GREATER GRAND FORKS RECREATIONAL SOCCER

Welcome to the Greater Grand Forks Soccer Club (GGFSC) Recreational Soccer program. This program is for boys and girls in preschool through 6th grade and takes place in both the spring and fall. Games are at Bringewatt and practices take place at various parks throughout the city. Hundreds of athletes take advantage of this fast-paced, fun activity and many go on to join our competitive and winter indoor programs. The rec program goals are to have fun and promote good sportsmanship, fair play, and love for the game. As such, we do not emphasize the results of the game, but prioritize fun and the development of skills and abilities. 

The Spring Rec Season generally opens for registration in late February. The season runs from mid to late April thru late May/early June, depending on holiday/school dates. The beginning of the season is also highly dependent on snowmelt and field condition. Occasionally we might delay the full season opener, but do limited practices on a turf or indoor field if available. 

The Fall Rec season generally opens for registration in late July. The season runs from late August thru early October, depending on holiday/school dates. The end of the season is occasionally impacted by early snowfall and is subject to change.

This page will be populated with season info, including dates, deadlines, and costs as details are finalized and registration opens. Once opened, registration may be made either from here or your "my account" page.

Program timeline (general timeline available here):

• Register by Sunday, August 11th.
• Late registrations after August 11th will incur a $30 late charge and no guarantee of placement. Team formation begins soon after the registration deadline. Because of the amount of re-work required for late adds, late registrations will be handled on a case-by-case basis depending on available space in age group. Players registered late will be placed on teams that need players until all rosters are full - no team requests for late registrations.
  

Rosters, schedules, and practices:

• Rosters Announced: By Friday. August 23rd. In order to promote a positive playing environment, GGFSC reserves the right to balance teams as we deem necessary through placement or movement of players before or after the season begins. Change requests after rosters are announced will not be honored.
• GGFSC Equipment pick-up and Coach Briefing : Saturday, August 24th @ Bringewatt. Specifics TBA
• Preseason Practices: Preseason practices begin the week of August 26th, weather permitting. For planning purposes, expect your practices to be at the times listed in the grid below. Specific practice times and locations will be announced when rosters are announced. Final practice start times will depend on program numbers and field availability.
  

• Game Schedules Announced: By Wednesday, August 28th. Prior to schedules being posted, please use the general schedule as an estimate for commitments.
  
• First Games: week of September 2nd (weather and field permitting). We will try to always get at minimum of one practice before the first game.
• Last Planned Games: Pre on Monday, September 30th. K-6 on Saturday, October 5th
• Game Times: Will depend on program numbers and field availability. Times are variable in the fall due to decreasing daylight and will be earlier as the season progresses
• Makeup Games: We expect some weather cancellations and generally there are no makeup games unless there is an extremely extenuating situation. If circumstances dictate, makeups may be held the week of October 7th. This is at the sole discretion of GGFSC. No makeups will be held unless we announce via email. 

 
Age-specific programming grid

Important schedule notes:

• Practice and game times may change to accommodate all teams
• We generally aim for 5:30 start times, however due to program numbers and field availability, start times are usually staggered.
• Start times will vary in the fall due to decreasing daylight as the season progresses. Start times will generally get earlier and staggering may not be possible later in the season.
• Rosters and first-week practice times will be announced several days prior to the season
• Game schedules and permanent practice times and places will be announced during the first week of practices
  

To Register

• Read through this entire information page first
• Find your players gender and grade for the upcoming school year in the registration links at the bottom of the page, and fill out the online registration.
  • Park and school questions in the registration process help us form teams where numbers are uneven or there are multiple teams.
  • Payment can be made by credit card at the end of the registration process. 
  • NOTE: Sports Connect has a mandatory $3 service charge on each transaction. This is in addition to the GGFSC program tuition and is non-refundable.
  • Players must have reached their 4th birthday prior to the beginning of the season to be eligible. Rec program divisions follow standard GF school-age cutoff dates.
    • NOTE: If you do not see the proper grade-level registration link below, it is usually because your player falls outside of the standard age range for the division (we can fix this - notify us by email at [email protected]). It might also be because the registration period has ended.
• Scholarship/hardship applications and instructions for submittal can be found by clicking this link

Required Player Equipment

• MANDATORY - Shin guards covered by soccer socks
• Tennis Shoes (Soccer Shoes/Cleats are recommended - be sure that cleats are made specifically for soccer and are not of the baseball or football type, or you will be asked to remove them).
  
• Soccer Ball – please bring to each practice as coaches have a few but not enough for every player (see sizes in table above)
• GGFSC Reversible Rec Jersey - MANDATORY for games - GGFSC Rec jerseys are available at Scheels. Jersey numbers are optional, and available at Scheels for an additional charge.
  • Teams listed first on schedule pairings are HOME and will wear WHITE. Teams listed second are AWAY and will wear BLUE
  • Goalkeepers (3rd grade and up) must wear a shirt that is not the same color as any other player on the field. This can be a pinnie or sweater. Official goalkeeper gear other than this (such as gloves) is not mandatory, but may be provided by players if they wish.
    
• Water Bottle - every athlete must stay well hydrated
• For safety, billed hats, watches, jewelry, earrings, or other piercings may not be worn.
• Cold-weather gear - warm clothes are recommended on cool days with the following limitations (other limitations at referees discretion):
  • Jerseys must be always visible as a top layer during games.
  • Jackets, gloves, and hats may be worn, however strings and ball-ends must not be loose, so that you or other players aren't at risk of injury
  • Keep in mind how some clothes may be restrictive of soccer movement and play.
  • Mornings may start cold, but warm up rapidly (and vice-versa in the evening). Best advice: wear layers!

Rosters

• Final team roster numbers will be based on total registration numbers.
• We make every effort to form rosters based on schoolmates and/or geographic location, however it is not always possible to be placed on a team near your home.
• If the registrations for a school/practice location has enough players for more than one team, these will be balanced by experience and/or grade level. If final numbers are grossly uneven or facilities are not available, we may have to move some players to another nearby park/school.
• We do allow you to make one request for a teammate, however this is rec soccer and we want it to be a positive experience for everybody. It is much better for everybody when games are close and competition is fairly even, so for the older age groups, we will try to avoid stacking teams with competitive players or upper-graders and may place players as we see fit. If you don't make it onto a team with all your summer competitive teammates, classmates, or your favorite coach, think of it as an opportunity to make new friends and lead them on the field. The best way to ensure you'll end up on your friend's team is for both of you to request each other. Round-robin requests (player a requests b, who requests c, who requests a, are often not honored). Pick a friend.
• The most common reasons for not ending up on your requested team: 1) requested player is not enrolled, 2) requested player is in a different age group, 3) team is "stacked" with competitive or older players 4) too many requests/not enough space on that team
  
• All roster requests must be made in the registration form - please do not email us with roster requests.
  
• Quite a bit of work and time goes into creating fun, fair, and balanced rosters as best we can. Change requests take an inordinate amount of rework/rebalancing and will not be honored, so please do not request to change teams.

Weather-Related Cancellations

• Most weather cancellations are due to poor field conditions or thunderstorms in the area, however you should always expect to play until notified otherwise.
  
• The urge to ask us "are we playing/practicing today?" is strong, but we take a lot of factors into account - balancing safety, getting the games in, the shape of our fields, and your valuable time when considering our decision. Making the decision involves a lot of communication between staff members, often during rapidly changing conditions, so we ask that you refrain from sending us messages asking for weather cancellations so we can focus on the task. We will let you know!
• The more marginal the weather, the later in the day we will make a decision.
• We will attempt to make cancellation announcements around 4pm on weekdays and 8am on Saturdays, if possible. However, changes may be made at any time, so please don't just drop the kids off and leave when the weather is marginal!
• Weather updates will be announced on our Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram - these are the best places for up-to-date info when weather is changing rapidly. If time permits, we will also announce by banner on our home page and/or email.
  
• We may provide limited opportunities to make up games if there is an unusually high number of game cancellations, at the club's discretion and as availability and weather dictates. Cancelled practices will not be made-up. 
• There are no refunds for cancellations due to weather or field conditions

Refunds

• No refunds for withdrawal will be granted after the commencement of the first practice.
• Refunds are not granted for weather cancellations except in very extreme circumstances, and are at the sole discretion of the club

Coaches

• Every team must have a coach, but there will usually not be enough coaches to fill every team prior to the beginning of the season.
• All parents/guardians should consider coaching, and any may be asked to
• If you want more information on coaching, read the Coaching Information module below.

Contact Us

• See the website for office hours. 
• The best way to contact us is email at [email protected]. We will attempt to respond to your questions ASAP, however, please understand that the program staff work full-time day jobs elsewhere and due to the often overwhelming email volume, it may take time to respond to your emails, usually in the evenings. 

GGFSC reserves the right to make changes to the above at any time for balance, safety, or other logistical reasons.

Coach General Information:

• Recreational soccer teams are coached by parent volunteers, which is standard practice for the vast majority of clubs throughout the country. We do our best to help develop volunteer coaches, including providing coaching resources, training seminars, and even certification. However, if your player is interested in receiving training from our certified staff coaches, we have many other programs available for them to develop their skills.
• We try to distribute the coaches who express interest during the registration process, but not all teams will be filled at the beginning of the season and we will seek volunteers.
• After the first week of practice (grace period), teams cannot take the practice or game field without a coach
• Any parent may be asked to volunteer if your team does not have a coach. However, GGFSC can not be ultimately responsible for finding your team's coach, so please consider stepping up! The less delay, the better it is for the kids.

• All coaches (head and assistant) must register through GGFSC. Use the volunteer tab in your "My Account"
• All coaches must complete a background check and a SafeSport module through GotSoccer. Details on this process will be emailed as coaches are registered.
• After the end of the season, each volunteer rec coach will receive a registration fee reimbursement check for one GGFSC Recreational athlete per session, per team coached. This will be prorated depending on coach participation, details in the coach registration form. 
  
  

Coach Training

• Our goal is to educate and empower our volunteer coaches and having all coaches under our roof allows us to develop a pathway for coaching development.
• We strongly encourage all coaches to take a short, free Introduction to Grassroots Coaching Module from US Soccer.
  
• We will hold one coach training session sometime within the week prior to the beginning of the season, and, depending on demand, at least one or more sessions during the first week of the season. Details will be emailed as we firm up the plan.

Coach Equipment

• Bags with several balls, cones, and pinnies (for some) will be distributed to coaches prior to the first practice. A date for this distribution will be announced via email prior to the beginning of the season. 
• We recommend that coaches provide their own additional own cones and balls, if desired.
• For 2nd grade and up: Goalkeeper gear (sweater and gloves) is not mandatory, but if you choose to use them, they must be provided by coaches or players. A pinnie or sweater may serve to identify the goalkeeper, however it must be a color that uniquely differentiates the goalkeeper from the other players.

Rules of the game summary (for more info, see the GGFSC Rec Rules and Guidelines Page)

• GGFSC generally follows US Youth Soccer modified rules for age groups as listed in the table above
• Specific position play may be introduced at U10 (2nd grade and up). If position play is used, all athletes should get a chance to rotate through all positions.
• All athletes must play approximately equal playing time.
• Deliberate play from the head (headers) is not allowed in any age level of GGFSC rec soccer. Deliberate headers should be called as a free, indirect kick for the opposing team
• For 2nd thru 4th grade games, the US Soccer Build-Out Line rules will be in effect. To foster development of play out of the back field, punts and drop kicks are not allowed for 2nd thru 4th grade goalkeepers. Goalkeepers will serve the ball out by throwing or rolling.
• Penalty kicks will not be awarded at any time for grades 4 and under (direct/indirect kicks may be awarded). Penalty kicks may be awarded as necessary for grades 5 and up.
• Kick-in restarts should be used in lieu of throw-ins for preschool and kindergarten divisions. Out of bounds on the sideline (touchline) should restart on the sideline. Out of bounds on the goal line should be awarded a goal kick by the defending team (if the attacking team kicked it out), or a corner kick by the attacking team (if the defending team kicked it out)
• If there are not enough players on one team to field the number of players for that division (see table), then the opposing coach should lend enough players to the team in need using pinnies or reversing the jersey, as appropriate. Players can be rotated in this manner, and can be sent back to their original team if more players show up. Alternatively, both coaches can agree to play up to one player short from the number of field players for that division, however a game cannot begin with more than two field players short on either side. If this is a recurring issue for a team, please contact GGFSC.