A special thanks to all the coaches, chaperones (who truly took the role of surrogate parents) and especially the players for the enjoyable weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia. The weather cooperated, fields were certainly adequate and everyone adjusted to schedule changes. Almost all the games were extremely competitive and I thought all of the Eastern Pennsylvania teams performed extraordinarily well despite lack of outdoor training.
The behavior of the players on and off the fields brought compliments from hotel personnel and the coaching staff from other states. Parents please make sure you tell your sons or daughters how well they represented our state and how proud we were of all of them throughout the entire weekend.
We really make an attempt to be the most organized and professional state in Region One. The Virginia Friendlies provides opportunities for the players to be responsible without mom or dad, meet new friends, play at a high level and enjoy the competition. No other state attempts what we do at the Friendlies and it takes a great deal of hard work and countless hours to make this trip possible.
Barb Budgick was responsible for registration, rosters and answering questions from the phone in the office. Kylea Meredith was the anchor; as she arranged the buses, reserved all the hotel rooms and assigned players and chaperones to rooms, sent out all the information to parents, coaches and chaperones regarding any changes in schedules, managed the website, took all the pictures from the matches and put them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and most importantly kept me focused the entire time.
Please use Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer as your resource for any questions regarding soccer. I would be happy to speak with players, parents and coaches regarding any issues. We have no agenda attached to our programs and attempt to offer quality in any service we provide. Please enjoy the information below.
Virginia Friendlies by the Numbers
Number of buses 9
Number of teams 18
Number of uniforms distributed 347
Total number of games 54
Total wins 31
Total losses 13
Total ties 10
Goals scored 103
Goals allowed 42
Total number of rooms
taken up at the Embassy Suites 155
Average time on the bus (hours)
round trip and in Williamsburg 15.2
Number of coaches 34
Number of chaperones 35
Kitchen fires at the hotel 1
Number of tornado warnings 1
Average daytime temperature 61
Average hours of sleep per
night all participants 5.8
Average hours of sleep on the
bus 2.4
Number of times Mike Barr
wished he was back teaching 6