Good Evening and happy GroundHog Day, in addition to 6 more weeks of winter we have roughly 6 weeks or so until the start of the Spring 25 Soccer Season. As a reminder, registrations and registration fees are due on or before February 21, so there is less than 3 weeks to get your registration forms in order. Additionally, I had four more items that I wanted to bring to the leagues attention, which are as follows:
1. Based on soft responses to date, it appears that I have one JV team interested (Aquinas) and 4 or 5 Varsity teams (1 or 2 from Aquinas and 1 each from MNZ, Sacred Heart and St. Bede) interested in the Girls 5v5 spring session. Based on that data, I envision a shorter 6 week season to test the waters and do a combined JV/V all girls league for those that are interested. If it is combined JV/Varsity please note that 4th graders would not be permitted to play up since that could mean that they are on the field against 8th graders and that is too big of an age gap. Those games would be in addition to the co-ed games that a school would participate in so a school that participates would need to, at a minimum, have field time for 3 home games this spring in addition to the other home games for the co-ed teams. A 5v5 field all girls JV/V field should be the size of the 3/4 grade fields, roughly 1/2 of a full field or close to the dimensions I use for the all girls tournament of 120 feet by 180 feet. We would conclude the girls season with the already existing all girls tournament that we have at No Offseason the weekend prior to memorial day weekend. Girls can and are encouraged to participate in both the all girls league and the co-ed league as we do not want schools having difficulty fielding a co-ed team due to the all girls league. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll circulate a revised registration sheet later this week that reflects an option for the girls league. Also, if we get an uptick in JV teams or lose some of the Varsity/JV combined teams we will revisit and either add a JV division or scrap the whole thing. Just like our regular season bracket determinations, this will all be driven by numbers provided to me by the schools.
2. For those that are planning any soccer expenditures or other expenditures around the 20% off day at Dicks Sporting Goods, that sale will be Friday March 14 through Monday March 17. More details to follow.
3. There has been some talk of Christ the Divine Teacher hosting an indoor kickoff spring soccer tournament this year, presumably in March. If this gets some legs and details get formalized, I will share additional information with you all once I receive it.
4. There is a chance that the DSL will partner with one of the organizations that runs soccer camps throughout the United States this summer for our players that would like to get a little extra training and a few extra touches for a week this summer. Once I get more details on this I will share it with the league as well.
Thanks all, enjoy the rest of your evening and don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Regards,
Rob Glentzer
On Thu, Jan 2, 2025 at 5:44 AM Rob Glentzer <[email protected]> wrote:
Good morning and happy New Year everyone. I know it's still January, but this is the time of year that my thoughts turn to DSL soccer and I have to start gearing up to get things ready for our spring season and our registration for schools for the spring season is officially open. Below is the Spring 25' timeline, which is substantially similar to the one I sent at the end of the fall season. Also, attached you can find a form of registration and form of player roster. As a reminder, registration is open now and will close on February 21. On 2/21 registration fees are also due, schools that have not submitted both the forms and the fees will not be scheduled. The first practice dates are set by schools, other than the requirement that no practices can start prior to 3/10. Player Rosters are due 3/21, and the first games start the week/weekend of 3/22 as well.Two other quick notes as well.1. So far the response for an all girls division at JV or Varsity (5v5 format) has not generated a lot of interest league wide. If this is something that you would like to register for please let me know, if we have enough teams I am happy to make a go of it, but currently there does not appear to be much in the way of demand.2. Starting today I will be out of office for two weeks and won't have any access to email or cellular phone during that time. Please hold any questions until I return on 1/16 and I can circle up with you then.
SPRING 2025- DSL Timeline
January 1st
Registration is open
February 21st
School Registrations and DSL fees are due, the check can be made out to the Pittsburgh Diocese and mailed to me at my home address 116 Wickerham Drive, Mars, PA 16046 (fees are $125 per team, so if you have one JV team and 2 developmental teams, send one check for $375)
March 10th
Practices can start on or after this date
March 17th
Schedules to be distributed
March 21st
Rosters are due
March 22nd
First weekend of games
April 1st through May 1st
Developmental Tournament & JV/Varsity All Girls Tournament Registration is open
April 17th-20th
Easter Holiday – No Games or Practices
May 17th
Tentative date for Developmental Tournament
May 25th
Last day to complete JV/Varsity games for playoff determinations (note this is Memorial Day Weekend; if you are unable to play this weekend, clearly indicate that conflict in your registration)
May 26th – June 1st
Tentative date for JV/Varsity Championship Series
Enjoy the remaining off season time andI'm sure we will be talking more over the next couple of months.