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Fall 2024 Fair Play Please Sportsmanship Winners
SPRING 2025 SAM RECREATIONAL LEAGUE REGISTRATION OPENS ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 28. CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO REGISTER.
The SAM Recreational league seeks to promote the values of sportsmanship and teamwork through the beautiful game of soccer. All games are played at the award-winning Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown. The SAM Recreational League provides a positive environment for children to learn and develop while having fun with friends and teammates. Players ages 5-18 and all experience levels are welcome.
- We offer two seasons of play – one in the fall and one in the spring. Each season is 8 weeks long and each player will have a total of 8 games.
- You can register your child as an individual and we will place your child with a team or if you have a team you would like to join you may request that during your registration.
- We do our best to form teams geographically so that players are playing with kids they go to school with.
- All games are played at the Maryland SoccerPlex on Saturdays or Sundays and practices will be held throughout the week at local fields based on the coaches’ preference and field availability.
- All players are guaranteed a minimum of 50% playing time.
- No “carded” players may play on SAM Rec teams. Carded leagues include SAM Select, MSI Classic, NCSL, EDP, ECNL, etc.
- Fall – All players receive a new uniform (jersey, shorts, and socks). In the spring, only NEW or TRANSFER players will receive a new uniform. Players who played the previous fall will use the same jersey from the fall. All SAM Rec teams must use the Nike uniforms provided by the league.
- Interested in coaching your child? Parents are encouraged to register as volunteer coaches and managers. They must first pass a background check, get SafeSport certification and take a brief online concussion safety course. No experience is necessary and comprehensive support and education are provided by the league for those who seek guidance. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Cost Per Player:
Early Bird (registered and paid through January 4, 2025): $150
Regular (registered and paid from January 5, 2025-February 24, 2025)- $160
Late (registered and paid on or after February 25)- $170
REFUND POLICY: All refunds given will be minus a $25 administration fee. If you received a uniform set you will need to return it unused or also have to pay the full kit fee. (No refunds will be given when players or teams are removed from the league for rules violations)
There will be a 3% processing fee added to all online transactions.
Rules
Click here for the 2024-2025 Age Group Chart
Click here for the Fall 2024 Recreational League Manual
4v4 Program Overview (6U and 7U only)
Referee Abuse and Zero Tolerance:
As we continue to fight against poor sideline behavior by both coaches and parents towards referees of all levels, we are implementing a new standard. The referee will be assessing the coaches, the teams and spectator behavior during the game and will give it a score of 1 to 4. 1 – Good, 2 – Acceptable, 3 – Borderline, 4 – Poor
If any team/coach receives 4-Poor it is an automatic 1 game ban to the coach. If the team/coach receives two borderline scores it is a automatic 1 game ban. If this pattern continues the ban increases to 3 games and then banned for the season.
Financial Aid
We offer full and partial grants to those who are in need of assistance. To learn more about how to apply, visit our financial aid page.
Important Dates- Spring 2025
October 28- Spring 2025 registration opens
January 4 – Early bird discount deadline (last day to get the discount)
February 25 – Late Fee Begins
March 7- Coach Schedule Request Deadline
March 7 – Scholarship deadline
March 14 – Practice schedule released
March 14 (on or before) – Game Schedule released
March 17- Tentative Rec Uniform Distribution (an email will be sent to confirm this (between 10am-7:00pm; tentative) – (ALL teams must send one rep for pickup (tentative)
March 24 – Practice permits begin
March 27 (5pm)- No new Rec players will be placed after this date/time until Monday, March 31)
March 28-30 – Opening weekend
April 8 – Last day to register for a Rec team
April 18-20- No games
May 2-4- Quiet Weekend
May 9-11- No games
May 23-25- No games
June 6-8 – Final weekend of games; Awards weekend
Practice Fields
To check the status of your practice field, please visit https://montgomeryparks.org/rainoutline/
Fair Play Please!
At SAM Soccer, we strongly believe in fair play and its importance within our programs. SAM Soccer’s Fair Play Please sportsmanship program is our way of recognizing and promoting that fair play. In recognition of the program, SAM Soccer was recently nationally recognized by the Soccer Parenting Association as a “club of winning culture”. The Fair Play Please sportsmanship program seeks to promote the values of sportsmanship, teamwork, and the good of the game. The goal of Fair Play Please is to recognize those teams (coaches, players and spectators) that demonstrate a high level of positive play and respect for others. We ask that all our SAM families do their share to make sportsmanship their highest priority.
Seasonal Sportsmanship Awards
At the conclusion of the season, coaches are asked to vote for the team that best exemplifies the values that the Fair Play Please program seeks to promote sportsmanship, teamwork, and positivity.
What Award Winners Will Get:
- Every player on the winning team receives a SAM “Fair Play Please” medal
- Winning teams will be featured on our website and social media channels!
- Winning teams will be entered in a raffle to win a team pizza party at the SoccerPlex
SAM Quiet Weekend
One weekend every season is set aside as the SAM Quiet Weekend. At games played this weekend, all adults (coaches, parents, spectators) are asked to refrain from directing verbal communication to the players or the referee on the field. We have found that player-to-player communication happens more often and is more effective when players are left to their own devices and creativity. Because there are not multiple voices and instructions being directed at them, the players “figure out” the answer themselves, learning that tends to resonate more fully and be more deeply engrained in their memory. And, yes, Quiet Games tend to not have contentiousness between adults and referees, between the adults on each team, etc.
How Coaches and Parents Can Support the Fair Play Please Program
- Encourage all members of your team’s families to support sportsmanship, fair play, and positivity at all games and practices.
- Make some notes about your opponent at each of your games to help you make your nominations toward the end of the season.
- Consider strategizing with the opposing coach at the beginning of each game about ways in which you can collaborate during the game to ensure that every player has success and finishes the match feeling good about their game experience that day.
We thank all the SAM families for helping to make our league the standard for great competition, AND great sportsmanship.
Code of Conduct
At SAM Soccer, we want to provide a fantastic experience for all players. We have specific rules and a code of conduct we ask all players, coaches, and spectators to abide by:
1. I will remember that children participate to have fun.
2. I will remember the game is for my child/children and not for me.
3. I will learn the rules of the game and the policies of the league.
4. I (and my guests) will be role model (s) for my child and show sportsmanship.
5. I promise to encourage my child and others in a positive manner.
6. I will show respect to the referees, the other team and parents before, during and after the game.
7. I will not use bad or inappropriate language, including racial slurs and/or abusive language.
8. I will teach my child to play by the rules and not engage in any unsportsmanlike conduct.
9. I will teach my child that doing his/her best is more important than winning.
10. I will praise my child for effort and not ridicule or yell from the sideline or in the car on the way home.
11. I will refrain from coaching my child (or others) from the sidelines unless as a designated coach.
12. I understand that, if a game is terminated as the result of misbehavior on a team, that game will be deemed a forfeit loss.
13. I will refrain from addressing the players on opposing teams other than to congratulate them for a game well played.
COVID 19 Safety
SAM Soccer and the Maryland SoccerPlex will comply with all federal, state and county safety protocols that are in place at the time our season starts. As the pandemic itself and related government and medical protocols are fluid from week to week, it will be impossible to predict what will be mandated at any given point in time in the future. We will keep our website and social media outlets updated with the most recent information as it becomes available. The safety of our athletes, coaches, referees, and staff is our number one priority and SAM Soccer and the Maryland SoccerPlex may implement additional safety protocols that may exceed federal, state, and county guidelines should we feel that is necessary.
Please click here for the most recently updated information on our COVID 19 protocols