Notes from the mandatory pre-season meeting run by Jude Larene, Youth Coordinator for Disc Northwest, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 from 6-7:30.  Impressively the number of teams has increased by ~20% this year (including 5 new teams within Seattle) — the fastest growth of all the youth spring leagues run by DiscNW.  The meeting was attended by ~40 coaches, as well as Jude and the DiscNW Account Manager, Kate Speck.  A highlight was receiving 5 free J-star 140-gram discs with an entrancing rainbow print of the DiscNW logo!

Here is a (low quality) audio recording of the meeting…

Jude on spring season orientation

• Private Facebook group: DiscNW youth coaching forum
• 11th edition rules
  • Great app Ultimate Toolbox which lets you search rules via keyword
  • (Jude also likes the Ultimate Playbook app.  There are other ultimate apps…)
  • No zone; no foot blocks
• Gender ratio
  • Always at least 3 girls on the team in 7v7
  • In 5v5 teams, offense chooses 3:2.
  • Goal is to ensure equal playing time for girls and boys
  • Jude’s team has an all-girl line
• Non-contact sport
• Encourage egalitarian subbing (no “kill lines”)
• Kids make the calls (coaches need to educate parents about this)
• Coaching Code of Conduct (Archived PDF of 2015-2016 DiscNW Coaching Code of Conduct)
  • Revised last year after a lot of work
  • Please read it before you sign it!  (Feedback is very welcome)
  • Consider the role you play as a coach in the lives of your players
  • Set the coaching bar very high!
• You may also need to sign a coach’s liability waiver
• Spirit scores
  • Average will be visible after 3rd week of play
  • Please enter after each game, along with point score
  • Get your team together at end of game and ask their opinion
  • Provide feedback to the opposing coach via on-line form
  • Score of 2 or 1 will require a comment this year; please provide a detailed explanation; Jude will contact the other team and help educate.
• If you can’t field a team for a Saturday game, please notify other team and Jude by Thursday
• Games to 11; 75 minutes; hard cap at 60 minutes.
• Only one field marshall hired for whole league!
  • So, don’t expect timing horns (except at Magnuson); bring cones & keep time; know field dimensions (It’s OK with Jude if agree with other coach on smaller field, e.g. in high winds!!)
  • Send responsible high school seniors to Jude to be additional marshalls!
  • Please manage your own lost and found items (use Facebook group if necessary, not Jude!)
• Weather hotline
  • Grass fields often get rained out
  • At bottom of DiscNW web site
  • Rainout Hotline: 206-504-DISC (3472)
  • DiscNW Twitter feed can also often helpful, but sometimes not as updated as hotline

Kate on rosters & waivers

• Hard copy hand-out
• Minimum roster requirement is 3 girls and 4 boys (by Saturday deadline)
• There is sometime a ~1-2 hour delay between roster additions and waiver availability
• Advice if you are still placing kids (e.g. by skill) onto teams: put them all on one roster so they can sign waivers, then re-organize later.
• Paper waivers can be scanned and emailed, or snail mailed; be sure to use current version of waiver!
• Encouraged but not required: Have medical authorizations on hand; there is a template on the DiscNW web site
• Report incidents to Jude so he can check in and utilize DiscNW insurance coverage (can help improve access for future emergencies)

7pm

Jude on other topics

• J-star discs (one for free to each coach tonight!)
  • Can get thumb further on top to help stabilize forehand
  • New throwers have a lot of success with them
  • May be less stable in high winds
  • Kids may develop better form and throwing mechanics using smaller discs
  • Buy more (rainbow!) for ~$7 through Disc NW
  • Vision is for all 3rd and 4th grade teams to use
  • If you like them want more, there are some emerging options for buying J-star discs in bulk (but they’re much less pretty than the DiscNW ones)
• Issues with our growing youth population
  • Field access
  • Coach shortage
    • If one coach of multiple teams needs sequenced games in one location, it increases scheduling challenges
    • Working on Coach Development Program (but may be ~5 years behind)
  • May need to make league changes
    • E.g. go to 5v5 in elementary
      • fixes field problem by allowing
      • but requires even more coaches
    • E.g. go to 4v4 to for gender equality
    • As one of biggest youth program in world/U.S. we have a chance to influence

7:30 end

• More growth and teams will require more financial aid to maintain access for all
• Save the date and start planning bid items — 2016 Fall Bid is Saturday Nov 12 is Fall Bid

Questions:

• Are there AEDs available at major fields like Magnuson?
• Phillips deal through Michael Lapin on AEDs for kids (cardiac risk is relatively low for elementary students; risk increases dramatically around grade 9)
• John Leahy: is going to 5v5 a sacrifice or not?
  • Jude personally thinks it works better for elementary kids
  • Scores are higher; more touches per game; more success
  • Jenn
    • voluntarily signed up new 4th graders
    • expectation is that girls will have a more equal experience
  • Shannon’s 5v5 fall league packed a lot of kids onto the Roosevelt field

Ideas:

• What about playing on other days of week, e.g. after school?
• Could elementary teams play in other seasons?  (Conflict with soccer?)
• Field advocacy group (in 80s?) used to go to city council meetings and wave discs around (John Beal is still at Seattle City Parks)
• Jude: City wants to put turf only where lights already exist (due to NIMBY light pollution concerns)
• Sometimes less is more
  • Maybe 3 game tournament once a month is as good as weekly Saturday games
  • Do playoffs make sense for elementary school?
  • Maybe play 2 weeks out of 3?  Weekend conflicts are tough, e.g. jazz
  • Fridays?  Some elementary soccer teams like a Friday evening practice
• Could fields along I-5 corridor expand capacity (e.g. Shoreline)?