Our Purpose
On Thursday, July 24th 2008 the Salem Soccer Association (SSA) formally organized by electing board members and officers. Their primary purpose is for the development of the SCHS Wildcat boys and girls Soccer teams. They are responsible to raise the funds required to run the SCHS Wildcat soccer programs, provide fields, equipment, schedule games, & other related needs.
Recreation Leagues for Junior High and High School students will also fall under the (SSA) programs. These leagues will be Co-ed and their registration proceeds will help with expenses of fields and equipment they will share with the SCHS teams. The fields they will use will be at First Christian Church Soccer Complex.
OUR PURPOSE AT JUNIOR HIGH LEVEL
The goal of the (SSA) programs is to prepare players for the competitive High School Teams as well as the "just for fun" soccer players through their recreation leagues.
IHSA rules prohibit students participating on the High School Team to play in the recreational league during the same season. Therefore the recreation program is a great choice in their off season.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR PURPOSE AND DIRECTION
As mentioned above,
The Salem Soccer Association was formed to get soccer up and running at the High School level here in Salem. When formed, the members of the SSA were parents and coaches of soccer players on recreation teams at the junior high level as well as parents of high school players.
Two years ago we began offering the opportunity for players to play on a travel team. This spring we are expanding to 2 levels of travel teams (U12 for 5th/6th grades, and U14 for 7th/8th grades). Furthermore we have and will continue to offer summer camps for more advanced training through Challenger Sports. For this reason, a request will be made at our board meeting that we add ", traveling teams and training camps.” to our purpose statement.
We recognize 3 kinds of soccer players at the junior high level. They are as follows: “Prefer Just Recreational”, “Prefer Just Competitive Travel”, and “As Much Soccer As I Can Get (Both)”. Additionally many players are involved in other sports. It would be great to have our programs designed to give all 3 groups exactly what they desire. If we grow substantially over the numbers that we expect this spring, we could provide for all 3 groups. If we allowed players to just play on the travel team and not participate in the recreation league, it appears the recreation league would most likely not survive. In the future, if both programs can thrive with allowing the 3 choices, we could move in that direction. Therefore this season (Spring 2011) we will require players to sign up for recreation first and try out for the travel teams.
Our Goal is to have 4 recreation teams in both levels (7th/8th and 5th/6th). Some towns have more than 1 travel team in each level. In the fall, it looks like we could have that situation here in Salem. Plans are for the 5th/6th grade travel team to stay in the South West Illinois Soccer (SWIS) League.
One additional note about spring travel team soccer. In southern Illinois it is more difficult to schedule travel team games in the spring especially at the 5th/6th grade level. SWIS does not have an actual league in the spring. Games can be scheduled with other towns, but not very many towns run a travel team in the spring. It is really difficult to find 5th/6th grade teams to play. Some towns run just recreation programs in the spring and both in the fall. Our Travel team coaches are Kyle Kelley for 7th/8th and Tim Donoho for 5th/6th. 6 games are all ready set up for 7th/8th, but still working on 5th/6th.
The fee to play on a recreational team is $45. There is no additional cost for the players that play on the travel team and they will have to try out.