Nordic News
Winter Edition - 2023
Welcome to the Winter 2023 edition and return of Nordic News! Nordic News is a quarterly newsletter to keep our members informed on what’s going on in the world of Nordic Soccer.
TOP STORIES
College Commitments!
At the beginning of January, our very own Barrett Freeman (2004-05G) officially committed to Saint Lawrence University to be a part of their women’s soccer program. SLU is a NCAA Division III program that is a part of the Liberty League, playing against programs such as SUNY Plattsburgh, RPI, Williams Smith, etc.
Lilley Keyser (2004-05G) has committed to play at Hobart and William Smith for their women’s soccer team. The Herons are a nationally ranked NCAA Division III program, and are a part of the Liberty League. William Smith went 14-2-6 last year, making it to the conference tournament championship, as well as the NCAA Elite 8.
We're so proud and can’t wait to see both girls soar as collegiate scholar-athletes!
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Directors Attend the USCC in Philadelphia, PA
From January 11th-15th, our three Directors - Jim, Craig and Cait - attended the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia, PA. While there, the three attended an abundance of lectures, field sessions, and meetings to enhance their education/connections. This professional development helps Nordic prepare for successful years ahead with exposure to new thoughts, ideas, and program methods. In order to be our best, we must continue to train on all levels, including our Directors!
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Nordic Cup 2023 Logo
Your votes are in, here was the winning logo for Nordic Cup 2023 - our 25th Anniversary. Look out for this logo on all Nordic Cup merchandise this upcoming summer, at Vermont's premier soccer event!
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Team Travel to Montreal, CAN
We had a number of teams travel to Montreal in January/February for friendly matches including our: 2011-12G, 2011-12BP, 2009-10G, 2010B, 2009BP, 2008G, 2008B, 2006G, 2006-07B, and our 2004-05G.
Our informal 'winter friendlies' provide competition against a number of different clubs, including Longueil SC, Pierrefonds FC, and CS Lanaudiere-Nord. These competitive matches are a great opportunity for our players and coaches to gauge our progress, and to get in some international travel.
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DIRECTOR UPDATES
Director Update
By Jim Goudie
Part of my job is planning ahead so right now I’m working on events for the 2nd half of our season. February is always a stop/start month for us with rolling our carpet 3 times in the span of 5 weeks for CVE shows. This process can take roughly 1 hour to roll up and close to 2 hours to set up and we are very grateful to all our families that come and help out.
March plans include teams traveling to their first outdoor tournaments of the spring season in NH and MA in addition to our “Spring friendlies'' at South Burlington HS before a crazy April. Not only do we have the continuation of NISC practices and games and our spring friendlies but we also have seven of our teams traveling to Europe during the April school break - 2004-05PG, 2006PG, 2006–07BP and 2009BP are all traveling to England, 2007PG and 2008PG are headed to Germany and 2008B are off to sunny Italy.
The reason we have so many teams traveling this year is due to catching up after 2 years off as we typically offer an overseas trip to our U14 teams. Many of these teams are currently hosting fundraisers and they appreciate your support of these events.
May will bring our regular VT Soccer league games so our teams can test themselves against the best teams in VT in addition to Memorial Day weekend tournaments in MA.
Our Annual Golf Tournament returns on Friday May 17th at Cedar Knoll - details to follow.
Nordic Cup is Sat June 17th and Sun June 18th and this year is our 25th Anniversary as we welcome over 200 teams.
As part of Cait’s new role, we will be offering a wider camp selection this summer with options in June, July and August including the potential return of Leyton Orient Academy coaching staff as well as a week of camp with Wolves coaching staff – no comments and stay tuned for that one!
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Director of Programming Update
By Craig Stone
Hello Nordic Families,
What a great Winter of soccer. Like me, perhaps you think it’s gone quickly, but on reflection, we’ve packed so much in as you can see from the ‘top stories’ above, and highlights in Jim’s update. As of the Feb. school break we’ve had 12 weeks of indoor trainings, indoor games, and international friendlies since we opened in early Nov.
For myself and the coaching staff, sessions 1 and 2 are heavy on training both the individual player as well as the team. In session 3 we begin to steer toward team trainings for the ‘real game’ as our March and April soccer tournaments approach, as well as Spring soccer.
As director of the soccer operations at the club, it’s important to me there is an evident culture in the environments we occupy. This has been my priority in the first year-and-a-half I’ve been in the role. I sugar it down to 3 key concepts: #Work Hard #Be a Great Teammate #Have Fun. These 3 variables are talent agnostic - every player is capable of living up to these values. Of course, they manifest themselves differently across the age groups, but at the end of the day, if our players and coaches live these values, it makes Nordic an awesome place to be.
When I walk into the building on either a training or a game night, I know within a moment whether our players and staff are living those values - it’s tangible. I hope you can see, hear, and feel that when you watch our players and teams play.
I’d be interested to hear your feedback on this, both as a spectator at our NISC facility (and tournament locations), as well as as a parent of a player.
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We’re on the road (snow willing!) each weekend in March to SeaCoast NH, for tournament play with the age groups spread across the entire month. We all love to train, but it’s in the game itself where players and fans find the beauty of the game. Our U9 and U10 players will be taking their first steps in out-of-state play, whereas our veteran U18/17 players begin their final seasons in our youth programming.
The message to our coaching staff is to treat March and April as your pre-season for the league and tournament season beginning in May. This impacts how teams train as they focus more on tactical play and setting up their teams to be competitive, as well as added fitness and strength training.
Finally, one of the highlights of our season is sending 7 teams overseas to 4 different countries to play, watch games, and become international travelers. It’ll open eyes and minds, and hopefully be a ton of fun. We’re grateful to our members who were able to make this happen. For our younger age group, their time will come.
Please reach out if you have questions about our programming, staff, or just soccer in general. I’m always happy to connect with you, the members who keep our club strong.
GO Nordic
Coach Stone
(703) 624-6734
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Director of Operations Update
By Cait Fogel
Hello everyone!
If I have not yet had the pleasure of introducing myself, my name is Caitlyn Fogel, the new Director of Operations here at Nordic. I was brought on board full-time last August, after coaching the 2004-05G in the 2021-22 season as well as being the Director of NISC.
I am Nordic, born and raised. I played for Nordic since I was ten years old, up through my freshman year of college. I went to Milton High School, where I helped the team win two DII State Championships in 2013 and 2015. After that, I went on to a NCAA DII Program at The College of Saint Rose. As a Golden Knight, we won the NE-10 Conference Tournament in 2019, and went on to the NCAA Final Four.
My responsibilities at Nordic include being the Director of the Indoor Center (NISC), managing our social media platforms and website, directing any/all camps or events, assisting with running Nordic Cup, and being the head coach of both the 2011-12G and the 2004-05G.
Currently NISC is doing great. We had an abundance of teams in both Session 1 and 2, and are excited about Session 3. We have a bunch of new rental clients that happily use the space when we aren't there, which is great for networking and exposure. Other than that, our Thanksgiving and Christmas Camps were a HIT, along with our Holiday 3v3 and 5v5 Tournaments.
If you have not yet noticed, we have a new website! It has been modernized and (hopefully) easier to find what you're looking for. Also, a new sign and banner at the entrance of NISC - check them out!
That's all from me! Please don't hesitate to reach out with any fun items for social media or the newsletter, or if you just want to say hello!
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OTHER NEWS
- If you or someone you know have ever asked, "Why Nordic?" - our players let you know why - check out this video
- New website is up and running! If you haven’t had the chance to check it out, do so now! - New Website!
- We will be having the club travel to Epping, NH each weekend this month to attend the Seacoast United Tournaments. Good luck to all of our teams!
- Seven of our teams will be traveling to Europe this April! Make sure to check out all of their fundraisers to help them out!
- Summer 2023 Camps and Programs are now OPEN and can be seen on our website - check them out here and make sure your player has a soccer-filled summer!
