Late last week, the Iowa Soccer Association unveiled plans to build a $6 million, 100,000-square-foot State Indoor Training Center (SITC) in the Des Moines Metro area. The facility will be built on the west end of Southridge Mall which is located on Des Moines’ south side.  A joint venture of Iowa Soccer and the Iowa Barnstormers Arena Football franchise, the SITC is envisioned to serve the statewide soccer community year-round from a centrally-located facility.
 
Plans for the SITC include a regulation 360-foot by 195-foot synthetic turf soccer field, which also accommodates an official 200-foot by 85-foot arena football field. In addition, the facility offers office and meeting space, audio/visual facilities, a concessions area and a coaching education center.
 
The SITC will enable Iowa Soccer to expand its Indoor Championship Series, host state and regional college recruiting events and tournaments, host regional ODP events, train and develop top players through the Iowa Olympic Development Program, offer National and State coach education courses (USYS National Youth License, USSF C-License, NSCAA Regional courses), offer state-level referee courses and provide the statewide Iowa Soccer community with a centrally located year-round athletic facility.  In addition, Iowa Soccer plans to expand its special needs programming (TOPSoccer), underserved-population sports programming (Soccer Across America) and offer a number of Level 3 festivals and events.
 
Iowa Soccer believes that the existence of the SITC and its resulting programming will help create a higher profile statewide for soccer as well as more opportunities to play, which will, in turn, help Iowa Soccer affiliates improve participation numbers.
 
Funding for construction of the SITC is being sought through private donations and public grants. Operated through a separate nonprofit, the Iowa Sports and Wellness Foundation, ongoing maintenance and operational expenses for the Center will be self-sustainable with the infusion of new income and operational revenue generated from Iowa Soccer Association activities, the Iowa Barnstormers, facility rental, and individual usage fees.
              
The SITC Campaign Committee initiated a capital campaign in late November and initial fundraising efforts are focused on major contributions of $50,000 or more. To learn more about the project and how to provide support, visit www.IowaSITC .com, “like” the facebook page, “follow” the tweets, or contact Ian Bradley at the Iowa Soccer Association at (515) 252-6363 ext. 102, ibradley@iowasoccer.org.  

Believe it or not, it’s time to register for spring soccer season!

Please visit the registration page and get your son or daughter registered for the spring season.

Register early to assure that your player will be placed on a team. Players are assigned teams on a first-come-first-serve basic. That’s why we really appreciate it if you don’t wait until the deadline to register. Late fees are applied on Jan 15th because that’s when we start assigning teams. We only have a couple of weeks to organize teams, find additional coaches when needed, and turn in the appropriate paperwork to Greater Des Moines Junior Soccer League.

Please consider coaching. It doesn’t require any special knowledge of soccer…just the willingness to learn and the desire to help children learn to love the great game of soccer. If you’d like to coach, contact our director of coaching, Ken Sadler, for more information.

Limited scholarships are also available. See the link at the bottom of the registration section of the website.

If you have any questions regarding registration, contact Dawn Payne.

Carlisle Soccer Club would like to apologize for the late notice and temporary closing of the concession stand.  We were looking for the crew of parents to volunteer to help with this.  Thank you very much to Julie Harter, Melissa Sadler, Rob Brewer and Renatta Bolen for stepping up and help us out.  As, we have found a few we are still needing approximately 2 more to help open and close a few Sundays this seasons.  If interested please contact Lisa Wilson or Joe Fortelka. 

An updated schedule has been uploaded to the SCHEDULE page!

We had another great year at the Des Moines Arts Festival. Nice weather on Friday night and Sunday afternoon meant there was a good crowd. Saturday night’s cool temps didn’t scare anyone away, either. 

Total tips for the beef and wine tent staffed by Carlisle Soccer volunteers totaled $1422.11!  That’s nearly $400 more than last year! And we still are weeks away from receiving 15% of our sales for the weekend.

Thanks to all those who gave their time, energy and enthusiastic support to our efforts, including: Joel Pech, Joshua Baxter, Suzie Stewart, Ken Sadler, Melissa Sadler, Joe Fortelka, Ellen Towne, Ricardo Alverio, Gaylene Rick, William Rick, Regina Overton, Steve Overton, Mark True, Suzanne VanVeen, Kevin VanVeen, Paul Gruber, Dixie Staecker, Tom Staecker, Jake Whipple, Vicki DeMoss, Paul DeMoss, John Kamerick, Tiffany Kamerick, Marek Sobieszkoda, Clint Smalley, Melody Jutting, Dan Jutting, Dawn Payne, Brian Payne, Kyle Brown, Mellannie Brown, Connie Larson, Michele Manders, Cheryll Polley, Brownie Polley, Krista Beck, Mark Beck, Brendie Polka and Bill Polka. And we can’t forget the tireless work of our director of fundraising, Lisa Wilson, who managed the whole process.

Please keep your calendars open next year. We don’t have an exact dates but the Arts Festival is usually the last weekend in June. We appreciate all our volunteers did for our club and look forward to having you help again in the future.

We are really trying to raise a lot of funds within the next few months to get help get our irrigation in the ground. So, if you have any ideas or are willing to help in our fundraising efforts please let Lisa know.

Menace Youth Night is only a week away! Next Saturday (June 4th) the Menace will be hosting the Des Moines Internationals, and all the youth soccer players in the Des Moines and surrounding areas. The Menace are getting pretty excited about this game and are you are as well! We are having a special guest this night as well, Alberto Aspe will be joining us from 7- 7:45 PM.

-       All Players wearing a jersey, get in FREE

-       All coaches with a Coaches ID get in FREE

We are really looking forward to a great night of soccer to celebrate the game of soccer and the youth players in the state of Iowa. Hope you can join us in what should be a memorable evening!

Kick-off is at 7:30, can’t wait to see you there!

Believe it or not, it’s time to register for fall soccer season!

Please visit the registration page and get your son or daughter registered for the fall season.

Note that registration fees have been raised $5 for each age group, but we still offer multi-player discounts. Limited scholarships are also available.

Register early to assure that your player will have a team in the fall. Players are assigned teams on a first-come-first-serve basic. That’s why we really appreciate it if you don’t wait until the deadline to register. Late fees are applied on June 15th because that’s when we start assigning teams. For the fall season, we have to move quickly…we only have two weeks to organize teams, find additional coaches when needed, and turn in the appropriate paperwork to Greater Des Moines Junior Soccer League.

Fall is also the season when players move up because of age, so it creates a variety of coaching shuffles, too. As our coaches move up with their children, we find we really need new parents to step up at the u6 and u8 age groups, so please consider coaching. It doesn’t require any special knowledge of soccer…just the willingness to learn and the desire to help children learn to love the great game of soccer. If you’d like to coach, contact our director of coaching, Ken Sadler, for more information.

If you have any questions regarding registration, contact Dawn Payne.

Coach Sadler’s u10-u12 training session for tonight, Friday, April 15th, has been canceled because of weather. The next u10-u12 session is schedule for Tuesday, April 19th, at 6:00 in the bowl south of the high school gym.

Click here to go to the Greater Des Moines Junior Soccer League field directions page so you know how to get to those away games this spring!

The Little Wildcats Soccer clinic was a huge success this year and at full capacity with 45 three- to five-year-olds getting to participate in soccer…many for the first time ever. Two sessions - one each on Saturday, January 15th and 29th - introduced the young boys and girls to the world’s most poplar sport in a fun and supportive atmosphere.

The clinic was presented by the U14 Carlisle CRUSH girls’ soccer team, and included lots fun activities including, among others, ghost busters, sharks & minnows and soccer bowling. Huge thanks go out to more than volunteers who helped organize and promote the event. Thanks also to Goodhue-Nolte Insurance for its generous donation that made it possible for every participant to go home with a brand new soccer ball.

If you were unable to attend or signed up after the clinic filled please remember to sign up early next year.

Spring (outdoor) registration for u6 players (age 4 or 5 as of August 1, 2010) is open until Feb. 5th without a late fee. Sign up at www.carlislesoccer.org.