The Laramie
Soccer Association is dedicated to giving Laramie youth the opportunity to
develop physically, mentally, and emotionally through participation in low
pressure team sports. Our two most fundamental rules are that every
player must play half of every game and that the LSA will not keep
win/loss records or team standings. These rules are vital to our objectives, and
they must be accepted by all participants in the LSA program. Teach your players
that when they have given their best in a game, that win, lose, or draw, they
owe no apology to anyone for anything they did on the field. You will find that
the children will play their hearts out just for the joy of the game.
Sports
competition, when carried on without outside pressure to win, is useful in
developing healthy, normal, positive people. Whether they do or do not go on to
sports excellence is far less important than that they get the beneficial
experience that is also FUN. We think that those who do not excel in
sports may gain even more from our program than those who do.
Primary LSA goals are to maximize the children's participation and to teach good sportsmanship. Your example is very important in the latter. We have attempted to make up balanced teams; however, inevitably some teams will be much stronger than others. If your team should happen to be one of the stronger ones, please try to avoid overwhelming weaker teams. Move your unstoppable forwards to fullback or goalie if you are 3 or 4 goals ahead. We hope no team has to be beaten by more than 3 or 4 points. We are sure other teams and their coaches will appreciate it. Also, please study our rules on substitutions and participation very carefully and follow them faithfully.
It is
absolutely vital that all players, get a fair chance to play each field
position every game (with the exception of goalie). No player should be
goalie for more than one period per game and each player should be given the
opportunity to be the goalie several times during the season. Failure to afford
each player this opportunity will not only reduce their enjoyment of the
program; it will severely limit their development as players.