The Sentinels

During the past fall season, ORVFC held numerous parent meetings to discuss the on-going challenges it faced with its volunteer-based model.

First, finding a large enough number of volunteers willing to invest the necessary time both off and on the field was proving difficult.   We found that we were depending on the same volunteers year after year to perform multiple roles.   Though they did a wonder ful job, it was not fair to them and it put the club at risk should they or their child decide to move on.  We have tried different things to address this model over the past 5-10 years but with the low fees we charged, we could not afford to hire full-time staff to run the program.  

Second, we have also been challenged for years by inconsistent commitment from those families that did not consider soccer a priority.  After we made some adjustments to the training model to accomodate this, we felt the issue insolvable with respect to forming teams and honoring league schedules.  We would have poor attendance at games and the leagues we were eligible to play in were inconsistently managed.  It has always been very difficult to find a competitively appropriate league schedule for our teams.  Some clubs would only field their strongest players but we would spread our ability levels across teams.  This made the games very inconsistent.   It is for that reason, we did not enter a regular league schedule this past season.  Ideally, we want to have age and ability-appropriate competition in order for the players to apply what they are learning in training out on the field under pressure from other clubs.  Yet if players inconsistently show up and the competition is not appropriate, then one had to ask why we were doing it?

We have struggled with these issues for years and finally decided to adopt the model that has been rolled out at many other clubs across the country. 

We have broken our program into two distinct sections:  the first section is called "Recreational".    This program is inexpensive, is run by volunteers and its seasonal organization is dependent upon the commitment of the players and volunteers that sign up.  The club will provide infrastructure support (functional knowledge, field and league scheduling, coaching advice, etc.) but the work of running this program will be incumbent upon the volunteers. 

The second section is called the "FCP/Ohio River Valley FC Academy".  This program is more expensive but will be run by professional coaches and staff.  It requires a high level of commitment and is really meant for the player dedicated to developing his/her soccer skills.  Players will attend both outdoor and indoor training sessions, they will participate in regular league games and they will receive regular feedback from the professional coaches.  Parents will be expected to attend off-field meetings led by the coaching staff where the coaches will describe the curriculum, the methodology and answer the many questions and concerns that come up during the player development lifecyle.

We believe this final program change will create the following benefits:

• We will provide a local platform for those families across the valley interested in professional coaching expertise and a progressive team structure to facilitate their player's development;
• Those families and players looking for a more casual soccer experience will still have a low-cost infrastructure available assuming there are enough volunteers to run the program.

A enormous amount of time and effort has been invested in validating this model.    We understand that some may disagree with this approach given the history of youth soccer in western PA.  It is different but it is not new.  It has been successfully deployed across the United States in areas considered to be very progressive in their youth soccer programs.  We believe our area is ready for this type of change.

Thanks to those families that came to pick up their uniforms and t-shirts on Saturday morning or they sent a friend to do it in their stead.

To those of you who still need to pick up their uniform or T-shirt – I will arrange to have them placed at Osborne Elementary School on Monday (09/19) and Tuesday (09/20) night this week.

Where Will They Be?
Osborne Elementary School
1414 Beaver Road
Sewickley, PA 15143

When you get to the school, walk toward the field.  Off to the right, there is an alcove in front of the eastern entrance to the school.  The uniforms and T-shirts will be there.  If you ordered a uniform, it will be in a bag with your name on it.  T-Shirts will also be there.

When Will They Be There?
5:30 – 7:45pm

Who Gets a T-Shirt?
All Academy players should have a grey Sentinels t-shirt.  There is no additional cost for the T-Shirt.  Every child should have (1) T-shirt.  If you have T-shirt from last season and it still fits, works for you, please use that one.  It helps save us a little money.  Players should wear this T-shirt to all Sentinel sessions.  We want everyone on the field in the same color to help the coaches as they group the children with training vests and it starts to introduce a uniformity on the field.

T-Shirt Sizes
We have Large and X-Large grey t-shirts.  If your child is on the smaller side – select a Large T-shirt.  Once it starts getting colder, the kids will want to wear long-sleeve.  So even though the t-shirts might seem big, they will shrink and once players wear other clothing underneath, it won’t be so bad.

How Do I Know If I Ordered a Uniform?
Login to QVRA Online.  Once you have logged in – find the link on the lower right-hand side of the screen that says Fee/Payment History.  A list of all your purchases and payments will be listed there.  If you ordered a uniform in the past 2 months, it will be listed there.  If nothing is listed, you did not order a uniform.

90 minutes of soccer last night at SHBF!  It was a little warm but not punishing as if the sun were up.  We had a small group but it was good back and forth play with a few breaks to cool off in the sprinkler system.  I am always amazed at how much the game of soccer is like the games of kick the can, flash light tag and keep away we used to play as kids.   Next round of pickup is tonight.  Once we figure out what attendance will look like over the next couple of weeks - we might be able to open up both nights to all groups and just group kids across the different fields.  Stay out of the heat today.

As you will notice, we have broken our program down into the following age groupings - Juniors (4,5,6 years old), Academy I (6,7,8,9 years old) and Academy II (9, 10,11 years old).  This roughly equates to Kinergarten, 1-3 grade and 3-5 grade groupings.  Our older players who are in 6th,7th and 8th grade have the following options available to them:

• Tryout for an FC Pittsburgh Premier Program
  Meant for players committed to the game of soccer who are looking to participate  with other players with a similar commitment level and professional coaching.  These programs will pull players from a broader geography than QV and will cost more money per player;
• Form a Sentinels Team
  Players from within the Sentinels family come together to create a commited team that simply wants to get some games in during the season as a group and they are not terribly interested in developmental progression but just want to play together as a group.  This requires that group identify a coach or coaches who will still report to FC Pittsburgh staff but it will be a much more low key experience.  ORVFC will provide the field, uniforms, league registration platform, referees for home fields but the game management process will need to be handled by the parents.  A minimum of 15 players commited to attending all league games is required.  The cost for this program is equivalent to a Sentinels  Academy program;
• Join FC Pittsburgh Academy
  This is a one night a week training session led by FC Pittsburgh coaches for 6-7 week increments.  The cost is less than $100 and is meant to supplement MS or other sporting activities pursued by the player.  Players from all around the valley will attend this academy.

If you are interested in FC Pittsburgh premier or academy progam, you can find out more information on the FC Pittsburgh website.  If you are interested in the Sentinel's option, we ask that you approach the President of the Sentinels (tfelt@orvfc.org) no later than 45 days prior to the start of the season with 15 players willing to participate and two volunteers willing to coach.  We will then work through all the details with you.

Players participating in the Juniors or Academy programs do not need to purchase a uniform unless they plan to participate in matches against other clubs, or come together to participate in a tournament.  Given that we will determine whether we have the commitment level to participate in such events 30 days prior to the start of the season, we will email those families then on the need to purchase a uniform.  We keep a solid inventory of uniforms and can easily dress several teams within a day if the need arises.

More info on our Uniform Policy...

For the 2011 Spring season, we will be using the (3) home fields listed below.  To find out to which field your particular event has been assigned, you can look on the Spring Schedule and click on the event.  The Field location with a map is attached to the event.

Osborne Elementary School Field
1414 Beaver Road, Sewickley, PA 15143

Neville Island Borough Fields
5300 Grand Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15225

Sewickley Hills Borough Fields
349 Magee Road Sewickley, PA 15143

All sessions held at Osborne School will now be accessed through the front lobby door - this includes the weekend sessions.  The school has asked that we not use the bathrooms or water fountain through the rear entrances of the gym.  Instead, they would like us to use the facilities accessed through the school lobby.  Therefore, we will no longer access the gym through the side entrance of the school on the weekends.  We felt that was creating too much confusion for the kids.

We will be holding an open Q&A meeting for parents at Osborne School in the cafeteria from 9:00 - 10:15am.  Feel free to come by to have any questions you might have about this spring's program, our partnership with FC Pittsburgh or to offer any feedback about the program in general.

In general, the spring outdoor season typically runs from the 4th week in March thru the 1st week in June.  If you would like to see the dates for a specific season, click on the season link for the appropriate program under Program Info.  This will take you to a calendar and then just scroll forward to the appropriate month.  In this case, scroll to the months of Mar, Apr & May to see the tentative schedule for this spring.

If you accidentally registered for a soccer program or ordered a uniform piece and you would like to delete it, please send an email to info@orvfc.org and just let us know what you need to have removed.  If you are trying to delete a registration for another sport, please send an email to qvsb@qvra.org (baseball/softball) or svlax@qvra.org (lacrosse) to advise them that you would like to withdraw from their programs.