MVLA Coaches and Managers:

Please send me your Fall practice requests.  Your default starting date should be Mon Aug 6 or later.  

For those teams who are doing summer tourneys and have received practice schedules already committed beyond Aug 6, start your Fall request as of Aug 6 anyway and I will take care of eliminating any redundancy.

For those interested in details, I include a specific FIELD STATUS at the bottom of this email.  For the rest, here is how your field request should look:

1)  Fall Phase 1 Span:  Mon 8/6 through Fri 10/12, a ten (10) week span.
         --some practice reservations will be shorter or longer depending on field and resulting permit parameters.
        --expect early 4:00-5:30 and late 5:30-7:00.  I may have some ability to slide these slots half hour later at Egan or Critt, but then light limitations apply more quickly.
        --SPECIAL NOTE FOR SCRIMMAGE REQUESTS:  Jeanine will allocate scrimmages 7 days a week up through and including Fri Aug 24 and during Mon-Fri every week thereafter.  Tom Gardner will allocate scrimmages and league games on Saturdays and Sundays starting Sat Aug 25 through and including Sun 12/2.  Jeanine will resume assigning scrimmages and league games 7 days a week starting Mon 12/3.

2)  Fees for this period are included in your MVLA Club dues, so no invoicing is involved unless you have a camp or multi-team event assigned during this period

3)  Reservation and Usage Rules:
         --All MVLA Field Rules, etiquettes, and Good Neighbor Policies apply.
        --All users are expected to read the MVLA Manual and will be held responsible for the proper usage of their assigned field and any equipment on that field.
        --Certain fields are targeted towards players of certain ages, same as always.  If you are a coach that trains a very young team and an elder team, don't be surprised if you have to drive between practices. 
        --Fields will be closed if they suffer excessive wear and tear or rain. 
        --Teams are encouraged to ask for their second (or third) practice to be on weekend.  Sunday mornings are great times for practices.  Also some non-game fields are completely open on Sats and Sundays, so if there is room, I will allocate practices here.  As an incentive, weekend practices will never be trumped by scrimmages and will not be trumped by league games except in extremely dire circumstances.
        --Note: club has decided we will not track clinics of size 1-5 kids. However, any such clinics must yield their field and MVLA owned equipment to any assigned teams or other permitted users.

4)  Allocation Phases:
         --I will accept field requests from teams starting now and continuing through to Aug 6. 
        --I will set up Allocation Phases whereby I will pool all requests received by the end of the given Phase and allocate the fields accordingly.
        --Requests received after a given Phase will be allocated at the end of the next Allocation Phase.

5)  Priority Allocation Rules:
         --Every attempt will be made to allocate each MVLA team two 90-minute sessions a week of practice
        --On Fridays, league games and scrimmages will trump practices on game fields.
        --On Mon-Thurs, practices will not be bumped for league games unless all other avenues have been explored.
         --Kickarounds, multi-team-, or multi-game events will have lower priority and be allocated after team practices and league games
        --When all considerations are equal and conflicts occur, then the MVLA Priority Ranking PIM shall be used to determine who gets the field reservation.
         --Pre-season practices will start as early as Monday 8/6, but may start one or two weeks later for the very youngest teams or class 3 teams, depending on field capacity.
        --League games for younger are expected to start Sat 9/7. 
        --League games for elders are expected to start Sat Aug 25 (yes, this is a tourney weekend, so if your team is in tourney, work early to reschedule your game to a later Fall weekend).

6)  Field Options and Features:
         --Teams may request certain fields, but are not guaranteed any particular field.
        --Most MVLA fields will not be lined, nor will they have goals.  Teams should expect to buy their own portable nets, goals, rebounders, etc.  I can recommend several good models and/or vendors.
        --We will keep Club-owned rebounders on site as long as field owners allow.  I need volunteers to help pick up, assemble, and place rebounders.
        --We will keep games fields lined.  Jamie Kelly will publish a lining schedule soon.
        --In many cases, MVLA teams will be expected to share fields with city recreation programs and/or other permitted Youth Organizations.

7)  How to format your request:
         --Subject line should be...   Subject:MVLA:fall request <teamname>   ...don't include the brackets<...>, just your teamname
        --You may submit several requests, one for each type of activity (one for practices, one for each scrimmage, etc).  In this case, add a usage type to your subject line...   for example, Subject:MVLA:fall request scrimmage Lightning 8/4    ...I prefer this method of separating requests since your requests will be considered with varying priority; this method also makes record-keeping easier for you and for me.
        --In the text of the email, clearly state your need.  List type of activity, weeks, days, and times preferred.  Give me multiple choices.  If you narrow your choice to only one acceptable scenario, you are likely to be disappointed.
        --PLEASE make sure you include multiple EMAIL contacts from your team who are authorized to accept and confirm your reservation and invoice. 

8)  Confirming your reservation (48hr deadline):
         --I will send you a reservation confirmation email. 
        --In that email, I will ask for acknowledgement and acceptance of reservation within 48 hrs. 
        --Use email.  I will issue no reservations by phone, nor will I accept phone confirmations. 
        --If you do not confirm the reservation, then I will release your slot into the pool for the next Phase of requests.  Being away on business or vacation is no excuse for missing your confirmation deadline.  If you miss your deadline, you may fall in priority relative to the next Phase's requestors and lose your slot or be allocated a less desirable slot.

Thanks,

Jeanine Valadez
MVLA Field Coordinator
cell 408 921 4313
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FALL FIELD STATUS AND OUTLOOK:
As reported in CLub meeting 7/11/07:
Key Field problems: 
1)  expect allocation from MV to be very small, including likely loss of Monte Loma and Crittenden.
2)  virtually no game and practice fields for elders u15 and up -- I need to get as much as Egan, Crittenden, Stev, Cooper, and LAHS as possible.

Other problems and challenges:
--AYSO 43 and 45 asking for more capacity due to 10% increase in numbers.  This will adversely impact our Stevenson, Cooper, Egan and Hillview capacities. AY43 and AY45 are specifically asking for part of Covington, too.
--Field owners will issue permits in August.  Historical rights are meaning less and less these days, so I cannot make any broad assumptions about fields.  Therefore, tell your parents they must be flexible. 
--If you must have certain days then be ready to be on any field I have available. 
--Once again, expect your field to change as the season progresses as fields go away and others become available.  Assignments will be issued in phases.
--DST is delayed this year until Sun 11/4.  This means that on 11/4 full darkness will be at 6:30pm and the next day Mon 11/5, dark will be at 5:30, diminishing quickly thereafter. 
 
Field specifics:
No FH in Fall. No DAC again.
LASD:  NO Blach or SR in Fall; consider Bullis offline w/construction; we share Egan and Covington with Flag football; they get 2 days per week.
MV: expect allocation to be low: impacts Graham, Critt, Stevenson, Cooper, Monte Loma, Huff, Eagle, and Sylvan, our historical fields.
LAHS:  have grass for u9/u10B only, AWT very limited, 6:30-8:00 as long as light allows (Aug and maybe two weeks in Sept)
LA:  No Rosita in Fall;  as always will share Hv and Grant with City Rec and Hv with AY43. 
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