APRIL 2012 NEWS

You can now pay by debit card, credit card or cheque.  It will still be necessary to provide an equipment deposit cheque postdated to November 1, 2012.   We look forward to seeing you.  

Registration dates are listed below:

One additional Registration date has been added on Saturday April 28, 2012 from 10 am – 2 pm at Playmaker U (120 Portage Close –street behind Millennium Place).  Late registrations will be accepted on a conditional basis.  Please contact one of the registrars (Grace Irons - Atom, Jennifer Kennett – Peewee)  

Download the 2012 Registration form.

Please note that as of November 2011 CDMFA Board meeting our SCMFA zoning has changed.  We are now able to accept families who live east of Hwy 21 but north of Hwy 16 (Yellowhead Trail) up to Twp Road 534.  These families will no longer require releases from the Ft. Saskatchewan teams as there is now a “shared zone”.  For further clarification please contact one of our registrars (Jennnifer Kennett or Grace Irons).    Be sure you pick up your United Cycle discount card at registration. 

Punt Pass and Kick Competition - See Poster 

o   Friday May 4th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm (field behind Bev Facey High School)

o   Open to all residents of Strathcona County

o   Prizes and Special Guests

o   Pre-register or register at the event   - no cost - download release form

Spring Camp is scheduled for May 5th and will be hosted by the collaboration of Ardrossan, Salisbury Composite and ABJ high schools.  The cost is $25 / player and that includes lunch and a great SCMFA giveaway.  Registration is open to all families of Strathcona County (registering for football or not).  Atom players will participate from 9 am – 12:30 pm and Peewee players will participate from 12:30 – 4 pm.  This has proven to be a fun learning day that provides an opportunity for all registrants to enjoy skills, drills, and observe a 6:6 contact demonstration. 

Our Gently used cleats bin will be available at Spring Camp and you can bring your gently used cleats to drop off or pick up a pair for your registered player to wear during the 2012 season.

Strathcona County discussed the proposed turf field at the April 10th County Council meeting  and will be voting on the budget for it in December 2012.  If passed the Turf field will be completed in the summer of 2013.  SCMFA is consulting with Strathcona County about a partnership to provide funding for facilities that would be required at a new turf location.   We are very excited about this initiative.   If you are as passionate as we are about bringing a turf field to Strathcona County please email or call your ward representative to lend your support to this initiative:

This year with the coordination of many wonderful hard-working volunteers we were able to schedule five school visits designed to promote our minor football program.  We brought along special guests from the Edmonton Eskimos who provided us with inspiring talks about the importance of education and following your dreams and then hung out and threw the ball around with students.     Thank you to Jean Vanier, Glen Allen, SCA, Ardrossan and Lakeland Ridge schools, students and staff.  Thank you very much to the Edmonton Eskimos’ Brad Morgan (Comm. Relations & Business Dev.), Grant Shaw (player) and Mathieu Bertrand (player) for  helping us promote Minor Football in Strathcona County.  Thank you to Playmaker U  for coordinating the appearance of Calvin McCarty (Edmonton Eskimos player) on April 10th at Lakeland Ridge School.   Calvin – we appreciate you coming out and helping us promote Minor football in Strathcona County.  We will be attending Ardrossan School on April 24th from 1 pm – 2 pm.  We look forward to attending with our special guests from the Edmonton Eskimos.    A special thank you again to Grant Shaw who came out to our registration on April 14th at the Sherwood Park Mall to sign autographs and help us out.    We are very fortunate to have a local CFL team as supportive of minor football as the Edmonton Eskimos are. 

It is never too soon to plan a party or a parade and SCMFA has committed to entering a float into the Canada Day Parade.  We have had such a great time in the past participating and hope to make this year’s event the best yet.  If you are interested in being on the float committee (parent) or walking in the parade be sure to sign up at Registration or at Spring Camp or send an email to Tracy Aiello

  The three committees that SCMFA participated in this winter resulted in the following changes to Minor football                       

o   Atom Development Committee  - please read the accepted proposal

o   Tiering Committee – please read the accepted proposal

o   Code of Conduct  - please review the accepted Code of Conduct which has been added to the CDMFA Rules, Policies and Procedures 

On May 1st CDMFA will go live with their new website www.cdmfa.ca.  Check it out at that time and let us know what you think. Each team will have their own team page that can be updated with pictures and information. Calendars will be interactive and families will be able to download collaborative calendars for multiple teams (if you have children on more than one team in different divisions even).  We are very excited about the functions that this new website will have.  Be sure to send us feedback. 

Playmaker U has added additional programs for Atoms and Peewee players.  8-12 years olds can register for Football Academy (2nd Session), Position Camp or Speed 101.  Playmaker U has their apparel line ready for order as well.  Check out the Playmaker U website. www.playmakeru.ca 

The Atom Eskimos had money left in their team funds last season and donated it back to SCMFA to put towards purchasing a new BBQ for concession.  We are excited to announce that our Concession Directors were able to purchase a larger more versatile BBQ for concession thanks to this donation.    

SCMFA is always looking for experienced coaches who love working with minor football players.  If you are interested in an coaching opportunity (Head coach or assistant coach) on one of our teams next year please contact Shauna Neeves (Coaching and Fields Allocation Director)

SCMFA has internal sponsorship (through donations) and external sponsorship (Jumpstart) available for players who require assistance with registration or other associated costs of playing minor football (i.e. cleats, girdle).  Please feel free to contact one of our registrars in confidence if you would like additional information about this program.    

Sponorship opportunities are available for the 2012 season.  If you or your company is interested in sponsoring the association or an individual team please review the information provided: Sponsorship Recognition Levels & the Sponsorship Opportunities letters.

URGENTLY NEEDED SPONSORSHIPS AND DONATIONS FOR EQUIPMENT ROOM

SCMFA has committed to move out of the existing (County Sponsored) Equipment Room by December 31, 2012. We are urgently seeking a donated or inexpensive trailer (800 – 1000 sq feet). If you know of or have access to a trailer please contact Tracy Aiello as soon as possible.  We are also applying for a grant from the Alberta Government to qualify to build or retrofit a Trailer.  We expect our cost to be close to $60,000 if we cannot locate a used, inexpensive or donated trailer.  We would much rather spend that money on football programming for our players and in keeping registration costs down.  We do not ask our families to do annual fund-raising for the association and our only sources of revenue are registration funds and concession intake (after expenses).  We understand that many local sports programs request fund-raising participation from their families and we are proud of our ability to continue our program on our existing revenue sources.  These revenue sources however are heavily utilized each year in providing safe equipment to our players, providing insurance to our players and in paying league fees to the CDMFA.   Again – if you can help out please let us know.  Many thanks to our families for using your resources to help us out with this project….download the Equipment Sponsorship Letter.

We would like to extend our thanks to our webmaster Gerald Chung for his work creating us an exciting new website.  We believe that this website reflects our Association and the ever changing technology available to us.   If you have any suggestions or thoughts on how to add to or improve our pages please email Tracy Aiello.