With the installation of 300+ feet of fence at the complex, we’ve created a high-visibility location for placing banners in front of 500 prospects every week!
Do you own a business or know a business that would like to reach that many soccer fans every week during the season! We have the space. Banner placement costs $100 per eight-week session ($200 per year). We also have three premium spaces near gates for $150/season. You can buy one or more seasons and we’ll hold your banner between seasons, or you can get them back BETWEEN seasons for other marketing opportunities.
Don’t have a banner? Carlisle’s Etc.Graphics can make you a 4′ x 8′ Airflow banner for just $165 (the price quoted on the recent direct mail piece was incorrect!).
If you’d like to support Carlisle soccer, please contact Mark True at 556-1574 to make arrangements. The season is just two weeks away so act quickly to make the most of the spring season!
Things are changing at the Carlisle Soccer Complex. Last fall, we installed 300 feet of fence between the new parking lot and the fields on the west side of the complex. This week, we completed installation of the new, permanent identification sign at the center entrance. Both projects were funded by grants submitted by the Club to the Carlisle Community Foundation and the Warren County Philanthropic Partnership last year.
We also were awarded a significant grant from the United States Soccer Foundation to help with the beginning of our in-ground sprinkler system installation. Your board is currently working on a projected schedule and we’ll have more information for you when we get it.
The new sign marks the new entrance to the complex. From now on, visitors will enter from the center entrance and turn either east (u14 field) or west (u6, u8, u10 and u12 field). This is the first step toward the implementation of our master plan introduced to the Club last fall.
Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 26th, from 8 to 3 (or until the work gets done). That’s our spring work day at the Carlisle Soccer Complex. We’ll be setting up fields, reconfiguring the parking and sprucing the complex up for opening weekend April 2-3. For more information, contact Ryan Woodruff, facilities director at 208-6328.
Posted in Uncategorized by Mark on January 31st, 2011
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.
Posted in Volunteers by Mark on January 26th, 2011
The Carlisle High School Girls Soccer team will be collecting gently used soccer gear to be donated to children in Afghanistan as a part of Operation Outreach, a group dedicated to helping children and families in that war-ravaged country.
Items of consideration are any old uniforms, articles of soccer clothing, used shoes, socks, old soccer balls, etc. Nancy Thorpe, a parent of one of our players and huge fan of our program and soccer in general, has agreed to collect the items at her home in the Easter Lake area of Des Moines.
Please feel free to call Nancy at 515-402-0157 to arrange a time to drop off your donations.
The due date for the collected items is Saturday, January 29th. For more information on how the donations will be distributed please visit the group’s website.
Our director of development, Lisa Wilson, will be focusing more of her efforts on writing winning grant requests so she’ll be giving up several duties that she’s been responsible for for the past couple of years. So we’re looking for your help.
We need volunteers to coordinate we’re trying to carve off tasks that she’s been doing over the past couple of years. I know you’ve always stepped up in the past so I’d be very confident putting this responsibility into your hands.
These are the main responsibilities:
Concession stand manager(s) – The hot chocolate, hot dogs, pop corn and other goodies help improve the game-day experience for everyone visiting our complex. It also helps us raise a good deal of money to fund enhancement of the complex. But it won’t work if we don’t have it open. So we need a team of volunteers to manage the concession stand. Specifically, the team will be responsible for:
Clean the stand and set up for opening weekend
Clean the stand and prepare for the off-season after the closing weekends
Open and close stand each Sunday (and Saturday mornings if volunteers are available)
Work with the volunteer director to get a copy of concession stand volunteers
Order food weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the need (food is delivered to concession by our vendor and automatically billed through our account)
Keep track of money box and provide proceeds to the Club Treasurer each Sunday afternoon
Arts Festival Supervisor(s) - The Des Moines Arts Festival has been the single largest fundraiser for the Club for the past two years. We staff one of only four beer and wine tents at one of the city’s most popular summer events. It’s a fun time and a great money-maker for the Club. We need a couple of supervisors to lend their energy to lead a team of volunteers for this event. The specific duties include:
Attend Arts Festival meetings a few months prior to event (and you’ll usually get cool free stuff during the festival for attending)
Work with the volunteer director to recruit volunteers and create work schedule for the three-day festival
Ensure all first-time volunteers have attend the beer training session
Maintain and collect proceeds from the tip Jars during the event (this is one of our best sources of collections from the event!)
Keep an organized, staffed and stocked tent during event and
Recruite and train shift managers so you don’t have to be there the entire time
Spaghetti Dinner Manager- The end-of-season spaghetti dinner is quickly becoming a tradition for the Club and for the community of Carlisle. It’s a simple way to bring together parents, players and members of the community while raising money. We get to take advantage of a generous donation from Barilla Pasta Company and other vendors, and have great records so it just requires someone to make it happen. Specifically, the spaghetti dinner manager is responsible for:
Work with Club secretary to establish date and reserve a location
Work with the director of Development to complete the request for donations from those who have given in the past (and others, if you have ideas)
Work with the director of marketing communications to advertise to Club and the community via email, signs, Carlisle Citizen Newspaper and other media
Work with the volunteers to create a volunteer schedule
Supervise the preparation and serving of the dinner
Submit the proceeds to the Club treasurer
If you’re interested in any of these duties, we’d love to hear from you. The only way to guarantee the continued growth and success of the Club is to get new people involved. If you have any questions or would like to take on these responsibilities, please contact Lisa Wilson or Mark True.
The Carlisle Soccer Club is looking for an experienced girls recreational soccer coach who can motivate and organize other coaches to be their best. We have a vacancy in the position of Director of Coaching for girls.
If you’re interested in taking on this position, please contact Mark True, interim president, at 556-1574.
The new parking lot on the northwest side of the complex is taking shape. Thanks to our good neighbor, Howard Goodhue, we put the posts into the ground on a cold Tuesday afternoon. Howard sent his employees - Steve Gilliland and Kendall Fogle - and an end loader down to make quick work of inserting posts. I guess this is pretty standard for farmers, but I was pretty impressed with how the big bucket pushed the 56 posts into the ground like a toothpick in butter. Most went it four feet, but some hit a barrier and we’ll have to cut them off before putting up the rails. Watch this video to see a couple of posts go into the ground.
Because we’ve had difficulty staffing the concession stand, the Board of Directors approved a new Volunteer Policy which will go into effect with the spring 2011 season. The key element is a $50 fine if you don’t show up for your concession stand duty.
"Part of making the game day experience a good one is offering a concession stand," says Mark True, president. "We’ve done a lot to improve our concession stand…adding hot chocolate, hot dogs, pop corn and cold beverages for families on the run on a busy Sunday afternoon. And it’s a good revenue source to supplement our registration fees.
"But we can’t make that money or provide that service if volunteers don’t show up, so we’re going to have to implement this penalty to ensure that volunteers who sign up for concession stand duty actually show up."
The board understands that things come up and a person may not be able to fulfill their duty. That’s why they are allowed to find a replacement. And there are other opportunities to volunteer.
If you like to be outdoors, we have grounds work that needs to be done…at work days or throughout the year. If working on the computer is your thing, you can help with registration or serve on the fundraising committee, helping identify sources of grant monies. And if you like working with people, we can always use you to help recruit additional volunteers.
To let us know how you’d like to serve, contact the volunteer coordinator, Bridgett Davis at 989-6000.
Things are changing at the Carlisle Soccer Complex. Last fall, we 
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.