The Chelmsford Sunday Soccer Club's Blog

We’re going to be moving to Harrington Field starting this Sunday, 8/26, as Murphy Field is switching over to in-town with 6v6 fields and small goals. Harrington is already lined 11v11 and ready for action.  Please spread the word!  If someone lives near Murphy Field and would be willing to post a sign there on Sunday morning about the change in fields please e-mail me or post a comment.  Sunday is forecast to be absolutely beautiful–see you then (at Harrington)!

We had 22 players last Sunday for a great full field game. The weather should be cooler and more comfortable for this week’s game compared to the last several sweat-fests we’ve had. Hope you can make it this week: 9 a.m. at Murphy Field.

It looks like the weather gods have smiled upon Chelmsford this morning, with rain/storms passing to the east and west of us but not much activity expected during our game, See you there!

We should have a number of people back from vacation this week, so I’m looking forward to a good turnout for our Sunday morning game. Please check the website at 8:30 a.m. if the weather looks threatening for any updates. Teens, CYSA players and coaches, and CSSC members all play for free–a $5 donation is requested for non-CYSA adult players. Look forward to seeing you on the field!

I’m back from vacation and looking forward to the pickup game this Sunday morning at 9 a.m.  It will be in the 70’s but humid at game time, so be sure to bring your water bottle; look forward to seeing you there.  

I usually don’t like to post more than once a week, but this entry on the New York Times soccer blog caught my eye.  It speaks eloquently about the value and importance of the pickup game in the life of a soccer community–something that we all are fortunate enough to enjoy in Chelmsford on a regular basis:

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/pelada-pickup-the-essence-of-a-game/?pagemode=print&pagewanted=print

I haven’t seen the video yet, but a friend who did said it was worthwhile (and available on Netflix).

The original version of the blog post (with pictures, video, and ads) is here:

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/pelada-pickup-the-essence-of-a-game/

Feel free to post any thoughts, reactions, or a movie review in the comments section below.

Last Sunday we invited a Winchester pickup club to play us in an 11 v 11 game on a very hot morning.  It was a spirited but friendly game that might have turned out better for the home team if so many of our regulars weren’t away on vacation (or injured!).  This Sunday we’re back to our come-one, come-all scrimmage at Murphy Field at 9 a.m.  It should be a gorgeous morning with partly cloudy skies and temps in the 70s–can’t ask for better than that in July!  Hope to see you out there.

An update on our fundraising:  to cover the expenses of the pick-up game (the cost of liability insurance that is required by the association) we’ve started asking for donations from non-CYSA players:  $5 per game or $50 for a whole year (about 30 games).  This approach is working well and so far we’ve collected about 55% of our expenses.  We don’t want to discourage any younger players from joining us in the Sunday pickup games because of limited finances, so all youth/teen players are welcome to join us anytime without making a donation.  For the adults, this is all honor system–if you don’t have the cash any given week, that’s OK, just make it up when you can and please consider the $50 membership if you’re coming semi-regularly–it makes it easier for everyone.  You can make checks payable to the Chelmsford Sunday Soccer Club.  Any extra funds will be donated to CYSA to help with field maintenance expenses.  Thanks again for all your support.

We had a great turnout of 19 players last Sunday at Murphy for a full (shortened) field game.  This Sunday, we’re going to change the format a bit for the pickup game as we’ve invited a neighborhood pickup game in Winchester to come join us for a scrimmage.  Mike Kahan and his son Kevin have played with the Winchester group, and he assures us that the adult players are just as old and injured as we are so it should be a fun match.  Please bring white shirts (and a blue shirt in case we need to balance the teams) as they’ll be in blue.  They expect to have 11+ players, so we’ll have 11 players on the field at a time and unlimited substitutions.  It should be a fun, full-field game–hope to see you there.

We had 17 players last Sunday for our first game at Murphy Field this year, which was a good turnout for a vacation week but not quite enough for a full-field game on an 11 v 11 field. Let’s get a few more people out there and make it happen! Please spread the word; look forward to seeing you at Murphy on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. If it looks like we might get a thunderstorm, please check the website before you head over for any late-breaking announcements.

As we’ve progressed to becoming a bona fide organization, the Chelmsford Sunday Soccer Club, we’ve updated our web site address to make it easier to remember. You can now find us at www.chelmsfordsundaysoccer.com. No need to update any saved links, because the old wordpress address will still work as well, but now you have another option. Remember that you can subscribe to this blog using the e-mail subscription option on the right side of the web page if you’re not already signed up–it’s a spam-free subscription and your address is never publicly visible. There’s only one e-mail each week unless there is late-breaking news; we currently have 18 subscribers.

In our first week we had 4 members who ponied up the $50 annual fee to help support the Sunday pickup game and help cover our insurance costs–thanks guys!  Please consider joining if you’re not coaching or playing in CYSA this fall in order to avoid the per game charge of $5. I’m looking for a volunteer to be treasurer and collect and deposit the funds that we receive each week in a new Chelmsford Sunday Soccer Club bank account that we’re setting up, so please let me know if you’re interested. Please make any checks payable to the Chelmsford Sunday Soccer Club. Any proceeds beyond our limited expenses will be donated to CYSA. Thanks again for all of your support!

Just a quick reminder that we’re moving the Sunday soccer pickup game to Murphy Field (back field) for the rest of the summer.  Please spread the word; see you there at 9:00 a.m.

Also, if you didn’t see my earlier post about changes to the Sunday pickup game, you can find it here:

https://sundaysoccerchelmsford.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/changes-to-sunday-pickup-soccer-game-next-game-at-murphy-this-sunday-july-1st/

We’re becoming a real organization, so you can make checks for the annual membership fee payable to the Chelmsford Sunday Soccer Club.  Every dollar goes directly to supporting our Sunday pickup game and the CYSA.  On behalf of our little pickup soccer club and the CYSA, we greatly appreciate your support.