Since sometime in 2003, when Ken Sadler reignited soccer in Carlisle, Mark True has been inolved. First, it was as Ken’s right-hand man and a coach at Team Gymnastics, then as vice-president/referee/coach with the official Carlisle Soccer Club, and finally, as president for the past two years. Now, Mark has announced he’ll step down from his president’s position at the end of the year.

According to the Club’s bylaws, a new president will be appointed by Mark, hopefully at the November meeting, with the advice and consent of the board of directors. Therefore, nominations are now open. Interested parties should email a short letter to Mark with a few words about

1.) why they want to be president,

2.) what skills or experiences they bring to the position, and

3.) what is the most important thing they’d like to accomplish on behalf of the Club.

Application emails are to be received by Mark by October 30, 2008. The new president would resume his/her duties in January 2009. 

Mark will continue to serve the club as communications coordinator, coach and referee.

The Carlisle Soccer Club is making a drive to eradicate the dreaded sand burr (see photo at right) from our soccer complex and we need your help.

Despite all our efforts to keep water on the grass and smother out the sand burrs, they’ve come back again with the hot, dry weather of the past couple of weeks. We’ve been able to get a lot of them up with our bagging lawn mower, but there are still some on the fields. We have learned about a pre-emergence herbicide that we can put on in the spring, but that won’t solve our problem now.

Our goal is to literally pull all the remaining sand burr plants out from our playing fields. What we need from coaches, team parent and parents is to organize your teams and gather additional friends and family to head out to the complex and pull these plants out from the ground. We will need to focus initially on just the playing areas of the game fields and we’ll progress into the walk ways in between the fields as well throughout the month. Obviously this need is immediate with our first set of games starting this weekend. You and your teams are free to head out at any time, the sooner the better. Our goal is to completely rid the sand burr plant by the end of September.

Wear work gloves and pull as much of the plant out of the ground as possible.

Collect your team’s sand burr plants and we will set up a scale for weighing what is picked. Put it on the scale and let Paul Gruber know how much your team picked. The team with the greatest weight total of picked sand burr weeds wins a Pizza Party for their end of season team celebration.

To focus our efforts, work on the field associated with your age group. Therefore, u10 teams work on the u10 field, u12 on the u12 field, etc. Also, remember to remind your Burr Eradicator’s to wear shoes (no sandals or flip flops) and gloves. If you have empty five gallon buckets, please bring them.

If you have any questions, contact Chad Cooper or Paul Gruber.

…that a club is growing is the number of certified referees on its roster. Before last season, we had basically two certified referees; Duane Thorpe and Mark True. Last season, however, Emma Staecker, Steve Overton, Dave Kallemyn (pictured, right), Andrea Conroy (currently deployed to Iraq) and Valerie Goodhue-Nolte became certified and began to referee games at the Carlisle Soccer Complex. Before this season, Kyle Kephart and Mike Kephart were added to the roster and have been working tournament games in addition to our games. Lucas Millman recently passed the certification class and will be doing games this weekend.

That’s NINE certified referees…more than many clubs much larger than ours.

In addition, under the guidance of ref assigner and club secretary Joy LeClaire, we’ve also started a junior referee program where those who aren’t old enough to become certified (you have to be at least 12 years old) can gain valuable experience refereeing under-8 games. It also helps prepare us for future growth of the club! Our junior referees are Ashton Goodhue-Nolte, Dean LeClaire( pictured, below), JoJo Haack and Courtney Black.

Referees (not junior referees) are the only paid position in the club, as is the practice at clubs all over the country, but their job is a difficult one, at best. So next time you applaud your players and the other team, take a few seconds to say thanks to our refeerees. They are as a critical part of our success as a club now and into the future.

If you’d like more information about becoming a referee, contact Joy LeClaire.

The sun broke through once in awhile, but the gray day didn’t deter a group of volunteers who installed a primary supply line from the well to the center of the complex on Saturday, March 22nd.

Tim LeClaire (right) surveys the nearly 500-foot trench he dug with a heavy, balky trencher. A handful of volunteers installed a four-inch line to replace the leaky fire hoses used in the past, allowing for less labor-intensive watering using our above-ground irrigator. We are still raising money to install power at the complex, a new electric motor, underground irrigation lines and new turf.

Facilities director Chad Cooper supervised Paul Gruber; Tom Staecker; Marci and Calvin Haack; Walter, Linda, Kwin and Keaton Walker; Christian and Lucas Millman; Mark, Quinn and Carson True and other volunteers who worked on the pump shed, cleared downed tree branches, reseeded some areas and lined the fields.

In the coming months, we’ll be continuing improvements including the start of a pilot seeding project with a field development company. We’re also looking for some gardeners to help us spruce up the entrance to the complex. Volunteer coordinator Cheryll Polley will also be calling for volunteers to sign up for times to run the irrigation system and mow the fields.

The Carlisle Soccer Club board of directors welcomes Ryan Woodruff to the board. Ryan will serve as our facilities director, taking over for Chad Cooper, who has worked hard on behalf of out Club for the last two years.

Ryan will be managing the work on our complex including mowing, watering, seeding, fertilizing, etc. He’ll be working with Lisa Wilson, our new volunteer coordinator. Lisa has been working hard since last spring to get our new concessions stand up and running successfully, and working with coaches and team parents to find volunteers for the concession stand.

Welcome Ryan and Lisa. We’re glad to have you on the team!

For nearly five years now, Mark True has been helping run the new Carlisle Soccer Club, first along side Ken Sadler, later as vice president on a new board of directors and for the past two years as president. Mark has indicated his desire to step down as president, effective at the end of this year. He’ll still be active as a coach, a referee and as the communications director, and will be available to provide assistance to the new president as requested.

The Club bylaws outline a process whereby the new president nominates a new president, which is then approved by the current board. Conventional nominations and voting by "members" was determined to be way too difficult to pull off when we wrote the bylaws three years ago. This proces also allows the board to continue to shape the Club and provide more seamless transition.

If you have an interest in growing soccer in the Carlisle area, posess leadership skills and enthsiasm for volunteer work and would like to pursue this position, please submit a short letter to Mark via email, outlining why you’d like to be president and what skills you bring to the position. Nominations are due on October 30th. The board will take up the discussion and decision at its November meeting.

If you have any questions, please contact Mark or any board member.