This Month in Marin FC summarizes the month’s news and notes in a series of ‘high-level’ briefs from various club constituents.

In This Edition

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From the President

Evan Cross

Here are a few highlights and news tidbits from the past month:

Technically it’s the dead of winter and the first day of spring is still well over a month away on March 20th. However, to take in all the high school soccer action whirling around Marin as the season heats up, or to look at the work of the club’s coaches and board, spring is clearly in the air and ready to burst.

The 2018 Spring Institute
With NorCal moving all tryouts back to May to create a unified window for all clubs, the board set pen to paper this past November, to design a spring program for the extended months between the fall and the end of many players’ seasons and May tryouts. The result is the 2018 Spring Institute. Complete information and enrollment is available on our website. With a soft roll out already underway, sign-ups are quickly exceeding expectations. In concept, the Institute combines training and games, spanning March 1 to May 10, laid out to offer afternoon trainings on each weekday across a two-week span. This allows players in other spring sports or with other commitments, to selectively map out the best training sessions for their schedules and keep improving their skills and fitness in the lead-up to tryouts. Weekend small-sided games, also overseen by our cadre of coaches, balance out trainings with some “pure fun” and the opportunity to challenge oneself against players from all over Marin. The institute is open to all players, boys and girls seven years old and up (players registered with competitive teams from clubs other than Marin FC or Central Marin will need permission from their current club’s DoC). If you know players who would enjoy the Institute, please pass word along or direct them to marinfc.com.

Tryouts
Barreling our way on the heels of the Spring Institute comes 2018-19 team tryouts. The board, and our senior technical staff, earnestly addressed the NorCal window change last November as well. The resulting schedule, designed to be as orderly and expeditious as possible, is posted on our website. With parent feedback firmly in mind, tryouts will occur as quickly as possible, while avoiding May 13th, Mother’s Day. We know there will likely be some conflicts with other activities at that time, however the board is resolute that tryouts be dispatched swiftly to minimize any impact on school finals or end-of-year activities such as graduations.

Fields
There is light at the end of the winter tunnel, and anyone walking by the construction sites will note significant progress at both College of Marin and San Rafael High. Both are targeting March re-openings. Rumors also abound that Terra Linda High’s stadium field is making surprising progress too and will soon be back online after its sudden closure this fall.

Coaching Slate and Teams
We’re all but finished with the coaching slate and will be posting it to the website Friday. In concept, we’ll be fielding three teams for all age groups and both genders. Adjustments will be made based upon the player pools in each group, but the format is a simple Blue, Red and White model that promises to build a robust pool of player talent. The Blue and Red teams continue their tradition as Marin FC’s first and second squads and the new White squad is designed to offer a partial year team playing in the fall season and perhaps a run through state cup. The White concept will offer lower registration and team fee costs in keeping with players have come to expect in the Central Marin SC program. Our Senior Technical Staff and coaches are excited to have unified tryouts this year offering one venue for all coaches to look at all players and best roster the full slate of teams.

Lastly and Befitting Spring, Something Entirely New
What would an impending spring season be without a whole new blossom at Marin FC? To that end, I spent the past weekend at the Annual General Meeting of the Women’s Premier Soccer League in Las Vegas, working with representatives from around the country on the launch of Marin FC’s WPSL team in summer 2018. The WPSL is the largest women’s league in the world, with more than 115 teams competing across the US. Marin FC will enter the Pac North division, with some familiar opponents such as MVLA and San Ramon, and new opponents like the California Storm and the San Francisco Nighthawks. The preliminary schedule sees our squad playing the Lady Nighthawks under the lights at Kezar Stadium! More information will follow as everything takes shape, but our eight games will take place between May 31 and July 6, with four home fixtures, so plan to come out this summer and cheer the team on. If the team advances, there will be mid-summer regional and national playoffs, and then late-summer finals. The age range is open so if you’d either like to lace up your cleats again and tryout or take the safer route and become a team supporter, feel free to contact me.

Spring is unofficially sprung!

Evan Cross, President

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From the Director of Coaching

Joshua Kalkstein

This was an exceptionally quiet month by club standards.  We had one RAC meeting, one Board meeting, a weekly DOC call, finalized the coaching slate (which occupied most of my time), rolled out the Spring Institute, and cemented our WPSL commitment.  I’ll have more to share in next month’s newsletter.

– Josh Kalkstein, DOC

 

 

 

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In the Spotlight

This month’s spotlight features an interview with Williams College Sophomore, Campbell Day.  Here’s what she had to say:

Campbell-DayTell our readers a little about yourself.
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but moved to Marin when I was 4 years old, so most of my memories of growing up are in Marin.  All three of my sisters play soccer and I loved getting to play with my older sister, Sayles, for two years on the Branson high school team and then with one of my younger sisters, Nye, for the second two years of high school.  I was never in high school at the same time as my youngest sister, Hodges, so we were never on a formal team together, but played soccer regularly in the backyard and in impromptu games at Kent and COM with the rest of the family.  I also ran cross-country in high school and was part of the Interact Club, which put on fundraisers for international, national, and local organizations like Canal Childcare in San Rafael.  I graduated from Branson in 2016 and currently attend Williams College in Massachusetts.

Recollect your Marin FC experience if you will.
My first club experience was with Central Marin Soccer, before I tried out for Marin FC in 7th grade. I played for Marin FC until my senior year of high school and loved every minute of it, whether at practice, Surf Cup in San Diego, or spending time overseas with Mattias and co at the Gothia Cup.

What other schools did you look at and why did you ultimately pick Williams?
I knew that I wanted to go to college on the east coast, so I looked at a couple of Division III schools in the Northeast. I ultimately chose Williams College because it allowed me to have a great student-athlete experience, balancing soccer with outstanding academics.

Campbell-Day

What were some of the adjustments you had to make to successfully transition from club to collegiate ball?
I had an unconventional transition to college soccer as I was unable to play in games or participate in any contact drills during my first year. I got a concussion my senior year of high school and it lasted throughout the fall of my freshman year of college, limiting me to non-contact practice drills.

Summarize your collegiate soccer career to date.  What have been some of the highlights?
One of the main highlights for me has been bonding with my teammates. I really love my team and relish spending time with them both on and off the field. In addition, we travelled to Greensboro this past fall for the NCAA Division III Final Four and won the National Championship!

What are you learning as a collegiate athlete that you’ll take into post collegiate life?
Our team emphasizes the importance of open, honest, and direct communication, which is essential in any team sport, and in life.

From athletics to academics.  What are you studying?
Williams is a liberal arts college, so students declare their major the spring of their sophomore year. As a current sophomore, I will declare this spring, focusing on Psychology and Neuroscience.

Any interests outside of soccer?
I love spending time with Cady and Anna, who are paired with our soccer team through Team Impact. Despite only being in elementary school, Cady and Anna have suffered from physical and emotional abuse and our team acts as part of their support system. Cady and Anna come to our soccer games, stand with us on the sideline in their own Williams Women’s Soccer jerseys, and join our stretching circle at the end of each game. I’m also a second-grade buddy at the local elementary school in North Adams, where I play and eat lunch with the second graders every week.

Any thoughts about life after college?
I don’t know what life after college looks like yet, but I appreciate the opportunity that Williams provides to take classes in many different disciplines. As a result, I am constantly learning new things in different subject areas and have enjoyed taking a variety of classes from Chemistry to Anthropology.

The Marin FC alumni community is alive and well.  Do you keep in touch with many of your former teammates?
Playing in the NESCAC league is great because many Marin FC players go to different NESCAC schools.  As a result, I’m able to see former teammates when we travel to different schools and play against them. I see a couple of former teammates when we’re all home for breaks too, and sometimes go to see their college games in the local area too.

Anyone you want to thank or recognize at Marin FC?
I want to thank and recognize so many people at Marin FC, from my teammates, to the parents who took us to so many tournaments, to all the great coaches I had.  Because of them, I fell in love with the game, and for that I will always be grateful.  I want to give special thanks to Tyler Gottschalk. Though I never had Tyler as a Marin FC coach, I was fortunate to have him coach me at Branson. My senior year at Branson was a truly special experience because of our team and coaches. Thank you also to the coaches who have let me train with their teams over the summer.

Before I let you go, give us a little insight into your interests and passions.  Name three books on your bookshelf, three gadgets you couldn’t live without, and three artists/bands in your IPod.
I recently read When Breath Becomes Air and The Art of Racing in the Rain and am in the middle of All the Light We Cannot See. I was incredibly lucky to go on a NOLS trip this January, where I was deprived of my phone and access to the internet.  I loved being disconnected so my music was solely the strumming of a ukulele and the sound of the waves lapping on the shore.

How can our readers follow you if they’d like to track your athletic activities?
They can follow our team at http://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/wsoc/index.

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From the Director of Development

Ian Tonks

Eloi Vasquez Marin Headlands Memorial Run and Walk
The third annual Eloi Vasquez Marin Headlands Memorial Run and Walk will take place in the “wee” hours of Saturday June 9, 2018.  Please save the date!  Eloi Vasquez, a lifelong Marin resident, Marin FC soccer standout, and UC Berkeley student-athlete was tragically killed in a car accident in southern California in 2015.  All proceeds from the event support the Eloi Vasquez Living for the Game scholarship, a grant annually awarded to deserving Marin FC male and female youth soccer players.

Got Team News?
To share a game summary or tournament recap:

  • Visit MarinFC.com
  • Locate ‘Media & Info’ under ‘About Marin FC’ at the top of the page
  • Click ‘Submit an Article’

Alternatively, click here: https://forms.marinfc.com/submit-an-article/

Edited posts will be added to our website homepage “latest club news” section and posted on our Facebook page within 48 hours. We encourage you to use this tool to keep all in the club informed re: individual and team accomplishments. A big thanks to those of you that use it already.

– Ian Tonks, Director of Development