Westfield Soccer Association

Boys Travel Soccer

Girls Travel Soccer

Coaching and Player Development

Lost and Found

Summer Soccer Camps

WSA Travel Tryout Information & Dates

Field Status

May 17 - All Westfield grass fields are open.

Click here for Union County Field status

If the bathroom facilities at Houlihan are out of order, please do not use the facilites at St Helen’s Church.

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Always check here for updates, including weather related cancellations. In season notices of field closings will be posted here by 2:00 PM weekdays and 8:00 AM weekends whenever possible. Click here for updates on the status of Union County fields. As a reminder while the lighting alarm system works 24 hours a day, at Houlihan/Sid Fay the siren will not sound after 9:00 pm; only the warning strobe operates 24x7.

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U11 Will Play 8v8 in 2012-2013

As many of you already familiar with travel soccer will know, our U10 teams typically transition from small-sided 8v8 to full-sided 11v11 at the U11 level. It’s a big change for the kids.

The truth is it’s widely accepted throughout the world (including US Soccer) that development is better achieved by staying small-sided and delaying the move to bigger fields. Kids get more touches on the ball, are more comfortable in tight spaces, and better learn the core principles of the game. Moving to the bigger fields tends to overemphasize purely physical attributes, advantages that are exaggerated at the younger ages, rather than focusing on developing the subtleties of the game. In countries like Spain, Brazil, Germany, and others, kids are playing futsal/indoor soccer until high school before they even set foot on a full-sided field. Given their success, it’s hard to argue with this philosophy.

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Two WSA Fire Players Selected to NJYS U12 ODP Player Pool

Emily Broughton and Grace Elliott were each selected by New Jersey Youth Soccer to attend the U12 Olympic Development Program during the summer of 2012. Both players are members of the Westfield Soccer Association Travel program and play under the direction of Coach Jonathan Nash for the U12 Girls Fire team which plays in the JAGS premier league. Congratulations to Emily and Grace for their ODP selection.

The US Youth Soccer ODP Philosophy is to identify players of the highest caliber on a continuing and consistent basis, which will lead to increased success for the U.S. National Teams in the international arena. The program was formed in 1977 to identify a pool of players in each age group from which a National Team will be selected for international competition; to provide high-level training to benefit and enhance the development of players at all levels; and, through the use of carefully selected and licensed coaches, develop a mechanism for the exchange of ideas and curriculum to improve all levels of coaching.

Westfield Soccer 2012-2013 Travel Tryouts

Tryout registration is now open

Tryouts for all 2012-2013 WSA travel programs will be held on May 12. A full description of the WSA Travel Program is available on the website.

All players must register on line for travel tryouts prior to tryouts and only players that have registered for tryouts will be considered for a travel team.

CLICK HERE FOR THE WSA TRAVEL TRYOUT SCHEDULE AND TRYOUT REGISTRATION

FC Premier Tryouts for 2012-2013 Teams

Tryout registration is now open

FC Premier tryout dates for the 2012-2013 season have been posted and are available by clicking on the FC Premier menu option. All players interested in attending a tryout are strongly encouraged to register on line.

Tryout dates for the U15 Girls have been posted.

Summer Soccer Camp Recommendations 2012

Looking for Summer Soccer camp? The Westfield Soccer Association is proud to recommend the following camps.

Westfield Soccer Summer Camp: The camps will be run by our current WSA and FC Premier coaches who, along with qualified trainers from BRASA and Sone Soccer and local High School coaches, will provide an excellent environment to learn the game and to enjoy the summer in a positive, productive way.

Lady Blue Devil Camps: The Lady Blue Devil Soccer camps offered by current Westfield High School coach Alex Schmidt. Coach Schmidt’s camps offer strong technical sessions and add in classroom activities that help produce soccer intelligence as well as leadership skills.

Camp details and registration information can be found on the Summer Soccer Camp link on the left under Site Contents.

2012 Spring Goalkeeper Program

Attention Keepers! We are excited to announce the 2012 Spring Goalkeeper Program. During these sessions, Competitive Goalkeeping will be running a comprehensive and technically focused program on the turf field at Sid Fey. All WSA teams are welcome to have their goalkeepers participate; Travel teams are expected to sponsor their goalkeepers as they did last spring. We have seen notable growth and development in keepers that have taken advantage of this program and hope to see that continue.

Sessions will be one hour on Thursdays between 3:30 and 6:30pm starting April 5th. U9/10 - 3:30 to 4:30, U11/12 - 4:30 to 5:30, U13+ - 5:30 to 6:30.

For the U9/U10s, the cost of the 6 week program is $225 per team with a three goalkeeper allotment.

For the U11/U12 and U13+, the cost of the 9 week program is $225 per team with a two goalkeeper allotment.

** New to this season: Competitive Goalkeeping will also come to one game for each team and provide a written evaluation for each WSA goalkeeper observed during that game.

Team registration is available via the link above. If you would like to have more goalies attend than are allotted for your team, please contact Scott Kraemer skraemer@comcast.net

Goal Safety Policy

This January a nine year old boy in North Carolina was killed by a falling goal (Read Article). All coaches, referees, parents and players are asked to pay close attention to the safety of the goals on the fields that they are using. As such the WSA would like to remind everyone of our Goal Safety Policy:

Coaches must inspect goals prior to any activity to make sure they are secured. Special attention is needed at practices.
Coaches must warn players and all parents of the dangers of goal posts.
Parents must be attentive and responsible for their children.
Do not allow horsing around on or around goals.
Referees must inspect goals prior to a game.
On fields that have small-sided games, the large goals must be placed face down and off the field.

Let’s make sure a tragedy like this does not occur in Westfield. Goal safety is everyone’s responsibility!

Houlihan Sid Fay Regulations

The WESTFIELD RECREATION DEPARTMENT takes pride in offering a “state of the art”, lighted, synthetic turf athletic field at Houlihan and Sid Fay Fields to its users. To preserve the performance, resilience, and appearance of the fields PLEASE ABIDE BY THE FOLLOWING REGULATIONS:

Place ALL TRASH & LITTER in containers provided.
ENTER & LEAVE the fields on the “PERIMETER CARPET” & WALKWAYS PROVIDED. ACCESS to both fields is from the “PARKING LOT” ONLY.
DRINKS limited to water/ CLEAR power drinks. PLEASE - - No Orange/Red/Blue/Yellow sports drinks, chocolate, coffee, cola, fruit drinks or juice, ice cream, ketchup, mustard, milk, tea, butter, food coloring, water colors, etc.
No chewing gum, chewing tobacco, or sunflower seeds.
No pets allowed.
This is a SMOKE-FREE facility.