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Photo Credit: Keith P. Luke |
(This is the time of year when the horse racing season for the Ivory Pine Syndicate is winding down, but the soccer season for the Rosevelt Soccer Club is gearing up. Here's a 90-day glimpse of the day in the life of a horse racing managing partner and soccer club administrator.)
Awoke, 7:06a
Attended Sixby Hanover's race, 10a-1p
Sixby paced in his twenty-fourth race of 2024 yesterday morning, and he finished fifth in a 7-horse field.
Purses are distributed with only the top five finishers earning a purse check, so his fifth-place finish yielded our partnership $190--or 5% of the race's $3,800 purse.
Five percent of that purse check will be distributed to our trainer Mike Graffam, and another 5% of the check will be used to compensate our driver Nick Graffam. Our race day expenses for a race at Cumberland is about $200, so we more or less broke even for the day.
Attended GYSA end-of-season celebrations, 3p-4:30p; 4:45p-8:45p
My experiences with Fall Classic soccer date back to 2011 when I was named the interim varsity boys' soccer coach at Westbrook High School, and I've been either coaching or administering Fall Classic programming every autumn since then.
Our local town club hosted its end-of-season event yesterday, and the event was my last official responsibility for Fall Classic soccer--for at least one season.
Our younger daughter's team is aging out of her town club, and will be playing high school soccer next fall. And our older daughter will be a senior next year, so we want to minimize our responsibilities and distractions to experience next season to the fullest.
Fall Classic clubs are the backbone and sinew of Maine soccer. Their geography-based identities and structures are a good template for Maine's other clubs and leagues to follow, as they often lead to a relatively efficient distribution of talent, require an emphasis on player development vs. player recruitment, and create a competitive ecosystem with reasonable travel requirements for their players and their families.
Fall Classic clubs are also the entry-level experience for most players and parents, and the tireless work of these town-based clubs' volunteer administrators and coaches often ensures those entry-level experiences are positive experiences.
The sooner we Maine soccer stakeholders recognize Fall Classic clubs as the foundation of what should be a connected and coherent soccer ecosystem that features a clear local --> regional --> state --> pre-professional pathway for Maine's soccer stakeholders, the sooner Maine will achieve our fullest potential as a soccer state.
Asleep, 10:36p
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