Final registration day was Friday, Feb 26 at Kouts High School. We will be picking teams on Friday March 5th at Cornerstone Community Church. Coaches are being contacted this week and we are hoping to have game schedules worked out so they can be distributed at the first practice. Being that all of our coaches are volunteers, please remember that their practice schedules will usually be based on their work schedule. Some coaches will have a consistent schedule; however there are some that will change each week. Again, please try and be flexible, the coaches will do their best to work with the parents. Parents should receive a phone call within the next few weeks from a coach. Some coaches will not start practices till after Spring break.

Kouts Youth Soccer is growing every season and we are always looking to invite players from surrounding communities that do not have spring soccer programs. This season we are happy to welcome players from Morgan Twp, Hebron, Wanatah, Wheatfield, Lacrosse and San Pierre. We would also like to welcome the families that are new to Kouts that have joined our league. We look forward to meeting you all out on the field.

This season we will be getting benches for the two larger fields. Joe Garavalia, who is the father of three of our league players, has generously donated his time to this project and is also working on another task for later this season. THANK YOU GARAVALIA FAMILY! We would also like to thank all of you that have made monetary donations. The generosity of our community is overwhelming and we are always overjoyed by the amount of people that are willing to volunteer. THANK YOU ALL!  

We are currently looking to start a soccer program for Special needs children. Our goal is to have the program in place for the 2010 Fall season. There are some local families that have already shown great interest and we would love to hear from more parents. We will be researching ways to organize and fund this program to make it the best possible experience for the children.

Jennifer/Ken Maglish have suggested this new soccer program and they hope that we can get the response to make it a reality. Please contact Jennifer Maglish 219-766-3146 if you have special needs child that would like to join our league or if you are interested in helping. You can also contact Jennifer via Email at parteeofseven@yahoo.com.

This season we will be holding a coaches clinic at the Kouts soccer fields. The clinic will be instructed by Graeme Langford from Manchester, England. Graeme has been working in the Midwest for Chicago Fire Camps and Training for 18 months, working with players aged 4 through 18. As well as working with the Crown Point Youth Soccer Club’s U10-U14s since the spring. He spent last fall working for Northbrook Spartans Soccer Club in Illinois where he worked with U14 and U16 teams. Over the summer Graeme ran some of the Chicago Fire Camps and Training’s Elite camps where the best players from around Illinois attend to continue there improvement over the summer. Graeme coaches with Three Lions Futbol Club in Northwest Indiana (link listed under affiliates) and has been holding one on one and group sessions with players here in Kouts.

Those of you who are currently coaching and those that may be interested in coaching, please join us. This will be a basic training session to give coaches an idea of what they should be teaching at their age level. We will be holding two sections U8-U10 and U11-U14 and dates will be announced within the next few weeks. The sessions will be free to coaches. Contact Joe/Caren Furdeck 219-766-0018.

We are offering these sessions to improve the level of play and the understanding of the sport for our local youth. We encourage players that are looking to advance their training to tryout for local Premier Clubs like Three Lions FC and NWI United FC (link listed under affiliates). We are not suggesting that we want to loss players to others clubs, however we feel that by expanding their skills and bringing them back to our league, it will only encourage others to want to learn. Kouts Youth Soccer League will continue to try and improve your child’s soccer experience.