To All ASA Members and Families:
On behalf of the ASA Board, we sincerely hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. We had a tremendous amount to reflect on in 2020 from a personal perspective and from a youth sports perspective.
Heading into this pandemic and seeing the daunting task of maneuvering kids through a soccer season seemed surreal at times. It was a challenge for sure. It was amazing to see how well our: board members, parents, players, and family members responded to all the changes and confusion that was going around. When we lost the spring 2020 season I didn’t think much of it. I figured we could all deal with it for a season and regroup for the fall. I don’t think any of us back in March thought we would still be dealing with it come fall. But we did. The more we saw how kids were being impacted by the lack of socialization and overall activities, it became clear that working hard to get the fall season in place and executed for the kids was very important.
And we did it. All of us. As we reported back at the conclusion of the fall, not one player in Agawam Soccer ( and other towns for the data we have) got sick from transmition at soccer. That is a stat to be proud of for everyone’s work in getting it done for the kids.
As we transition from fall to spring soccer we are excited at the opportunity again that the kids have to get out and play sports with their friends. To get out of the house and work hard at a sport. All the things we may have took for granted prior to the pandemic, we can appreciate and work again to provide a safe and healthy activity for kids.
We lost about 20% of the overall enrollment from fall 2019 to fall 2020. 13% on the Intown side and 30% on the travel side. The travel side numbers do not reflect the amount of kids that didn’t play but we had situations where too many kids did not play, forcing teams to not have enough to carry on. This spring we are looking to try and get those kids back and on the field.
We would expect families to always make the best decisions for the safety of their children and some people may not be ready yet as others may be. Its all a personal choice to make. As we feel the safety protocols in soccer were executed very well, some people may still be hesitant, and in those cases we are here for those kids when the time is best for their family to do so.
Spring soccer will be starting in April, although we do see the ability to get outside in March for kids that are already registered.
Registration is now OPEN for spring soccer.
All players that were on travel teams in the fall , please log in and register for the spring.
Any travel player that did NOT play fall, but were previously on a travel team in fall 2019 or spring 2020 (registered even though we didn’t play), you may register for fall. We did not do try outs as in years past and we welcome kids to return and we will figure out the roster situations as they develop. Its important now that we offer an opportunity for kids regardless of their situation from being on a team prior to now.
Any player that was NOT on a travel soccer roster at any point and is interested in playing, please register as well.
Registering now doesn’t necessarily finalize anything but it lets us know our enrollment for the spring as well as prepare travel rosters. We are not looking for payment yet, but your registration right now is key. Spring rosters for travel will be set by end of January.
Agawam Soccer Registration. Click HERE
Intown league is ready to roll as well and we are very excited for our spring program.