Cambridge Family Microsoccer: REGISTRATION & NEWS

Microsoccer takes place at RAYMOND PARK (sometimes referred to as Corcoran Park).  

Raymond Park is bounded by Walden St. on the north, Raymond St., on the west, and Upland Road, on the South, in an area that straddles the Avon Hill area and North Cambridge. 

Ten (10) Steps to a Successful Microsoccer Registration.

Before registering, please carefully read all ten (10) of the following steps, even if you have been through this process before.  If you do that, then everything should go smoothly. However, if you don't, all kinds of things can go wrong.

1.  Check to make sure that your child is the right age!                                               

Eligibility for Prospective Players in Cambridge Family Microsoccer Players — Fall 2011       

(a) It is simple; you child does not require prior experience;

for most of the children, this will be their first exposure to soccer and - in many cases - any organized sport. 

Cambridge residency is NOT required.  

(b) The only rule is that, to be eligible to play Microsoccer for the Fall 2011 season and Spring 2012 (each of which has a separate registration),

your child should have been born between 7/31/2005 and 9/1/2007.

(If your child is eligible in the Fall of 2011, then he or she will also still be eligible for the Spring of 2012. I.e., the age eligibility determination operates on an academic year schedule).

(c) For those of you who share your parenting, please do not assume that your spouse, 

partner, or ex has taken care of registration !!!  You must verify any such assumption.    

(d) If your child is slightly too young, but you want him or her to play, then SEND US AN E-MAIL describing your child and why you think Microsoccer would be appropriate for you child.

Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. 

We will then contact you to discuss what seems appropriate in your child's case.  

2.  If your child is too old for Microsoccer, try Cambridge Youth Soccer (CYS). 

If your child is too old for Microsoccer, you should check out Cambridge Youth Soccer, which is a separate organization, not affiliated with Cambridge Family Microsoccer, and which you can reach at www.CambridgeYouthSoccer.org 

3.  We Need Team Officials., i.e.:

Coaches,

Assistant Coaches, and

Managers. 

With few exceptions, Microsoccer coaches are all parents of children in Microsoccer. Each team needs the following three (3) volunteer positions to be filled:

- Coach. The coach is the primary instructor for the team. Ideally, the coach should be someone who actually has played soccer and knows something about it. That said, the coach does not actually need to be a skilled player himself or herself, and previous coaching experience is not required.

- Assistant Coach. The assistant coach helps the coach run the practices and takes over whenever the coach is unavailable (due to absence or if the coach is acting as a referee for a game). The same general background as that of the coach.

- Manager. No prior soccer experience is necessary. The primary duty is to coordinate parents on the team (on a rotating basis) to the bring snack to every single game.

Don't be shy about volunteering! Volunteers are the lifeblood of the organization! 

Note: From the point of view of Mass Youth Soccer, each of the positions are deemed to be officials of Microsoccer and must be filled by persons who are willing to have their names submitted for a routine criminal background check.

** Note to Coaches & Assistant Coaches** 

Important principles to remember during practices: 

(i)   Correct Number of Adults Coaching. Each team should have both a coach and assistant coach each week during the entire practice.  If the “official” coach and/or assistant coach is absent, late, or non-existent, please let the Commissioner know ASAP, and in the meantime, actively solicit the help of one of the many adults around so that there are two (2) adults actively involved in running the practice. 

(ii)         Small Groups. If there are 6 to 8 kids on a team, you should be spending most ofthe time with them broken into two (2) smaller groups of 3 to 4 kids.  That way each kid gets more individual time and more "touches on the ball."  You want to keep them moving and occupied, especially if the weather is not great.  One thing that often works is to have half the team working on shots on the goal (and goal tending), while the other half works on basic passing, throw-ins, dribbling, or plays a game like “monkey in the middle”.

(iii)      Socialization and Names. A key elementto a kid becoming a “team player” is learning to interact and cooperate with each other.  Most kids can’t remember the name of their team members for more than five minutes, much less from week to week.  Therefore it is recommended that at the beginning of each practice you go around and introduce yourselves again and then have the kids introduce each other.  Then, when you get to passing drills, have the passer call out the name of the kid to whom he or she is passing.  This helps them both learn their names and talk to each other.

4.  WITHDRAWAL and REFUND POLICIES

If your child decides that he or she does not want to participate, or if you decide that your child has other obligations or priorities, then please notify us by e-mail ASAP (whether or not you need advice).

At that point there is the following choice to make:

•        For those who are sure that their child does not want to participate and who are thus planning on having the child not attend, we can take him or her off of the roster.  (The Commissioner can then offer the space on the team to another child who is waiting to enroll or who wishes to transfer to that team.)

 •       For those who doubt that their child will participate, but who nonetheless plan to bring the child to Microsoccer most weeks, we can keep the child on the roster but may add an extra player to the team, if it needs more strength.

Once you have registeredyour child, we do NOT issue refunds, absent truly compelling circumstances.  

(A) Every year, some parents whose children were registered in the fall season show up in the spring season and mistakenly claim — with great certitude — that they (or their spouse) has already registered their child.  To reduce the chances of unnecessary acrimony on this point, we are now asking all families to bring a printout of the e-mail registration confirmation (or any other documentary proof that registration has taken place).  

(B) Online registration works 90% of the time on a first try. 10% of the time it takes a second (or ocassionally third) try.

(C) If, following your attempt at online registration, you do not receive an e-mail from Active.com or Microsoccer.org confirming that your child has been registered, then you should assume that your child is NOT registered and should try again.  (But do check your spam box first!) 

(D) If you are uncertain whether your child's registration has been completed, please send an e-mail inquiry to Registrar@Microsoccer.org.  If you have not received an e-mail confirmation from Active.com and the registrar can confirm that you are registered, then the registrar will send you a special Confirmation of Registration.

6. Caution about Active.com’s "special offers"

Registration is done through Active.com. We have used their service for several years, and generally found it to be effective and convenient. However, when you register you will be offered some kind of "special offer" to join some kind of discount club that Active offers for $50 per year.  Microsoccer takes an agnostic view of this Active promotion and does not endorse it in any way. 

Likewise Active also offers you some free opportunity to become an Actve.com member, claiming that it is "recommended." Again to be clear, Microsoccer takes an agnostic view of Active's promotion and does not "recommend" it in any way. It is not necessary to become an Active.com member in order to register. On the other hand, if you do avail yourself of any of these extra Active.com features, we would be interested to hear from you as to whether they were a good experience or not.

Likewise, Microsoccer take no view as to whether you choose to participate in Active's magazine subcription promotion.

7.  Note on Entering Child's Name when Filing Out Form

Please note that the "First Name" asked for on the beginning of registration form is your child's name, NOT YOURS. Your name will be asked for later on in the form under "Parent Name."

Also, please make sure you are entering the name of the correct child. (One spring we had one family in spring whose child was registered the entire spring under the name of the child's sibling, a fact that was only discovered when a trophy with the wrong name was presented at the end of the spring season).

8.  SESSION ASSIGNMENTS and PLACEMENT REQUESTS

*** ALERT REGARDING PLACEMENT REQUESTS *** If you are requesting that your child be on the same team as another child or coach, please be aware of the following:

(a) Once the season has begun and teams have been formed it is VERY difficult to honor any requests.
(b) When possible we try to at least match your child with one (1) other child or coach. Do not make requests like "all my teammates from last season" as such a request is overbroad and not specific enough without requiring the register to do a lot of research. It is ok to make requests like the following: "please put my child with Sam Smith or Jenny Jones or Albert Alewife" (note the use of "or" rather than "and").
(c) The child or coach you are requesting must also be registered.
(d) The child or coach you are requesting must be in the same session.
(e) when identifying a child, please make sure that you are using the child's correct last name (last year we had a lot of requests for children by the mother's last name when the children were registered by the father's last name).

9.  This is what you should see when you click on the registration link: 

9.  E-MAIL US IF YOU HAVE REGISTRATION PROBLEMS 

If you have not been able to make online registration work, then, after having tried at least twice, please e-mail us what your experience was and what browser and version you were using.

E-mail should go to PROBLEMS@Microsoccer.org

If, due to poor weather, you are unsure of whether a scheduled Microsoccer session is taking place, then please call the 

MICROSOCCER HOTLINE at 617-274-3114.

If Microsoccer is going to be cancelled or postponed, then a message to that effect will be placed on the MICROSOCCER HOTLINE no later than 8:30 AM on the morning of the scheduled game. If there is time, there will also be a message placed on this site.

Required Equipment
Every child is required to have the following equipment at every practice and every game:

(a) shin guards;

(b) soccer cleats; and a 

(c) Microsoccer t-shirt.

Microsoccer will provide each child with one (1) official t-shirt at the first game. Please make sure you get the shin guards and soccer cleats before the first game! 

It is recommended that each child own his or her own size 3 soccer ball for use at home, but that he or she NOT bring the ball to Microsoccer. (The balls we provide are a shared resource and we don't want the kids to get too proprietary.) 

Where to get soccer equipment
There are many places you might get soccer equipment. Among them are:

Brines Sporting Goods

4 Church St. 
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel. No. 617-489-6791 

Modell's

Fresh Pond Shopping center

186 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge.

Sports Etc. 

1303 Massachusetts Ave. 
Arlington, MA 02476-4110
Tel. No. 781-646-1600

Olympia Sports
Fresh Pond Shopping Center
186 Alewife Brook Parkway
Cambridge.
Tel. No. 617-354-1284

City Sports 
1815 Mass Ave. 
Cambridge, MA 02140
Tel. No. 617-661-1666

** If you know other good sources of equipment, please send us the information by e-mail so we can share it with the whole group.