Who sponsors the Home School Saints Soccer Program?

The Home School Saints provide the first-ever varsity and junior varsity team athletic experiences for home educated kids ages 11-18 in New Orleans.  Its teams are directed by Louisiana Home School Sports, a non-profit organization dedicated to offering sports opportunities for home school children.  The vision is to serve the 2,500 home-educated youth in the New Orleans area by providing a positive team sports experience.

 

Home School Saints soccer teams will play in an intramural league, meaning that games are played against its own teams.  Also, they may play other home school teams and area recreational soccer teams.  

 

For other team sports, such as football, the Home School Saints are members of the Association of Christian Educators of Louisiana and play conference games towards possible play-offs and championships. 

 

How much travel is involved for soccer?

Practices and home games will be held at the field behind Victory Fellowship on 5708 Airline Drive in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie.  Away games will be played on the Northshore (Covington or Slidell).

 

Soccer practices are held on Wednesdays from 3:45pm-5:30pm beginning February 12 through April 30. After entering into Victory Fellowship driveway, turn left into parking area and then rurn right.  This will bring you to the side and the back of the buildings.  There will be a small field straight ahead.  Pull over on the grass area if only dropping off players or park car in parking area.  Be sure not to interrupt Victory Fellowship's school car pool pickup.

 

Away games will be played in the New Olreans metropolitan area.

 

What is the time commitment to play on the Home School Saints soccer team?

The team will practice and play on Wednesday afternoons.  On occasion, the team will have games on Saturdays.  

 

What is the cost to play?

The cost will be $50 which includes a game jersey, facility expenses, insurance costs, and other fees.  The coaches and director are volunteers.

 

What level of soccer will be played?

The Home School Saints soccer program features co-educational, recreational teams.  Generally-speaking, there are three levels of soccer:  recreational teams, traditional school-based teams and travel teams.  Recreational soccer is the easy for families to access, often offered by local playgrounds, parks, soccer clubs and civic programs.  Traditional school-based teams (middle schools and high schools) offer a November through February season for students of public or private schools.  The highest level of soccer is often referred to as "travel teams" sponsored by soccer clubs such as Louisiana Fire Juniors, FC-NOLA and Soccer Innovations of America.  Players wishing to compete for and earn college scholarships compete at the school-based and travel team levels.

 

How are home school families finding out about the Home School Saints?

The Home School Saints sends information to many New Orleans home school groups:  CHEF GNO, CHEF River Parishes, CHEF Northshore, CHEF Crescent City, CHEF Slidell, Grace Home Educators, CHEF St Charles Parish, Westbank Homeschool Organization, Key Home School, and Agnus Dei.  Also, the Home School Saints are part of the National Home School Sports Network. 

 

Who will coach the Home School Saints soccer teams?

Coach Francisco Castillo will be the Director of Coaching for the Home School Saints soccer teams.  Coach Chico coaches traditional school-based teams (like Higgins High) and travel teams at Soccer Innovations of America.  The Home School Saints soccer program is directed by John Burke, former Board Member and Recreation Soccer Director of Carrollton Soccer Association (now Louisiana Fire Juniors).

 

Why should home school kids consider playing recreational soccer?

All well-coached and organized team sports afford a great opportunity for young students.  Where else can a young person face adversity both internally and externally and learn to confront it head-on and overcome it with the help of others in an environment much safer than life itself?  Plus, soccer is fun!

 

When will the season begin and how long will it last?

Beginning February 12, 2014, the teams will practice on Wednesday afternoons, focusing mainly on conditioning and basics.  They will begin scrimmaging in March and will have occasional games on Saturdays during April.  The last practice is Wednesday, April 30.

 

How many soccer teams are there?

There are three co-ed soccer teams with 20 players each, separated by age.

-U12 team (under 12 years old as of August 1, 2013)

-U14 team (under 14 years old as of August 1, 2013)

-U18 team (under 18 years old as of August 1, 2013)