All Girls Academy (AGA)

Dear AGA Parents,

Welcome to AGA Spring 2013! We are so excited to begin this journey with you. We realize that many of you were unable to attend the parent's meeting on March 12th so we just wanted to recap all the important information that was discussed.

ROLES AND STAFF:
AGA Assistant Director Monica Steinbach and myself will be on site serving as AGA Director Jessica Smith's eyes and ears. We are working together to make any changes necessary for the good of the program now and for the future. Jessica has stated that as her schedule allows, she will try to pop in and spot check. However, Monica and myself will be at the Tuesday and Thursday sessions and Monica only will be at the Saturday games. As my Premier Teams' game schedules allow, I too will be at the Saturday games. Monica and I will not be coaching AGA teams. We will be on site to monitor, step in and make coaching points, assist the trainers, create a smooth and organized environment, and above all, make sure all the needs of the girls are being met. Andi Anderson, our new AGA Chair, is also here to make sure your voices are being heard not only as a board member, but as an AGA parent herself.

AGA PRACTICE & GAME TIMES:

The first week of AGA practice sessions begin March 26th.
We will always meet on Field 9 and spread out from there.
The U9/U10 group will meet from 5:15 to 6:30pm.
U11/U12 group will meet from 6:30 to 7:45pm.

After so many time changes in the Fall, we felt that it is necessary to keep the same times throughout the entire Spring season for the sake of the parents and their schedules. No time will be added or taken away. However, if rain outs become a problem, we may add session days or game days at the end of the season. This will be decided as we near the end of AGA season.

Game times for the U9/U10 group will be every Saturday from 9:15 to 10:30
Game times for the U11/U12 group will be every Saturday from 10:45 to 12:00.
We will meet on Field 11 unless your assigned trainer specifies otherwise.
Please keep in mind that there will be no games April 6th due to our April Fool's tournament that we host every year.

FORMAT:
After careful inspection of the last season, we felt in necessary to change the format of AGA. This season we have built a compromise between the social and competitive aspect in hopes that the needs of the players will be better met. On Tuesdays we will have a scramble session where the girls will not only get to know each other, but different trainers as well. On Thursdays formed teams will be assigned to a trainer and stay with that same trainer for the rest of the season. That same team and trainer will stay together for the Saturday games as well. We feel this change will meet the competitive aspect that so many of you sought the last two seasons of AGA. We hope that with every season, AGA will only get better. We are here to help develop the girls, get them where they need to be, prepare them for the Premier level should they wish to pursue that, and provide a great learning environment. That being said, we want to make sure we are not overlooking anything. Instead of spending one week (2 sessions) on a topic, we will spend 2 weeks (4 sessions) on a topic. Because we are looking out for the best interest of the players, we want to make sure the girls feel comfortable with the most important topics before moving on.

AGA EVALUATIONS:
As part of this new format, we have decided to divide teams according to skill. Jessica, Monica, and myself feel it necessary to make this change to allow bigger and better improvements amongst the players. The first week of AGA sessions will be used to evaluate the players. We are hoping to have the teams made up by the second week of AGA sessions. At that time, the teams will be announced to the girls at the fields. We will also determine which trainer will be assigned to each team, also announced to the girls at the fields and not any sooner than that.

SATURDAY GAMES:
Like last year, we encourage all of you to applaud the topics that were learned that week, at the games. We are covering crucial topics to the development of a soccer player. Although we all love to win, our main focus in AGA is not the winning aspect. We have created a wonderful compromise between the social and competitive part but we do not want to forget our main purpose, to develop these fundamental aspects of soccer. Every week a newsletter will be sent out informing all of you what we will be covering to not only educate you and keep you informed, but to also help you understand what our focus will be for that Saturday game. We would appreciate if the cheering included those specific topics for that game.

TRAINERS:
We have a wonderful group of trainers this season and are very proud of our selection.

Brandon Hernandez is a former LHS Coach and has years of coaching experience.
Nick Haig is long time former Premier Player from KVSA who has returned to us as a Trainer.
Marley Sutter is also a long time former Premier Player coached under Monica and myself years ago and is a current JCCC player.
Emily Claudell is a current JCCC player as well.
Lauren Flemming is long time former Premier player of KVSA as well, also coached under both Monica and myself years ago.
Dustin Derks is a currently a member of the KU Men's Soccer Club team who is returning as a Trainer.

Monica and myself will be monitoring everything. We are both former collegiate players and Monica has a USSF "D" License and I have a NSCAA National Diploma "C" License. As you can see, we have a great range of talent and experience. Most importantly, it is exciting to point out that three of these trainers began their soccer career here at KVSA and now years later, have returned to us as staff members. The players are very important to us and we want to create such a great environment that maybe someday, even your daughter returns to us as a staff member.

UNIFORMS:
You must have a Red AGA Jersey for AGA. If you are new to AGA and need to purchase one or you just need a new one, the uniforms will be available to purchase on site on March 26. The cost is $25. We prefer a check over cash, made payable to KVSA. We ask that all participants wear their uniforms for sure the first week of AGA sessions so that we may evaluate them. Please write your player's First Name and the First Initial of their Last Name on the back of your jersey. We recommend using a wide tip permanent Sharpie.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
We are hoping to add some bonding experiences for the AGA girls. At one point we may go to an LHS/ FSHS game to support our local HS players. This is a great bonding and learning experience. We may also attend another KU game like we did last year and of course we are also hoping to have some type of game day at the very end with treats to wrap up the season. Thank you all for being a part of this 2013 AGA Season. We are very proud of the changes we have made and we couldn't have done it without you. Your feedback has helped guide us to a new and improved season here at KVSA.

Thank you all and we can't wait to get this season started!!

Sincerely,
Rebecca Nye
Assistant AGA Director