Shaker Youth Soccer Association

Happy Father's Day!

Today, we celebrate the dads who lace up cleats, cheer from the sidelines, set up goals in the backyard, and drive to early morning games with a coffee in hand and a smile on their face.

Thank you for being coaches, role models, team supporters, and biggest fans. Your energy, encouragement, and commitment make a lasting impact on our players and our entire SYSA community.

Wishing you a day filled with appreciation, relaxation, and maybe even a backyard scrimmage or two!

After the whirlwind of Competitive Travel Tryouts and End-of-Year celebrations, we took a short breather—but we couldn’t wrap up the 2024–2025 season without one final newsletter to share some exciting updates and give you a preview of what’s ahead!

🚨 Big News: We’re Moving to League Apps!

After nearly a year of planning, we’re thrilled to announce that SYSA is switching to a new registration platform! We’re officially moving away from Sports Engine and transitioning to League Apps.

The SYSA Board evaluated several options and selected League Apps for its user-friendly experience for parents and its powerful tools for administrators. While we’re all getting used to the new system, we invite you to explore our beautiful new custom website! There's still some fine-tuning to do, so if you spot any broken links or have suggestions, please let us know.

Huge thanks to Irv Katz, who led the web design team—this new site wouldn’t be possible without his leadership and expertise!

🎉 End-of-Season Pool Party Success!

What a fantastic way to end the season! We had over 350 players and family members attend our End-of-Season Pool Party, and the weather couldn’t have been better. There was tons of pizza, lots of laughs, and some impressively close guesses in our jellybean contest!

Thank you to everyone who joined us—and a very special thank you to our amazing volunteers. You truly made this event a success. You’re rockstars!

⚽ Tryouts Recap + Early Bird Reminder

Tryouts were a huge success with nearly 550 players attending over five days. We were thrilled to see so many returning faces—and welcome new ones too! We continue to hear from families interested in joining Fall teams, so if you haven’t registered yet, don’t wait!

Reminder: Early Bird pricing ends Sunday, June 22—register soon to secure your spot!

📅 Save the Dates!

We’re already filling up the fall calendar with some fantastic events:

• Friday, August 29 at 7:30 PM
  Join us for our first collegiate soccer outing of the season! We’ll gather on the John Carroll Hamlin Quad for pizza and kids’ soccer, followed by the John Carroll Men’s Soccer match. It’s always a great time—we can’t wait to continue this fun tradition!

• Saturday, September 20 – SYSA Night with the Columbus Crew!
  We’ve partnered with the Crew to host Shaker Heights Youth Soccer Night at Lower.com Field. There will be two exciting on-field opportunities for our players—more details coming soon, but you won’t want to miss this!

⚽ Summer Soccer Opportunities

If your player is missing soccer already, we’ve got you covered:

• Kickstart Half-Day Camps
  June 16–20 and June 23–27
  A great way to build skills and have fun in the sun!

👉 You can find all the details and registration links here!

• Summer Skills Clinics – July 7-26
  Flexible evening sessions—sign up for all 9 or as few as 3!

👉 You can find all the details and registration links here:

Wishing you and your family the best summer ever—see you on the field soon!

—The SYSA Team

PS Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates as we'll be taking a break from sending newsletters!

• Important Dates- Fall 2025

• SYSA Summer Skills Clinics

• Player/ Team development metrics

• Dick's Sporting Goods Coupons!

• Financial Assistance for SYSA Programs

• Spiritwear and Uniforms

Sharpen your soccer skills with the staff coaches of Shaker Youth Soccer.

Our camp focus is improving ball skills through exciting and realistic games to build each player’s confidence. Skills Clinics will improve ball control and agility through small group activities, coordination exercises and social interaction, all with maximum participation for each player.

We offer flexible registration options where players can join for just a few sessions!

You can find more information here and when you're ready, register at the link below!

We know summer can be just as hectic as the rest of the year, and fall soccer might not be top of mind right now—but please take a minute to register before the early bird discount expires next Sunday! We don't want anyone to miss out on the savings! Please use the unique link sent to you in your roster invite. Check your spam folder if you haven't received your invite yet. If you still have questions or didn't receive your invite, please email: registrar@shakeryouthsoccer.org

As a reminder, there are two options for financial assistance:

• Shaker Schools Foundation – “Level the Playing Field” Fund
  This scholarship supports students enrolled in Shaker Heights public schools so they can participate in youth sports. Details here.

• SYSA Financial Aid Fund
  Our internal aid program helps ensure that cost is not a barrier. Details here.

We’re here to support all families—please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions.

• Consecutive passes without interception by opponent.
• Are we making more than 2 consecutive passes in the opponent's third? (We want to encourage keeping the ball in the opponent's end v. just shooting. Shooting is a solution but sometimes players panic and just shoot when they lose patience.)
• Successfully building the ball out of the back, getting it to a midfield player without interception.
• GK distribution success: good throwing technique, good foot skills, and is able to clear the ball if necessary
• Finding a player in the 18-yard box.
• Do our forwards demonstrate poise in and around the 18-yard box?
• Efficient touches; 2-3 touches max to make decisions in the box.
• Are we decisive on throw-ins, goal kicks, and corners?
• Are our players receiving or cushioning the ball out of the air before the ball hits the ground?

These are all concepts our coaches are working on in practice-- congratulate your player and their team when you see evidence of them in games!

Have you outgrown your outdoor cleats? Are you in the market for new (nonstinky!) shin guards? If so, head over to our partner Dick's Sporting Goods with our year-round coupon!

We are thrilled to announce T Smile Orthodontics as the newest corporate sponsor of SYSA! Their commitment to supporting our mission will be instrumental in funding our financial aid initiatives, ensuring that every player, regardless of financial background, has the opportunity to participate and grow in the sport. As we continue to expand our programs and provide scholarships to those in need, we encourage our current members to consider joining us as sponsors. Your contribution will directly support these efforts, helping to create a more inclusive and accessible soccer community for all players! please reach out to admin@shakeryouthsoccer.org if you or your company is interested in sponsoring SYSA!

https://www.tsmileorthodontics.com/

Thanks to the generosity of our families, SYSA is happy to provide financial assistance to players who want to join our community but may need a little help. Over the past year alone we've granted nearly $5000.00 in financial assistance to Travel and Recreation players. We've also worked with the Shaker Schools Foundation to facilitate use of their Level the Playing field funds and helped families access assistance through the The Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation. If you'd like to donate to help support our initiatives, you can do so here. More generally, if you have questions or ideas about fundraising to help support our financial assistance program or community outreach, please contact admin@shakeryouthsoccer.org

Are you looking for gifts for your soccer-crazed player? Check out our collection of Fan Wear hosted by soccer.com

Do you have jerseys from previous seasons that you can donate back to the Club? We promise to put them to good use! Please contact our Uniform coordinator: nicole.jira@gmail.com

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, or if you feel like this email contains incorrect information, please let us know at one of the contacts below. We thank you for your support of this program and the support of your player(s).

For registration or travel program questions, please contact: registrar@shakeryouthsoccer.org

For program-related questions please contact our Technical Advisor: Ryko Marich

For all other questions - please contact Board President: Sara Schiavoni