Dear Players, Parents and Coaches,

The Vikings is considering expanding our fall recreational soccer program this year to include a combined U15 and U16 girls division (for girls born between 8/1/90 and 7/31/92—typically high school freshman and sophomores). At the moment there is no recreational soccer program for girls in this age group in San Francisco and most high school soccer programs don't start until November or later.

Our objective is to provide recreational and even more serious soccer players an opportunity to continue to play soccer in the fall as they have probably been doing for most of their lives. It seems unfortunate to us that the only option for girls in this age group to play soccer in the fall is to make a substantial time commitment to a traveling team. Any girl who does not join a traveling team has no opportunity to play soccer in the fall and is at a substantial disadvantage when high school tryouts occur in the winter or spring.

While the exact rules and structure of the division have not been finalized, we are considering the following:

• Teams of 12 players
• 7 v 7 games (7 aside soccer on a smaller field)
• Fall season of 5-7 games, followed by playoffs. Season begins after Labor Day and ends before Thanksgiving. Games on either Saturday or Sunday.
• Players will sign up individually with the Vikings and teams will be formed based upon a draft or other assignment to teams. Every player will be able to specify at least one or two other players that they would like to have as team mates.
• Parent volunteers will be expected to manage the teams during their games.
• The teams will not be required to practice, but the Vikings will offer optional practice sessions during the week for all players (combined from all teams).
• The estimated cost will be $70/player (same as for all other Vikings League players) plus potentially a charge for participating in the practice sessions.

If you are interested in playing in this division, please fill out the preliminary registration form at http://www.formsite.com/vikingleague/registrationU15up/index.html. Please fill this out even if you are not 100% sure if you are interested. We want to get a sense of how many girls might ultimately sign up for this division.

Please feel free to contact us at sfviking@pacbell.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions or if you would like to help us organize this division.

Best wishes,

Clay Leighton
Paisan Chuanroong
San Francisco Vikings Youth Soccer League