Greetings from Stafford Springs Soccer Club
Newsletter, May 30, 2024
Message to all Stafford Soccer Families
Registration is now open for Fall Soccer 2024 for both Travel Soccer and Recreational Soccer programs.
Registration for Travel Soccer is for kids aged Under 9 through Under 14 (date of birth in calendar years 2016 through 2011). We anticipate forming travel teams to compete in the CJSA NorthEast District again this fall. The pre-season training starts in August so we ask all players to be registered by August 1. Player skill assessments will be conducted at the training sessions. The registration fee is $70/player for travel soccer. There is a 2-player maximum fee per family. A couple of the older team ages are set up with a waitlist to help us gauge interest prior to collecting the registration fee.
Registration for Recreational Soccer is for kids aged Under 4 through Under 8 (date of birth in calendar years 2021 through 2017). Programs will be formed at Under 4 three-year-old Microkickers, Under 6 four-and-five-year-old Minikickers, and Under 8 six-and-seven-year-old Intramurals. We will begin play on or around September 1 with actual start dates for each program to be announced in August. Volunteer coaches and assistant coaches are needed for all programs, no experience required. The registration fee is $35/player for recreational soccer. There is a 2-player maximum fee per family. We will accept registrations up through September 1 and consider any late registrations after that on a space-available basis.
Visit the Stafford Springs Soccer Club website to login/enroll and register at
Stafford Springs Soccer Club > Home (bluesombrero.com)
We will keep you informed from this website and its mobile friendly interface. We use the website going forward for online registrations and all communications. Please register with an email address that you actively monitor. We ask that you provide and subscribe a cell phone for text messages as the default is to be unsubscribed. We will limit use of that to time sensitive communications such as weather cancellations or field location changes.
Send any questions via email to
Dave Bachiochi
[email protected]
Newsletter, March 2024
Spring Soccer Registration opens March 1
Spring Outdoor Soccer is planned for Under 4-Under 8 Recreational ages and for Under 10, Under 14-15 Girls Travel and Under 10-11, Under 13-14 Boys Travel. Registration opens March 1. Register online at https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/staffordsprings The Rec season will be Saturday mornings starting on April 27 thru June 8. The Travel season is anticipated to run from April 20 through June 9.
Newsletter, January 2024
revised February 12, 2024
Happy New Year!
Winter Soccer Gym Times
Indoor Soccer play really starts Sunday January 14, 2024. Start times by age levels are shown below. Play will be every Sunday (except March 31) thru April 14. Still time to register online at https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/staffordsprings When registering, choose the age group that matches your age. All play will be age appropriate.
Gym Times:
3-4 year olds at 12:00-1:00pm
5-6 year olds at 1:00-2:00pm
7-9 year olds at 2:00-3:15pm
High School Girls at 3:15-4:45pm
U10 Girls Travel at 4:45-5:45pm
The schedule may be adjusted in future weeks depending on attendance patterns.
Logistics:
- Enter gym at rear of Stafford High School adjacent to the cafeteria.
- Bring indoor footwear to change into. Change in the foyer inside the school but outside the gym. Don't bring the weather into the gym floor. Arrive a few minutes early so you can get onto the gym floor at your allocated time.
- Bring your own water bottle but the water fountains do work.
- Shin guards are mandatory. Bring a ball if you have one.
- It is ok to join a session outside your assigned age group.
- Weather announcements will be posted on the club website and sent via email. If school would be cancelled, then soccer will be cancelled.
- Health protocols - if you are sick, stay home.
As always, volunteers to facilitate the play are always needed and welcome. This is a casual play atmosphere.
Thanks,
Dave Bachiochi
SSSC President
Newsletter, December 2023
December 4, 2023
(Season) Greetings!
With the fall season now in the rear-view mirror, I want to acknowledge the contributions of our volunteers, summarize the season, and look ahead to the next set of activities. Without all of you and all our volunteers, soccer doesn't happen.
SSSC Appreciation
Special thanks and job well done by coaches Marco and Shelbie with the 3-year-old Microkickers. The parent contributions were very welcome whenever mother nature let us get onto the field.
The team of Minikickers coaches was outstanding this season. Coaches Peter, Adam, Brian, Andy, Steve, Chris were stalwarts all season long. We lost playing dates to weather and lack of late season lighting.
The 6–7-year-old Intramurals were blessed with a combination of experienced and energetic individuals including coaches Ashley, Pepe, Colin, Jared, Angel, Aaron, Steve, Peter. They developed a rapport to cover for each other all season long.
We had more kids registered in these age groups than we have had in many years.
Our travel teams competed in very strong leagues. Each player on each team gave it their all to maximize their soccer development. My sincere appreciation goes out to coaches Roland, Murphy, Blais, Soucy, and Introvigne and their assistants.
I need to acknowledge the efforts of our behind-the-scenes board members Mike Richards, Dave Buchanan, and Becky Murphy for their enduring assistance.
Good News!
I am happy to announce that Joe Introvigne was recognized as Coach of the Year in the Northeast District, at the Chafik Rebai Fall Celebration Awards event in Vernon on November 18. Congratulations, Joe. The district recognizes Coach, Volunteer, Youth Referees, and Sportsmanship recipients.
Winter Registration
Looking ahead, registration is now open for Sunday afternoon gym time. Play will be Sundays starting January 7 and every Sunday (except March 31) thru April 14. Register online at https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/staffordsprings When registering, choose the age group that matches your age. All play will be age appropriate.
The spring outdoor season commences late April, and it will be here before we know it.
Enjoy the upcoming holidays!
Thanks,
Dave Bachiochi
SSSC President
Newsletter, Summer 2023
May 28, 2023
Greetings!
The spring travel and recreational soccer programs will be wrapping up their activities for the season in a couple of weeks. I hope all enjoyed what we could offer, and I look forward to operating in the fall. Enjoy the summer and stay healthy.
We are not offering any summer camp activities in town this year but I encourage anyone to join regional camps as these are fun opportunities to improve your skills.
Fall Soccer
We intend to offer the recreational programs for the three year old microkickers, four and five year old minikickers, and six and seven year old intramurals. These are super dependent on enough volunteers stepping up. The sessions will be activity based for some fun exercise and skill development. We will be very flexible depending upon enrollment and volunteer participation. Intramurals league play in the 4v4 format is an important development format and will be enhanced this upcoming season. We expect activities to commence on or about September 5 but registrations are open now.
We intend the travel programs will again compete in the CJSA NE District leagues. Teams will be formed based on player interest and coach availability. There are two levels of competition within the NE District and we enter teams based on their assessed competence. The club is planning to conduct a player assessment for the travel teams during the first week in August to help us determine the best way to form our teams. Please register on our website and you will be notified of the dates, time and places for pre-season and assessment activities as soon as they firm up. We are holding all registration fees at their same levels as last season.
Registration for all fall activities opens May 31. Please visit our SSSC website at
https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/staffordsprings
We will keep you informed from this website and its mobile friendly interface. We use the website going forward for online registrations and all communications. Please register with an email address that you actively monitor. We ask that you provide and subscribe a cell phone for text messages as the default is to be unsubscribed. We will limit use of that to time sensitive communications such as weather cancellations or field location changes.
Feel free to direct any questions to me at any time.
Thanks,
Dave Bachiochi, SSSC Youth Director, [email protected]
Newsletter, Spring 2023
March 9, 2023
Spring Soccer Registration
Attention Families of all SSSC players
SSSC Spring Soccer Registration Open
SSSC Extended Minikickers
The core age range for Minikickers is for kids born in 2017-2018. We are inviting kids born in 2016 and kids born 2019 to join the core group if they feel comfortable with that level of play. Registration fees are $20/player for anyone new to the program and $0/player for anyone who registered this past fall or winter indoor season. The playing season will be held once per week on Saturday mornings starting on April 22 and running through June 10. We can still use any interested volunteer coaches to facilitate play.
SSSC Travel Teams
We plan to field teams at the Boys U9-U10 and U12-U14 and Girls U9-U10, U11-U12, U13-U15. Registration fees are $35/player. The district playing season will start the weekend of April 22-23 and run through the weekend of June 10-11. We need to know who is playing by March 26 in order to form rosters and enter teams into the district for the spring season.
Newsletter, Winter 2023
January 3, 2023
Winter Indoor schedule
Attention Families of all SSSC players
Registration for winter indoor soccer is now open on the club website. We are opening the SHS gym on Sunday afternoons between 1-6pm starting January 8, 2023, for winter indoor soccer. The registration fee is $25 per player to cover the custodial fees for the 13 Sundays thru April 2. Please register now if you haven't already. We will be following the playing times shown below to start. This is subject to some adjustment in upcoming weeks as interest dictates. As always, volunteers are needed to facilitate the play. The format is casual, and scrimmage-oriented for the exercise and a bunch more touches on the ball.
Link to https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/staffordsprings to register.
1:00pm Minikickers and Microkickers (ages 3, 4, 5) & Intramurals (ages 6, 7) split gym
2:00pm Under 10 Girls (ages 8, 9, 10)
3:15pm Under 10-14 Boys (ages 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
4:30pm Under 15 and Under 18 Girls (together or split gym)
The groupings do not match the registration groups you used to register so feel free to join the group that best suits the player's age and ability.
Logistics
Enter the high school at the rear entrance nearest the cafeteria. Wear street shoes to enter the building but change into sneakers for the playing surface action to keep the winter weather off the gym floor. Bring water only to drink, and the water fountains will also be available. Arrive a few minutes before the scheduled start time so you are ready to get onto the gym surface at your assigned time.
Weather postponements will be posted on the website and sent via email and text message (check to be sure you have enabled that with us) in the event of inclement weather. Basically, if the weather is bad enough that school would be cancelled, soccer will be cancelled. And vice-versa.
Newsletter, Summer 2022
July 10, 2022
Fall Travel Pre-Season schedule!
- U13-U15 Girls - Coach Al Lemoine's group opens pre-season on Tuesday August 23, and will be training Tuesdays and Thursdays starting August 23 at 5:30pm at the Stafford High School varsity soccer North field.
- U12 Girls - Coach Anna Murphy's group opens pre-season on Monday August 29 starting at 5:30pm at the Stafford Middle School. Training will be held Mondays and Thursdays.
- U10 Girls - Coach Mike Richards opens pre-season on Wednesday August 3 and will be training Monday and Wednesdays at the Stafford Middle School.
- U13 Boys - Coach Mark Miller's group opens pre-season on Tuesday August 23, and will be training Tuesdays and Thursdays starting August 23 at 5:30pm at the Stafford High School varsity soccer South field.
- U12 Boys - Join either the U11 boys or U13 boys for pre-season workouts.
- U11 Boys - Coach Joe Introvigne's group opens pre-season on Tuesday August 16, and will be training Tuesdays and Thursdays starting August 16 at 5:30pm at the Stafford High School varsity soccer South field.
- U10 Boys - Coach David Blais' group opens pre-season on Monday August 22, and will be training Monday and Thursdays starting August 22 at 5:30pm at the Stafford Middle School field.
- U9 Boys/Coed - Anticipating having a team to compete in U9 Boys Division 4. Need kids and a coach. Schedule to be determined.
The registration categories are set up by age. If you find that you need to register into a different group than what your coach is covering, just do so, join their training session and we will make the corrections as team rosters are formed. Players are invited to join other groups for extra workouts during August as vacation season winds down at different times.
Newsletter, Summer 2022
May 30, 2022
Greetings!
The spring travel and recreational soccer programs will be wrapping up their activities for the season in a couple of weeks. I hope all enjoyed what we could offer, and I look forward to operating in the fall. Enjoy the summer and stay healthy.
We are not offering any summer camp activities in town this year but I encourage anyone to join regional camps as these are fun opportunities to improve your skills.
Fall Soccer
We intend to offer the recreational programs for the three year old microkickers, four and five year old minikickers, and six and seven year old intramurals. These are super dependent on enough volunteers stepping up. The sessions will be activity based for some fun exercise and skill development. We will be very flexible depending upon enrollment and volunteer participation. Intramurals league play in the 4v4 format is an important development format and will be enhanced this upcoming season. We expect activities to commence on or about September 1 but registrations are open now.
We intend the travel programs will again compete in the CJSA NE District leagues. Teams will be formed based on player interest and coach availability. There are two levels of competition within the NE District and we enter teams based on their assessed competence. The club is planning to conduct a player assessment for the travel teams during the first week in August to help us determine the best way to form our teams. Please register on our website and you will be notified of the dates, time and places for pre-season and assessment activities as soon as they firm up. We are planning to refresh our travel uniform kit this season. Details about how to order online are forthcoming. Stay tuned.
Registration for all fall activities is now open. Please visit our SSSC website at
https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/staffordsprings
We will keep you informed from this website and its mobile friendly interface. We use the website going forward for online registrations and all communications. Please register with an email address that you actively monitor. We ask that you provide and authorize a cell phone for text messages. We will limit use of that to time sensitive communications such as weather cancellations or field location changes.
Feel free to direct any questions to me at any time.
Thanks,
Dave Bachiochi, SSSC Youth Director, [email protected]