Wednesday, May 30, 2018

5 Reasons to Consider Rosevelt SC



(Note: More information about our upcoming 2018-2019 Player Evaluations--including links for free registration--can be found here.)

Our club will be celebrating its fifth anniversary next season, so below are five reasons why you should consider playing with the Rosevelt Soccer Club in the 2018-2019 season:

5. Our teams have a balanced travel schedule.

Our club's season runs from January-June, in large part so that our players' families won't feel like they need juggle multiple schedules and travel throughout northern New England to attend multiple games on Sundays throughout the fall.

And when our teams kick off their full-time programming in January, our club strikes a healthy balance of travel requirements: On the one hand, all our training sessions are located within the Greater Portland area, and our teams compete in Maine-based leagues.

On the other hand, our teams travel outside the state a few times each season to compete in the same tournaments all the other premier clubs in Maine compete in.

Quality time on the soccer field doesn't have to require long hours on the road, and our club's long-term commitment to improving soccer within Maine allows our players to earn that quality time on the soccer field with a more family-friendly travel commitment than other clubs require.

4. Our club is committed to quality programming, but still has the lowest fees around.

Our teams have access to the best indoor training facilities in southern Maine during the winter and play on some of the best turf fields throughout the spring. Our players are outfitted with quality Under Armour apparel, and our teams compete in the best tournaments in northern New England.

Our club has very little administrative overhead, so 100% percent of our players' registration fees are invested directly back into their teams' programming. As a result we're able to keep our participation fees at anywhere from 50%-75% less expensive than some of our neighboring clubs, which means we've saved our players' families at least $200,000 in registration fees over the last four years alone.

There are both philosophical and practical reasons for our relatively low participation fees, but all the reasons boil down to this fundamental belief: We love the game of soccer, and we want to reduce as many obstacles to sharing that love with as many people as possible.

3. Our coaches can give our players long-term commitment and undivided attention.

Over our first five years, we've experienced a relatively high retention rate among our returning players and our returning coaches. In our relatively brief history, our coaches have proven to be committed to the long-term development of our club and our players, so our players have experienced a consistent environment that yields continued improvement year-by-year.

Our club also has a policy that limits each coach to coaching only one team. This policy ensures our coaches don't have to divide their time, energy, and focus among multiple teams. And since this policy also applies to our assistant coaches, it also means our players are almost never coached on the sideline by a coach who's unfamiliar with them or a coach with whom they're unfamiliar.

Our coaches' long-term commitment to our players and their undivided attention to our players is something we value, both in practice and policy.

2. Our club is structured to emphasize quality instead of quantity.

Over the last four years, our club has grown from three older boys' teams to ten boys' and girls' teams that span all age groups from U9-U19. Even though our growth has been quicker than anything we'd initially imagined, we've also been deliberate in managing that growth.

Instead of fielding two teams in an age group just because we have enough numbers for those two teams, for example, we've prioritized making sure we have one team strong enough to compete with the best teams in our state. Instead of taking a scattershot approach to building teams, we've been forward-looking to ensure all our teams link with another to ensure a long-term chain of development. And instead of throwing together teams only to increase revenues, we've balanced the addition of new teams against our resources to ensure we still offer all our teams quality training opportunities and guard against stretching our resources too thin.

It's this deliberate focus on quality rather than quantity that has helped us gain a reputation for quality, both on the field and off it.

1. We're celebrating our 5th anniversary, but we're just getting started.

Even though we've progressed more in the last four seasons than we could've imagined, we feel like our club is just scratching the surface of our potential. We've built up our boys' and girls' programming so that our ten teams span from U9-U19 players, which means we have a playing opportunity available for youth soccer players of all ages. We've provided hundreds of players thousands of soccer-playing opportunities. Our teams have won multiple state championships and tournament finals.

Our commitment to the long-term growth of soccer in Maine is stronger than ever and our goals for the long-term development of our players are more clear than ever.

Questions? Concerns? E-mail us at roseveltsoccer@gmail.com or calling (207) 766-8554.