Dear Barbarians;
Unofficially in our second half of the indoor season, The Barbarian Football Coalition managed a match record of 54 Wins, 37 Losses and 15 Draws bringing our unofficial indoor record to 115, 62, and 23. These are impressive numbers for a club that plays only 5 continuous months out a year but more impressive to me is the fact that during the last week of play The Barbarians were undefeated in match play, with 6 wins and 1 draw! While our record speaks to the development of our teams and the collective improvement of that aspect of our club, the number of players making it to training sessions was very sparse over the course of the final month-and-a-half. In light of this fact we would like to give you an overview of how we plan to proceed for the upcoming year.
Training for the club will begin the first weekend in October and will now end in the month of February for a majority of our teams. It will be our effort to train each of our teams on a weekly basis if possible, but we will only enter even year teams (i.e. U10, U12, U14, etc.) in league play with the exception of the current U14B team, which will enter league play in the U16 bracket as an intact team along with the U15B. It is difficult to say now, but there is a possibility that State Cup and Regional teams will be combined, but not particular to any one team, age group, or any one player. For the most part, this action is necessary to limit the number of Barbarian Teams playing in a league that just does not have enough teams to justify our having more than one team in an age group. In past years my attempt was to make sure the league had enough teams to fill out a bracket to help make it viable but I will no longer attempt to do so because in the end, we already play against ourselves in training and because of costs that are better utilized by families elsewhere! For those odd year teams (i.e. U9, U11, etc.) that remain within The Barbarian Football Coalition and train on their regularly scheduled dates, we will enter them as intact teams when possible in local tournaments and hopefully out of town, nearby-tournaments, whether in futsal or otherwise. Players who do not manage to train on a regular basis will not be used in match play or in tournament play on a regular basis, without exception. While this may seem to downsize our operation in some aspects it will also allow us to continue to be competitive in match and tournament play, as well as push our level of play higher, within The Barbarian Football Coalition. We will not hesitate; for the sake of putting together the most competitive team possible, to combine the strongest players for team play. We have emphasized to you over and over again we do not do what we do for the sake of friendships, nor do we do what we do to harm anyone, anywhere, at any time. Once again, our aim is to have 9 players per team per match at most.
We anticipate that there will be changes within the leagues and hope that there will also be more competitive teams in the offing. In the event that a greater number of teams enter league play, and we are not faced with our constantly playing against ourselves we may then enter the odd year teams into competition of the league. We cannot afford to be known by any other name than who we are and what we do, therefore, there is no other identification we will utilize other than U10B, or U10G, BARBARIANS! We have no need to worry about others’ perceptions about who we are and what we are known as, because by now, all of you who have been here should know what we stand for and against, and it should be clear that we will be our self no matter whose presence we are in! If you were here in this past year you may remain here unless you chose otherwise, but you will do so with the understanding that we view the proposed changes as necessary to the survival of the club. Your outdoor club has no bearing on whether you are welcome here or considered part of this club. As is always the case I caution anyone from attempting to portray what I am saying to everyone who has not read what I have written, and would encourage you to share this newsletter with anyone who has an interest in what we are attempting to do. What I would also like you to know is that during our season we will no longer be concerned with scheduling around your other club teams and their training schedules. If this organization is important to you, then I know you will find the way to be here for training and games. This is not to undermine what you are doing elsewhere but surely you can understand that The Barbarians are a priority to many during the indoor season and we have respect for what the outdoor clubs are doing throughout the course of the outdoor seasons, and that we interfere with those activities as little as possible.
We anticipate that the cost structure will be much the same as this year but we will increase the amount families with more than one child involved pay from the current $40 per month to $60 per month. We are attempting to enter an agreement with a non-profit organization that may help reduce a family’s overall cost to participate with us, over time. Many of you have expressed an interest in playing outdoor soccer as a club but as far as I know there has to be much greater growth with what we are doing before we would have that as an undertaking. In many respects we have already begun the process but whether we ever attain it will be determined by time and cooperation, not our wantonness. We are not looking to involve ourselves in the current situation that is called classic soccer in our area. Many have tried to do so with less of a presence than we have and many have experienced failure, with an even a greater intention by losing the why they got involved in the first place, or because of how they originally became involved. You see, all things in the universe are a matter of time and cooperation and it follows that you get where you are going one step at a time. Everyone should be aware that whatever you do, you do best at your own pace and not at the whim of someone else.
For now, The Keystone State Games are a viable option to continue the progression to where we are headed. I encourage all of you who may be eligible to join us in an effort to win recognition for The Allegheny Region of Western Pennsylvania, over the rest of our Keystone State. While success at one thing does not always guarantee success at another, both failure and success are measures. The measure of success comes only through effort, and, if you do not put forth the effort your measure is failure!
As usual, I will see you on the pitch.
David W. Sayles