The Chinook Soccer Alliance is a committee that has been formed by the recreational boards of Eisenhower, Battle Ground and Prairie soccer clubs for the purposes of managing their advanced level competition teams. This includes managing coach selection, tryout schedules, marketing and uniforms.

Our three recreational boards found that in our hyper-competitive area it was becoming more difficult to field advanced level teams, limiting the choices of the players in our community to playing at the "Premier" level or traveling much further distances to play "District" soccer. Our goal is to provide a cost-effective, local, advanced level option for our club members.

The Chinook Soccer Alliance is not a stand alone club. Each recreational club has a budget for advanced competition and would be used to support Chinook Soccer efforts if necessary. Each board must approve Chinook Soccer expenditures.

Premier level soccer is term used to describe a team that competes at the state level; select soccer is a term that is used to describe a team that competes at the district level.

State level teams must qualify through a qualifier tournament; district level teams need only apply. Any team is allowed to attend qualifiers, including Chinook teams. State level teams demand more training and have a much more intense time and travel commitment.

Please be mindful that there are clubs with the label premier, but may teams that do not play at the state level. This is particularly true at the U11 age where they are not allowed to compete in Oregon and there is no state level league in Washington for that age. The exception is the club has placed their team in the new Player Development League (PDL) which requires a tremendous amount of travel.

Premier soccer has paid coaches and overhead staff where select soccer does not. It is a large reason why the cost for premier is more than double that of select. The cost of premier soccer in the area is around $1000 per player and does not include tournaments or coaches expenses.

The decision to play Premier vs. Select is an important one for a family, in most situations the premier clubs have the more experienced coaches and much more impressive resumes which likely translates to a quality learning experience. The money and time commitments are increased and there is a much larger focus on winning to retain their position in the state level leagues. Playing premier soccer at the older ages is also considered to be the best path to playing soccer at the collegiate level.

Select level teams are an avenue to offer players a competitive environment without the intensity of a premier schedule or the cost and travel. Many select coaches are former players and have a great knowledge of the game and have a lot to offer the players. The main goal of select is to give the players and parents an appreciation for the game of soccer.

Each team will choose one of our allied recreational clubs as their home club. The team will register with that club and in turn that club is responsible for all supporting aspects of the team such as fields and referees.

Almost all Chinook teams will compete in the District 5 league. Some teams may option to play outside of the district and compete in Oregon or Washington's state league. For specific details pertaining to your team of interest please contact the team's representative or coach which is currently listed on the Chinook home page.

After tryouts are complete in March, teams generally begin practice in Mid to Late spring once or twice a week through summer. When fall district begins teams typically will practice twice a week. Teams that choose to participate in the Washington State Cup will usually practice through once or twice a week from November through February depending on the team's success. Games are primarily played on Saturday; however some leagues that our teams compete in may have Sunday games. Also expect to spend two to three weekends of the summer competing in tournaments. Like the previous question, this is a very team specific topic and is best to get the information from your teams directly.

The committee is encouraging all coaches to be mindful of our kid's interest in other sports and to make compromises that allow the kids to become involved with other sports. We feel that many sports complement the lessons that we try to teach our kids in soccer. Multiple sports is a very important issue at the younger ages as kids don't know what sport they were destined for and should be given the freedom to find out.

Very team dependent, U12 and up are allowed a maximum of 18 players, the typical roster size would be around 15. U11 is allowed a maximum of 14 but it is most likely to see the team have around 12 players.

Our teams our fairly independent on budget. Each team has some base costs which are league fees, uniforms, and club registration which pays fields and refs. This is in the neighborhood of about $250 for a year of soccer. If the team is returning and does not need to purchase new uniforms than the cost may be significantly less.

After the base costs each team will pick a couple of tournaments to attend which will cost around $30 per player depending on the tournament team fee which are around $350-$450 per team.

Other additional costs that a team may choose are extra equipment, warm-ups, attending academies or hiring session trainers.

Bottom line; Each team sets their own budgets based on how much soccer the parents and coaches want to do and how much equipment the team wants to buy. It is probably likely to say that select soccer usually costs around $400 a year. Once again, speak with your individual team to get more specific dollar amounts.

Coaches are to email a committee member with their interest and qualifications. The committee will setup times to conduct interviews and make a selection. This process will be improved and more formal for the 2008 season.

No.

All Chinook coaches and assistants are asked to obtain their "E" License which they will be reimbursed for through their allied club. Coaches and assistants are encouraged to attend further licensing courses and will be reimbursed for those as well.

Players are to attend the tryout following the rules about what to wear. Players are to perform drills and games to the best of their ability where evaluators will score them on many aspects of their technical and tactical abilities. The top eleven players (except U11) are picked by evaluators' average scores and the remainder of the team is picked by the coaching staff. Evaluators are to be independent from the team, meaning that there is to be no personal interest in the make-up of the team. Family members are not allowed to evaluate players for Chinook.

Chinook teams are selected from a tryout process. Once a year there are posted tryout dates in which a player must attend one of the tryouts to be offered a spot on the team.

After the team has been picked phone calls will be made by the team to inform players of their status. It is very important to have the best contact information provided at registration so that we may inform everyone in a timely manner.

Teams are expected to hold a first team meeting within a reasonable time of creating their team to cover all the basics that the team needs to function, such as team rules and expectations, collection of fees, distribution of uniforms, tournaments, volunteers for various tasks, etc.

Yes, each coach is required to hold the evaluation sheets for one year and can be contacted directly to provide this information for you.

You can sponsor a team by contacting a team representative or sponsor the alliance by contacting an alliance representative. We will have a dedicated sponsor's page on our website shortly after the teams are formed. 100% of all sponsorship proceeds go to the players. Some sponsors donate time or space, some donate money, and some donate equipment. Every bit helps and is greatly appreciated.

If you have a question you think would benefit everyone to know the answer to please email info@chinookalliance.com if you have a specific team question please contact your team representative. If you have a specific alliance question then please email one or all of the committee members listed above.