COACH’S MESSAGE
We had a great preseason week, and we covered a lot of ground, introducing concepts and working on our playing style this week. I hope that this head start will help us as we head into a couple very early games in 2026. All of the coaches appreciated the great attitudes and effort of the players that attended this week! It was a promising start. Thank you to all of the many families that came to the parent and player meeting on Wednesday. I was glad to see so many there.

This is a big weekly update with a lot to cover. Thank you for reading through it fully. I hope it answers most of your questions about what this season will look like for players.

GAME JERSEYS, SHORTS, AND SOCKS
Jerseys will be checked out to each player. Each player will need a pair of solid black socks and a pair of solid white socks (we do not provide these). Most players choose to check out a pair of black shorts. However, players may choose to wear their own black shorts. No club logos are allowed, per state rules.

TEAM GEAR ORDERS OPEN THROUGH FEBRUARY 26
The team store will be open through February 26 and close one day after tryouts are completed. Place your orders! (Note for new families: in high school, you do not order jerseys. I recommend that you get some t-shirts and at least one hoodie.) https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/qbqKTsnePC

FRIDAY TEAM DINNER
Each season, we make it a priority to set goals as a team, and we often do this with a team breakfast. This year, since we will be missing players for club games on Saturday, we will have a potluck-style team dinner at Niwot following Friday’s practice. We will eat together and set goals. I have posted a sign up on the event on both the Varsity and JV schedules. Please sign up for what you are able to contribute. To make sure we have the right amount, feel free to add up for multiple spots if you can contribute more of an item.

TRYOUTS
Tryouts will be three days (Monday through Wednesday). The goal of tryouts is to build the training groups. From there, we will continue to compete to decide the first game roster for Game 1 on March 3. As we are a tryout sport, we are looking to fill spots on a team. Not everyone will be offered a spot if they are unable to compete at the level of the program this year. However, we will aim to offer as many players as are able to compete at this year’s level. Players will be evaluated on technical skill, game understanding, and fitness.
Our tryouts will be a little longer than our normal practice schedule, since there is usually a lot more administrative work to do. Tryouts will be from 3:15-5:30, February 23, 24, 25, on the grass fields.

EXPLAINING TEAM ROSTERS AND TRAINING GROUPS
We have a growing program, which is very exciting. The growing number of soccer players at Niwot is also bringing changes to how we will organize our roster and manage the games this year. This is a great problem to for us to need to solve, and we want to give you a full explanation, even if it’s long.

A great number for a soccer team is 18. This is a common roster size in club and high school. We are going to get close in overall numbers, but not close enough to run three dedicated teams. Due to some known injuries and availability issues, we will never have three actual teams of 18. For this reason, we will roster as many as possible, but with an expanded JV team. This will include an expanded sub-varsity schedule, adding C teams in our area to grow the game schedule. Each week, we will work to distribute players across the available games, looking to get each sub-varsity player game time.

There will be two training groups — a varsity training group led by Coach Dimit and a JV training group led by Coach Brett. Goalkeeper trainings will be led by Coach Paige. The varsity games will be coached by Coach Dimit, assisted by all staff. The JV games will be coached by Coach Brett, with Coach Paige taking the lead role on some of the games as well.

The varsity objective does not change in this setup. We will be playing the players in our program who are most ready to compete at the highest level — and who have trained enough with the team to understand and compete as part the team’s game plan. A typical varsity game features 15-18 players in regular roles. Beyond that, it is usually very tough to find minutes in those competitive games. Players who train with the varsity may not play in every varsity game; we will swing those players to the JV for minutes that week. The varsity training group will have 20-25 players.

The JV objective also does not change. The JV level, in all of the games, is primarily focused on development as a player and as a team, with the goal to prepare players eventually (whether in this year or future years) for varsity competition. We will work to make sure JV players are matched up against the proper level of competition whenever possible. Sub-varsity teams vary in their competitive level (Erie’s C team is a much bigger challenge than Fort Morgan’s JV, for example). There will be some weeks where this is tough to do, but we should be able to find good competitive matches for players throughout the season.

Ultimately, our thinking is guided by three principles: (1) juniors, sophomores, and freshmen are best served by playing games instead of sitting the bench; (2) we need to do our best to distribute minutes as much as possible in a congested schedule in order to keep players healthy throughout the season, and (3) our program is stronger when it is connected and working together during training.

TEAM HANDBOOK AND EMERGENCY CONTACT CARD
Please review the team handbook, and sign the sheet that your player brought home to you. Also fill out the purple emergency contact card. If you attended the meeting, you do not need to do this again. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VZ2ghaV1VfH-YwxdM4mYMoT3FokV_YtxbAeK0x7IlGw/edit?usp=sharing

REGISTRATION PROCESS
To participate in tryouts, beginning February 23, you must be fully registered and have a valid CHSAA physical turned in. There will not be any exceptions.
REGISTER HERE, USING REVTRAK: https://stvrain.revtrak.net/Program-Registration/ (Find Niwot Athletics > Spring Sports > Girls Soccer.)
GET YOUR SPORTS PHYSICAL CLEARANCE: Please remember that this year, only the official CHSAA physical form which can be found here will be accepted. To upload your CHSAA physical, please upload your physical here. You only need to upload Page 4.
You only need to upload a physical once per year. Check your student’s physical date in Infinite Campus: More > Activities. This shows the date(s) of the physical that is on file for your student.

GET YOUR WHOLE FAMILY ON THE APP
Please make that sure each player and at least one parent is on the app. You can control your notifications in the app, and there is an option to only receive emails instead of push notifications. If you have only been visiting the website for information, please make an account now so that you get updates and announcements pushed to your phone or emailed to you.