 2010 Canyon Meadows. Collectively, Foothills and its partners offer soccer for U4-U65 players, a Club from cradle to grave.

Foothills is a recognized leader in developing the game in Canada and we are committed to ensuring that our members receive plenty of skill instruction along with plenty of fun to ensure that the trend continues. As a result of the environment that we are creating at Foothills, and the experience that players have in that environment, we are building a great culture - a real club with first rate coaching, proficient players and a proud and supportive alumni. As your President, it is my duty to ensure that members participate in a positive athletic environment. Our programs are designed to educate, train and guide players and coaches to meet the growing demand for quality soccer development.

So what's new at Foothills Soccer? Two National Champions at the U18 level - the boys Foothills Crew and the girls Foothills Athletics, a new website, Foothills Grassroots, new CMSA rules and individual and team accolades.

Foothills has earned a reputation as a top youth club with our successes on the national stage, in 2009 we celebrate the achievements of the BU18 Foothills Crew and GU18 Foothills Athletics as for the first time in the history of Club Nationals, one club won both genders of an age group and had two national champions in one year. Congratulations to these two outstanding teams, their coaches and parents. We are now the top youth club in Canada based on the last 5 years results at the National level.

Log into www.gofoothills.ca to see what's happening at our club. So why do we use the term OUR on the website... Oxford Dictionary defines OUR as: "Of or belonging to us, that we are concerned with..." or "Of all people". We believe this is the true testament to being part of a club - having this sense of collective ownership - Foothills Soccer is all of us. Our club is truly about our collective efforts and support of each other - win, lose or draw!

Foothills Grassroots was formed in conjunction with Deer Park and Deer Valley soccer to provide our U6 and U8 soccer players with a club identity into the future. We are active in bringing development to these age groups so each child can aspire to whatever level suits them as they enter CMSA league soccer. Foothills provides both technical training and our Òlet the game be the teacherÓ program where our alumni (and some youth club players) train these young, eager, energetic players. WeÕve had excellent response to this methodology both within Grassroots, LBCA and soon with our new partner Canyon Meadows.

CMSA (Calgary Minor Soccer Association) has RESCINDED the rule for youth players in the U10 to U18 age groups to sign with their clubs for one full year (indoor and outdoor seasons). The premise of this requirement was to allow clubs to take a child through one complete training cycle for development purposes, which we support, but this rule should not cause clubs to be complacent in doing their utmost to ensure a great soccer experience for all its members - which is our goal season to season.

Congratulations to Foothills alumnus Paul Hamilton (Irish 88) who was named the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Male Soccer Player of the year while playing at Trinity Western University this past season and current Foothills player Robin Bessemer (United 92) who was awarded the Calgary Booster Club's High School Female Soccer Player of the Year.

During the 2008-09 indoor season, the GU16 Voltage (T1), BU14 Rapids (T2), and BU18 Revolution (T2) were crowned provincial champions with honorable mention to silver winning: GU14 Vypers (T2), GU18 Spirit (T3) and bronze winning: BU18 Crew (T1), GU18 Athletics (T1), GU18 Fury (T2). During the 2009 outdoor season both the BU18 Crew (T1) and GU18 Athletics (T1) were crowned provincial and national champions, with honorable mention to provincial silver winners BU14 Spurs (T3) and provincial bronze winners GU14 Vypers (T3). These were in addition to the many city and tournament medals won by our teams over the year.

Foothills continues to be only as strong as its people and specifically its volunteers. Our volunteers continue to be the strength of our club, so please continue to support us. We need you to coach, manage, organize, plan, train, fundraise, chaperone, transport, telephone, register, sort equipment, etc. there are literally thousands of hours needed each year. Your involvement is needed to make an extraordinary soccer experience for our children - hopefully the best that Calgary has to offer at all ages, whether developmental, recreational or premier levels of play. Foothills overall ranking as a top ten youth club in Canada, is primarily due to the quality of volunteers that have served our organization since 1972.

Success is measured in many ways, we believe that proper development of players, coaches and teams will ultimately provide success on the field. We must all remember that the soccer experience is a life long journey, each player develops at different times as do teams and coaches.

Our continued on field success is directly attributable to our "coach centric" development model where we focus our clubs resources and time on the development, training and advancement of our coaches. This includes over 15 hours of coaches training per season, coach assessment, dedicated coaches website portal and a formal in-house coaches education program. Ultimately it is our coaches who deliver the day-to-day program and it is our intention to build the strongest coaching staff possible. As a result our coaches will become better equipped to develop our players and build teams. Our goal is to develop a cohesive club with a sustainable, high quality program delivery model that is repeatable year after year. Our long-term focus is to develop highly qualified players and coaches so that every team has a positive and rewarding experience. We hope that you see the value in building a strong club where coaches are well trained and supported and to develop our youth players to their fullest potential. No other club does this to the extent that we do - this is why we believe that Foothills is different.

Foothills is in excellent financial condition with a facility reserve intended to be applied towards a club- owned training facility in the future. A facilities committee has recently been founded to realize on our dream of a Foothills dedicated.

Our challenges for the upcoming seasons include meeting the demands of the soccer playing public; ensure our communication with our membership is responsive, timely and meaningful; development of quality coaches to execute our development strategy for all of our members regardless of level of play; and realizing our dream of a permanent home facility. Of course, being able to handle our growth into the future by having enough volunteers to run our programs and teams is a top priority.

Finally, our online outdoor registrations will commence around February 1, 2010 and evaluations will take place in mid March to mid April. If you are looking to play or coach or volunteer or want to be more involved with the Club please email foothills@telus.net or call us at (403)225-9388. We would be pleased to review our programs and opportunities with you.

I am proud to have served as the President of the Calgary Foothills Soccer Club over the past 2 years and I encourage all members to continue their support of our Club through player and coach commitment, parent volunteerism and fan enthusiasm.

Yours in soccer,

Dennis J. Kwan
President
president@calgaryfoothillssoccer.com