Online Registration for Spring 2009 Intramurals is Now Open!

Online registration for the Spring 2009 Intramural Program has begun! We are accepting online and mail-in registrations for all children who were between the ages of 5 and 13 on August 1, 2008.

Before you register, read About Our Spring 2009 Program where you can learn about our Age Groups, Playing Times, Costs, Field Location, etc. Then, you can register and pay online or Download a Registration Form and mail it in.

We will be working with the same trainers as this past winter, and some of the same coaches. We are pleased that they enjoyed working with the kids and have signed up for more! We are looking forward to a season of lots of fun and good soccer.

We have set the registration fee at $50 for Spring 2009, which is close to our break-even-point. We try to keep our fees low to allow as many kids as possible to participate. To help us meet expenses in the Spring, to fund scholarships, and to help us plan an exciting program for the Fall, we hope everybody who is able will consider making a Fair Share Contribution when you register.

We love the game of soccer at FSA and feel our approach of emphasizing fun along with skill development and love of competitive sports for all children will lead to a new generation of life-long players of the Beautiful Game!

Thanks and see you at Edgely

Ludo Scheffer, President

The Fair Share Program is our way of asking families who can afford it to help us sustain and improve our soccer programs. Last year, 30% of our families supported us through the Fair Share Program. We cannot stress enough how important these funds are to our Program. In addition to helping us fund scholarships, this season we want to expand our use of paid trainers, fund more field maintenance, purchase more small Pugg Goals, continue rental of the storage container, and develop our Website to handle online registration and payment.

If you can contribute more than the Fair Share Program amount, please consider a contribution at the Sponsor or Benefactor level. The Benefactor/Sponsor form can be found on our sponsorship page.

Please help us spread the word about Fairmount Soccer to your friends and neighbors. Additional copies of registration forms are available on our registration page or by calling our phone line listed on our contact page.

To get on our mailing list to be informed of registration periods for upcoming seasons go to our Mail List page and fill out the form there.

1. Fairmount Soccer will provide free training in the appropriate courses for its coaches.
2. Parents shall be vigorously encouraged to attend a Fairmount Training Session to explain small-side play; how it works, why we're using them, what are the rules, and what is expected of Fairmount Soccer parents.

Our new Intramural structure will require more volunteers and parental participation which we think is very positive for the players. Please volunteer today to help your children.

The Fairmount Soccer Association is a youth soccer association for boys and girls, ages 5 through 16 primarily serving the Fairmount, Center City, West Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, Society Hill, and Queen Village communities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (A player's age is determined as of August 1 of the current fall registration. For example, if a player turns 14 on August 15, the player is still considered to be 13 for soccer.)

The Association's mission includes teaching all the physical and mental skills required to thoroughly learn and participate in all aspects of soccer, promoting good sportsmanship and encouraging life long participation in the sport of soccer, as well as instilling self-confidence through participation and accomplishment, as a member of a soccer team. The Association runs an Intramural Division for children, ages 5 though 13 and a Traveling Division for children ages 10 through 16. The Traveling Division competes against teams throughout the Greater Philadelphia Region.

The Fairmount Soccer Association is a Nonprofit, Tax Exempt association under IRS rule 501(c)(3). Membership in the Association is not restricted by virtue of race, creed, religion, national origin, ethnic group or sex. The Association is a member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association and is affiliated with the United States Youth Soccer Association and the United States Soccer Federation.

Our Constitution and Bylaws; Rules and Regulations (101K) are always available for review by any member of the Association. To download a copy of them in Adobe Acrobat, pdf format just click on the link above. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the file. To obtain the Adobe Acrobat Reader click here.

1. Because we want our young players to touch the ball more often and become more skillful with it!
2. Because we want our young players to make more, less-complicated decisions during the game!
3. Because we want our young players to be more physically efficient in the field space they are playing in!
4. Because we want our young players to have more individual teaching time with the coach! Fewer players on the field and fewer players on the team will guarantee this!
5. Because we want our young players to have more involved playing time in the game which gives them more opportunity to solve problems that only the game can present!
6. Because we want our young players to have more opportunities to play on both sides of the ball!
7. Because we want our young players to have more opportunities to score goals giving them more excitement!

These reasons will help promote the player's:

• Individual technical development
• Individual tactical development
• Understanding of how to reduce field size
• Importance and worthiness
• Critical decision making
• Understanding of attacking and defending
• Excitement for the game
• FUN environment of the game.*

* We have quoted Tom Goodman, Director of Coaching Education, US Youth Soccer, for much of the above explanation of "Small-Sided" soccer.