News

Letter: Supporting Youth Sports and Fitness through the Ram Spirit Fund

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Dear Editor,

I’m writing to bring attention to a broad based community wide effort to improve our athletic fields. I invite every New Canaan resident to step forward and support the Ram Spirit Fund (RSF) Capital Campaign in progress now. The RSF represents a new collaborative effort that links our High School athletic program with various youth sports organizations with a shared vision to enhance our town’s athletic complex to meet current and future needs. Organizations coming together to create the Ram Spirit Fund include the NC Rams All Sports Booster Club, New Canaan Youth Football, New Canaan Soccer Association, New Canaan Youth Field Hockey and New Canaan Lacrosse Association. Phase 1 of this campaign seeks to raise Two Million Dollars to cover the cost of creating two new turf fields located between the current Water Tower Turf Field and Dunning Stadium (one full size regulation field and one smaller practice field), along with the re-surfacing of the Dunning turf.

News

Ram Spirit Fund: Formal Planning, Fundraising Efforts Underway for Two New Turf Fields at NCHS

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Nearly two years after receiving municipal approvals, a plan to create two additional turf athletic fields at New Canaan High School is gaining momentum this week, as a website, formal fundraising effort, renderings and timetable for the project have materialized. Through the newly created “Ram Spirit Fund,” a committee that includes the NCHS athletic director, recreation director of the town and officials from youth field hockey, football, lacrosse and soccer groups are seeking to raise $2 million by the end of this month. With those funds in hand, the committee would put the project out to bid in May, start work in June and have the fields ready for when the next academic year kicks off in September, according to a timetable published on the website. The fields would be located across the parking lot from Dunning Field, running from the tennis courts toward Waveny. Nick Williams—both a selectman who voted in favor of the project in July 2013 and a longtime youth sports parent who has launched a website dedicated to NCHS soccer teams—said the new turf fields are “something we need in town.”

“One of the trends continuing trends that we’re seeing in New Canaan is really the explosion of girls’ sports.

New Canaan Lacrosse Association

US Lacrosse Level 1 Coaching Clinic at NCHS

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New Canaan Lacrosse Association, is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a US Lacrosse Level 1 Coaching Instructional Clinic at New Canaan High School on March 8, 2015. US Lacrosse’s Coaching Education Program (CEP) is a broad, multi-level program designed to help lacrosse coaches of all experiences become better on and off the field. The instructional clinic is one of several components required to obtain US Lacrosse Level 1 Coaching Certification and will offer separate instruction for both Men’s and Women’s coaches. The curriculum also includes a Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) Double Goal Coaching Workshop, a separate component of Level 1 certification. “The current Board of NCLA is proud of our track record of running a high quality youth sports program that has proven to provide our youth players with both a positive learning experience and prepare them to play at the next level, no matter how high that may be,” commented Mary Cuoco, current President of NCLA.

Government

Town Pursues Mandatory $20 Per-Player ‘Fields Usage’ Fee from Private Youth Sports Groups

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Seeking insight into the true membership numbers and financials of private organizations that run youth sports in New Canaan, town officials plan next year to make mandatory a $20 per-player “fields usage” fee. Led by Park & Recreation Commission Chair Sally Campbell and Selectman Nick Williams and launched through the Youth Sports Committee, the move is designed, in part, to usher New Canaan toward a system where basic upkeep of playing fields is accounted for through above-the-line payments rather than private contributions. In the past, the town had no oversight of the financials of groups that oversee sports such as youth football, lacrosse, baseball, soccer and field hockey, Campbell said during the committee’s Jan. 29 meeting. As a result, she said, “we had groups that ended up having big cash reserves because they were collecting fees way in excess of what they needed to use.”

“So our point to them was, look, you know parents aren’t going to question the fee—because they want their kid to participate, they want them to make the A team and nobody would question it,” Campbell said at the meeting, held in the Art Room at Lapham Community Center.

Sports

New Canaan Lacrosse Third Grade Roundup: May 19

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As the New Canaan High School varsity team gears up for a defense of their back-to-back FCIAC titles, the youth lacrosse league—New Canaan Lacrosse Association—is in full swing. Here’s a look at some of the action in the third grade division:

North Carolina 5  Duke 4 – North Carolina was able to edge out Duke 5-4 in a very exciting close battle. Ryan Connelly and Cameron Wietfeldt lead the Tar Heels with 2 goals each. Connelly also had 2 assists including the game winning buzzer-beating pass across the crease to Mathew Salmini who scored with 2 seconds left in the game. The Tar-Heels also enjoyed some great all-around gritty defensive play from John Totaro, Andrew Rittenberry, William Webster, and Nathaniel Moor, while the relentless ground ball play of Jerome Roscoe, Hunter Nelson, Holden Busby and Jason Pastushan tilted the possessions in favor of Carolina.