It’s time to have fun; yup some good ‘ole F-U-N fun.
I’ve been thinking about this years Presidents message for quite a while. I debated several different topics but then it dawned on me literally as I woke up this morning as the sun was rising; I need to talk about all of us having fun and enjoying this great game. The topic itself, fun, makes sitting down and writing this year’s message enjoyable.
On the administrative side of things it’s been hectic for many reasons. The Board has been very busy since the last games of the 2008 season were played (8) months ago. While most of the Board’s efforts dealt with operational items which will make the job of running the club more efficient, two things that kept us busy are more visible.
The club made a conscious decision to focus on player development in the off season. The 1st stage of that decision was putting together the indoor training sessions at Epic and then MCC. Both were successful events for two reasons; the players learned something and had a great time too. We’ll look to continuing those types of event next off-season. Our thanks go out to our Club Coach
The 2nd stage of our focus on player development under consideration for next off-season is providing a strength and conditioning program geared toward soccer. Other clubs offer this program and the benefits to the players are very tangible. We will use other clubs programs as a template on how we might implement this for the Lancers. We welcome your feedback on whether this is something you would participate in.
Another thing that kept us busy was finding fields to play our home matches on. GCC has been home to the S.C. Genesee Lancers for many years. However this summer GCC will have a construction project underway so they will not be able to host us this season. Honestly we had to do some scrambling but through the efforts of our Field Coordinator Chris Chilano with cooperation from GASA, Byron Bergen S.C. and the
So back to having fun; I can’t think of anything more important to accomplishing our goal of creating the best soccer experience possible for our players, coaches and fans than making sure it is fun along the way.
Reflecting back on my experiences as a player the teams that accomplished the most were also the ones that had the most fun. The coaches made practices purposeful but fun at the same time. As a team we all got along, laughed a lot but learned a lot too. The coaches taught us without yelling and screaming but they got our attention when the needed to if you know what I mean. We had parents who were supportive and enjoyed the game without yelling at the officials every chance they got. I have great memories from those teams.
I also played on teams that weren’t so much fun, coaches yelling most of the time, parents screaming from the sidelines; yikes. As a player you shut down mentally and can’t wait for the game or season to be over. I don’t remember learning much on those teams and it wasn’t a positive experience for anyone.
So as we hit the practice and game fields lets work with purpose, laugh a lot and create great memories of the 2009 season.
Peter Guppenberger – President
S.C.