The NASA Tophat Junior Academy program has a lot of moving parts: 30-40 players, four practices a week between two locations, and several games each weekend.
Managing the group can be easy or difficult. We prefer the easy route. It’s easy provided each family manages their own responsibilities. We request that parents set aside 5 hours over the course of the soccer year to handle “away from the field” tasks to keep things moving smoothly. Thanks for your help!
Summer:
Post-tryouts (1 hour):
- Review the links on the Junior Academy tryout results page to learn who we are and what we’re about. We want everyone to be as informed as possible about the program. This will get you off to a good start.
Orientation (1 hour):
- Our orientation presentation gives you a chance to confirm Junior Academy goals, procedures and policies.
Academy Team Camp (30 minutes):
- Reply to our camp poll, and review the camp materials so your daughter is properly prepared.
Label uniforms (10 minutes):
- Uniform shirts and practice shirts are numbered. Other items (shorts, warm-ups, optional backpack) aren’t numbered and will look the same for all players.
- We recommend labeling clothing items by using a laundry marker or Sharpie to note your daughter’s initials and uniform number on internal tags / labels.
- You can customize backpacks with a luggage tag, colored wrist strap, ribbon, small stuffed animal, etc. (link: backpack tips). This will help minimize lost & found situations.
- You may also choose to have warm-ups and/or backpacks embroidered.
- We also recommend labeling your daughter’s soccer ball and water bottle with her initials and uniform number.
Fall:
Before our first practice (30 minutes):
- Review our training session guidelines with your daughter.
Before our first game day (30 minutes):
- Review our game day guidelines and procedures with your daughter.
Player availability (10 minutes):
- Family and school events take priority over soccer.
- Please notify us about any game day schedule conflicts a week (or more) ahead of time. If a player misses a game with no advance notice, it adversely affects her teammates. Advance notice gives us time to plan around your daughter’s absence.
Polls (10 minutes):
- Reply to any polls about player availability.
Winter:
- Kids are off for winter break, parents also get a break.
Spring:
Player availability (10 minutes):
- Notify us about any game day schedule conflicts.
Polls (10 minutes):
- Reply to any polls about player availability.
End of season parent meeting (30 minutes):
- We meet in May after practice to review details (tryouts, coaching assignments) regarding the upcoming soccer year.