Information is subject to change without notice. The WSA Board of Directors reserve the right to make changes and decisions in the best interest of the organization.
REGISTRATION:
When and how can we register
our children to play?
What age group does my child fall into?
Do participants have to be Westchase residents in order to
register?
What does the registration fee cover?
What do I need
to bring and provide at the time of Registration?
Why do you need birth certificates?
Do families enrolling more than one child get
a discount?
Can
I register my child on-line?
Why can't we
print a copy of the form from the website and bring to registration?
What
if I am out of town during registration?
Do you offer late registration?
Can I
request that my child play with another player or specific coach?
Can
we request placement of two or more players together on the same team for carpooling or
other hardship reasons?
Can I request a team
that holds practice on certain days?
What
if I don't have a computer and/or internet access to visit your website for important
information such as Registration dates, etc.?
Who do I contact if I would like
to coach a team?
How do I become a coach?
What type of
parental involvement does WSA have?
What is the purpose of Skills
Assessment?
Does my child
have to attend the mandatory Skills Assessment?
What if my child will
not be available on the dates that Skills Assessment is scheduled?
Can my child play
in an older age group?
When
and how can we register our children to play?
Registration dates and times
for the upcoming season are determined by the Board of Directors after the previous season
ends. Registration dates and times will be
posted on our website approximately one month prior to registration. If you do not have internet access, Hillsborough
County Public Libraries provide free internet access.
What
does the registration fee cover?
Participants in the U5 – U12 age groups will receive a uniform kit and a trophy/medal
at the end of the season. MiniWee participants
will receive a jersey, ball and medal. The
registration fee also covers field usage and maintenance, insurance, volunteer background
checks as well as other operational costs (e.g. field lining, equipment, etc.).
What do I need to bring and provide at the time
of Registration?
·
If your child did not play soccer with WSA in
2006, 2007 or 2008, then you must bring a copy of their birth certificate. Even if your child participated in seasons prior to
2006, you must bring a copy of the birth certificate.
We may not have a copier at registration, so you must bring a photocopy
of the birth certificate that we must keep for our records. Hospital,
Baptismal or religious certificates will not be accepted. Foreign birth certificates are
acceptable if accompanied by a certified translation. We will not be able to
register your child without a copy of the birth certificate. Due to the significant number of parents who failed
to provide the birth certificate to our Registrar after they registered,we will no longer
accept registration of a new participant without a birth certificate at the time of
registration. Due to the additional administration involved with follow-ups, requests
to fax or mail birth certificates will not be accepted.
·
Click here to view a copy of a portion of the registration form.
·
Cash or check payable to Westchase Soccer
Association (or WSA) in the appropriate amount. $65
– MiniWee, $80 for U5 – U12. A $10 sibling
discount will be given for each additional sibling.
· If you are a returning player from last season, a pre-printed registration form will be available for you at registration. Due to the growth of our league and limited field space and volunteer resources, there may be a limited number of teams. Players will be registered based on the number of volunteer Head coaches, so please do not delay volunteering to be the Head coach as your child will not be guaranteed a spot on a roster (even if you've been with WSA for a very long time - sorry!). Exceptions may be made for active volunteers who assist with the operation of the league.
Why can't we print a copy of the form from the
website and bring to registration?
While we try to make it more
convenient for parents to complete registration by providing this in the past, it created
additional workload and costs. WSA no longer allows parents to print the form from
the website and bring to registration because when we tried to do this in the past it
resulted in the following:
Why do you need birth certificates?
For insurance/liability reasons WSA must have birth certificates on file to prove
eligibility for age groups. WSA
cannot accept registration without it.
Can I
request that my child play with another player or specific coach?
Requests to play together will only be honored for MiniWee participants. Only U5 – U12 players who are siblings or are
the sons or daughters of the Head Coach and one Assistant Coach will be allowed to
play on the same team by request. All requests must be made at registration and it
must be written on the registration forms/Coaches Volunteer applications for all the
children involved in the request. Due to the administration involved, requests made
via email and/or after registraiton, will NOT be honored. Our goal is to make teams
as evenly matched as possible. WSA will not
honor requests for a specific coach.
What age group does my child fall into?
There will be information or a link on the Registration page to determine which
age group your child falls into for the current season.
Qualification for a age group is based on the cutoff date,
not the date the season or program begins. Note that children with advanced skills for
their age are only permitted to "move up" one age group but the request must be
made at the time of registration. Parents/guardians
must notify one of the payment processors at the time of registration and they will be
provided with the appropriate form for the request. The
final decision will be up to WSA and parents will be contacted ONLY if the request will
not be honored. Older children who are
inexperienced, with lesser skills, small stature or those with birth dates close to the
cutoff date are not permitted to play at a lower age group.
Can
we request placement of two or more players together on the same team for carpooling or
other hardship reasons?
There are only three reasons that WSA allows placement of two or more players on the
same team:
1)
the players are siblings who are in the same
age group (or one is playing up)
2)
the players are the sons or daughters of the
Head Coach and Assistant Coach
3)
the players are in the MiniWee program.
Requests, that meet the above critera,
must be made at registration and must be written on the registration forms for all the
children involved in the request and the Coaches Volunteer Applications. Due to the
administration involved, requests made via email and/or after registraiton, will NOT be
honored.
While we tried to be accommodating in the past, during our Spring 2006 season our
Directors and some coaches were harassed throughout the season by individuals who were
part of a group of nine who wanted their children to play together. Even though we offered refunds after explaining
that we could not place all the children together but would place a maximum of two per
team, only one parent took the refund and the others decided to keep their children
enrolled. Unfortunately, our Directors
continued to be subjected to abusive emails throughout the season by some of the parents
from that group so WSA has had to adopt a strict policy now regarding requests to play
together. While we encourage carpooling, there
have been too many cases where parents have also abused the carpooling and hardship
issue…so please don't even ask, we won't honor these types of requests for team
placement!
What if I am out of town during registration?
We have limited volunteer resources to handle the administrative tasks involved with
organizing the league. This includes
registration so we cannot accommodate requests to register participants outside the
designated registration periods. If you will
not be available for either of the
registration dates/times, please send a friend or relative to register your child. Provide them with the information required (see
What To Bring To Registration) and give them a pair of your child’s shorts and a
T-shirt to bring to registration for uniform sizing.
What
if I don't have a computer and/or internet access to visit your website for important
information such as Registration dates, etc.?
Hillsborough County Public Libraries have free internet access.
Who do I contact if I would like to coach a
team?
You may download a Volunteer Application form from the Coaches’
Corner on our website. ALL
sections (including SSN#, driver’s license, etc.) must be fully completed for the
Hillsborough County Athletic Department to perform background checks. You can bring the completed form with you to
registration or mail it to the WSA address on our website; however it must be received by
the Final Registration date in order for WSA to meet its deadline in order for background
checks to be performed.
Do families enrolling
more than one child get a discount?
Yes, the registration fee will
be discounted $10 for each additional sibling. This
discount is available for siblings only, and is not available for cousins, friends,
or those living in the same household. Due to those who have abused this privilege,
proof may be required for the discount.
What type of parental involvement
does WSA have?
WSA is a non-profit organization that is dependent on volunteers. While none of its current Board members have
children who participate in the league, every Board member/Director is a volunteer.
No Board members/Directors are paid for the
time they generously donate to organizing the league. There are a variety of tasks that
can be done to help; all are part-time, some are short-term, some are longer-term
commitments, but each one of them is VERY important with helping to make WSA the best it
can be for the children. It is expected that parents will commit to volunteer for at least
one of the many volunteer activities available--there is something for everyone. Volunteering
to be a Team Parent, bringing snacks or other tasks associated with your child's team is
great. However, there are important volunteer
tasks required to operate the
league, such as coaching, refereeing, field lining, and many administrative roles (making
phone calls, registration, etc.) that we need parents to perform.
Do you offer late registration?
All teams are filled on a first come basis and teams are formed immediately after
Skills Assessment in order to meet the vendor's deadline for uniforms. If you would like your child to be placed on a
waitlist, please click on the waitlist link if/when it is available on the Registration
page. You will be contacted if a spot becomes available on an age-appropriate team. A late registration fee will be in effect ($80
– MiniWee, $100 U5 – U12 age groups).
Do participants have to be Westchase residents in
order to register?
Currently our league is not restricted to Westchase residents. We pay usage fees when we use private field space
in the CountryWay subdivision and we pay a usage fee for the Westchase Swim & Tennis
Activity room when enrollment isn't 75% or more Westchase residents.
U5 – U12 Head Coaches will determine the weekly practice days and times for their
teams based on their own personal schedules. Equipment
and curriculum guides for the age group will be provided by WSA as well as a Coach's
Handbook. The Player Development Officer (PDO)
will also be available to provide one-on-one training on how to conduct a practice.
MiniWee—the
commitment to be a MiniWee Assistant coach is very minimal because the Player Development
Officer (PDO) will be the Head Coach and will run the first 30 minutes of the MiniWee
sessions (which are held on Saturdays only). MiniWee
Assistant Coaches will assist the PDO during the first 30 minutes and will be left to run
the last 15 minutes of the session after receiving guidance/instructions from the PDO.
The role of the MiniWee Assistant Coach is more administrative. A MiniWee
Assistant Coach Handbook will be provided to guide you with the tasks required.
Can I request a team that holds practice on certain
days?
No, we do not have a schedule of practices because it is dependent on the coach’s
personal schedule. We do not have
volunteer resources to contact every coach to request a practice schedule for 500+ kids. As a parent, sometimes you may have to
re-arrange your schedule for the season which is approximately 10 weeks. A refund will not be issued if the team’s
practice time conflicts with your schedule and requests to be reassigned to another team
will not be accepted. Children cannot practice
with other teams and must attend their team’s practices in order to get equal playing
time in games. If your child is involved with
other activities that have set schedules which may conflict with soccer practices, we
recommend you do not register your child in our program this season.
Can
I register my child on-line?
No,
we currently do not have on-line registration but it is currently under development with
the hope of rolling out in 2009. We have been investigating various software but
have not yet been able to find one that suit our unique needs. For example, we will need a program that forces
certain age groups to sign up for Skills Assessment sessions. Since we are a non-profit organization, we want to
find software that can fulfill our requirements but without significantly increasing
registration fees to compensate for its usage.
Does my child have to
attend the mandatory Skills Assessment?
If your child
will be playing in the Under 7, Under 8, Under 10 or Under 12 age groups, they must attend
a 15-minute Skills Assessment session in order to be placed on a team. This applies to all new and some returning players. Participants in the U5, U6 and MiniWee age groups
do not attend Skills Assessment.
What if my child will not be available on the dates
that Skills Assessment is scheduled?
Since we have to limit enrollment due to field space and volunteer shortages (e.g.
coaches), children who do not participate in the Skills Assessment may not be placed on a
team. You must inform the payment processors
at registration that your child will not be able to attend Skills Assessment so your child
may be placed on a waitlist.
You may
sign up for a Skills Assessment time during any Registration session. Make sure you check your calendar before scheduling
a session for your child because it may be difficult to reschedule it after registration
is closed. If you forget the time your child is scheduled the Skills Assessment schedule
will be published on our website 24 hours prior to the sessions. If you do not wish your child’s information to
be included in the Skills Assessment schedule on our website, please inform us via email no later than 24 hours after registration.
Skills
Assessment is used to help us try to create evenly balanced teams. It’s more fun for players when teams are of,
or close to, equal ability. While creating
evenly balanced teams is not an exact science, we would appreciate your cooperation by
ensuring your child attend their Skills Assessment session.
Failure to participate in Skills Assessment may result in the child not being
placed on a team and your registration fee refunded--this applies to new and returning
participants (regardless of the number of seasons they have participated in WSA
programs).
Since
children develop and learn at different rates, we cannot predict the rate of improvement
by the end of the season. Some players improve
significantly, some a little, some none at all. There
are too many factors that can affect a child’s rate of improvement so this is why
some returning participants must be re-assessed prior to each season.
Can my child play in an older age group?
Children cannot play down an age group but parents can request to have their
child play up an age group. Parents must make this request at the time of
registration. They will be required to complete a Request to Play Up form. The
final decision will be up to WSA
and parents will be notified ONLY if the request has been denied. Children in the U7 – U12 age groups must
participate in a mandatory skill assessment for the age group they will be playing in and
failure to participate in skills assessment will result in the child not being placed on a
team. The child will not be allowed to move back to their age-appropriate division,
if there are not enough Head Coaches or once the team building process has begun, and
there will be no refunds.
Note to Parent/Guardian: If there are
not enough Head coaches for the age division, enrollment may be limited and preference
will be given to children whose parents/guardians are Head coaches or to the children who
belong in the age group based on the birth date ranges for the season. WSA strongly
recommends you agree to be the Head coach for your child’s team.
| Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) | |||||||