Good morning parents & players,
As club seasons begin to wind down, there are a few things that I need to remind people about in regards to the upcoming high school season.
Jason Behler English Department, Head Boys Soccer Coach Henry Clay High School Hello, new Henry Clay Boys Soccer players & families,
Coach Behler will send out more information on the summer schedule and tryouts soon after school ends, but I wanted to go ahead and reach out to give an overview of what's to come this summer and to confirm that we received your online player registration form. This will be a long email, but I'll try not to overload you with information. My name is Betty Harvey. I have a graduating senior and a freshman currently in the program, and I am serving as the booster club president for 2023-2024. Coach Behler welcomes your questions and communication, but please know you can reach out to me as well. Coach's email is [email protected]. Emails sent to the Booster Club email at [email protected] come to me. SCHEDULE & KEY DATES Optional Summer Practices/Kickarounds 6:30am - 8:00am May 31, June 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 UPDATED DATES & TIMES as of 6/11 (Canceled May 30, June 1 & 13) Henry Clay Stadium New and returning players are welcome to attend Optional Summer Kickarounds. Players will need to turn in their completed KHSAA Physical forms to Coach Behler at the first practice they attend. (More information on required forms below.) These practices are truly optional. The summer practice schedule is a grind. Don't overload yourself. If you are playing in State Cup or other tournaments or have multiple activities scheduled, don't feel pressure to be at every single kickaround. KHSAA Dead Period June 25 - July 9 Per KHSAA, Coaches are not allowed to have any communication with players or families during Dead Period. If you email Coach Behler during this time, you will not hear back and will need to resend your email after July 9 to get a response. If you need anything during Dead Period, you can reach out to me at [email protected]. Paperwork Dropoff 5:30 - 7:00pm Thurs, July 13 Outside the Gym at Henry Clay We will have a dropoff event on July 13 where we collect all mandatory paperwork and fees in advance of tryouts. The purpose of doing this is to maximize the players' on-field tryout time. If you cannot attend the paperwork dropoff, please reach out to me to make other arrangements. You can mail it to me or drop it off at my house. Tryouts 6:00-9:00am Sat, July 15 6:00-9:00am Mon, July 17 Henry Clay Stadium Coach Behler has scheduled two tryout sessions. Players should plan to attend both. If you cannot attend tryouts, let Coach Behler know beforehand. Players will be notified after the Monday session if they will not be placed on one of the teams. Coach will email the rosters to the distribution list and post them to the website on Monday night. The Booster Club will hold an informal parent Q&A at the beginning of tryouts on Saturday. It is optional and designed to provide a brief orientation for new families and an opportunity to ask questions. Coach Behler will hold an official season kickoff meeting for players and families a week or two after tryouts. Summer Practice Schedule Summer practices will begin on Tues, July 18th and will typically start at 6:00 or 6:30am. All teams will typically practice Mon-Thurs, with a Varsity only practice on Fridays. Practice will shift from mornings to evenings on Monday, August 14th. Evening practices typically begin at 5:30 and last an hour and a half or two hours. Note that team and individual photos will be scheduled sometime the last week of July. WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO FOR TRYOUT REGISTRATION You have already submitted the online Player Registration Form. In addition, you will need to submit the Henry Clay HS Athletics Forms Packet and $25 cash or check payable to Henry Clay Boys Soccer for insurance. The insurance payments and Athletics Forms Packet will be collected at the July 13th dropoff event mentioned above. If you plan to participate in the Optional Summer Practices, you will need to turn in the KHSAA Physical form early (on the first day you attend a practice). ABOUT THE KHSAA PHYSICAL FORM Pardon the heavy-handed reminder, but unfortunately there is at least one player every year who has to sit out during tryouts because of this form. The completed KHSAA Consent & Physical Form must be turned in before you can participate. You must have had a physical within the last calendar year. The appropriate pages of the form must be filled out, signed and dated by your physician. All other pages must be filled out by the player or parent/guardian and signed and dated where required. There is no way around this rule. It is a state thing, not a FCPS or Henry Clay or Boys Soccer thing. Please, plan ahead and get your physical scheduled, if needed. WHERE TO FIND INFORMATION Website Your most comprehensive and up to date resource for HC Boys Soccer is our website: henryclaysoccer.weebly.com. Note that on the "News" page, you can find Coach Behler's (and some Booster Club) past emails in blog form. If you can't find an email in your inbox or you think you might have missed something, this is a good place to look. The preliminary game schedule can be found under the Gameday tab along with Rosters and Stats. The upcoming practice and event schedule can be found on the home page. Coach maintains the @HenryClaySoccer twitter account and is pretty active on there, particularly during the season. We also have an instagram page (@henryclaysoccer) that is maintained by the Booster Club for day to day reminders, events and information. Team Snap After tryouts, Coach will shift to Team Snap as the primary mode of communication to the team. Typically he will send a weekly email out on Sundays with the upcoming schedule and a weekly overview. More information to come after tryouts. ABOUT THE TEAMS Henry Clay fields 3 teams: Varsity, JV Gold and JV Blue. If you are looking at the preliminary schedule, you will see that there are some JV Blue play dates listed, but without specifics. Most of the JV Blue schedule will be set after tryouts, once the coaches know which other schools will field a 3rd team. MIDDLE SCHOOLERS WHO ARE NOT ZONED TO HENRY CLAY This rarely comes up, but is worth mentioning. Rising 7th & 8th graders planning to play high school soccer play for the school to which they are zoned. For example if you currently attend the GT Program at Winburn or Tates Creek and will be guaranteed a spot in the Academy at Henry Clay in 9th grade, you play for Clay in 7th or 8th grade only if you live in Clay's attendance zone. Otherwise, you play for the high school to which you are zoned in 7th & 8th, then switch in 9th to the high school you attend. Strange, but true. If you have questions about this, please let me know. I look forward to getting to know you all. Please reach out if you have questions. Sincerely, Betty Harvey 2023-2024 Booster Club President Henry Clay Boys Soccer [email protected] henryclaysoccer.weebly.com |
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