Throughout our spring and fall seasons, we proudly host our league's soccer matches at our beloved Pottery Field in Hawthorn, PA. Children and families come to enjoy the space and freedom of our natural grass playing area, and week after week, much work goes into maintaining and keeping it ready for play.
However, for our final weekend of regular game play this fall, on Saturday, October 15th, we are excited to announce that we will be holding an entire Saturday of games at West Shamokin HS!!!
As many of you know, UVSA provides a playing opportunity in the game of soccer for youth coming from many neighboring communities. While our fields are located in the Redbank Valley, it's been our mission to reach out and grow our enrollment from those areas, which include Rimersburg, Rural Valley, Dayton, and others. Over the past several years, the league has been proud to see those numbers rise, but none has grown more than the families coming from the West Shamokin area. For several years their numbers have been climbing, and during our 2022 seasons, they have made up 40% of the league's enrollment.
Families from the West Shamokin district who sign up to participate do so gladly to make the sacrifice of traveling a little further. While they understand that gameplay on Saturday will be in Hawthorn, they have said that UVSA provides their children with a better experience than other recreational soccer programs in the area. It's a commitment that they make willingly to be a part of our league. With that said, we feel this is a sort of "thanks" to them, and the commitment that they make. Without their enrollment, our program would not be the size it is today.
In addition, hosting a day of games at West Shamokin HS offers an opportunity to all of our children that is unique from the games at Pottery Field...TURF! The playing surface at the high school was upgraded in 2018 and is one of few schools in the area to have such a thing. With that said, not only are many high school level games played on these types of surfaces, but also those children who have had the experience before absolutely rave about how fun it was! So for our event, all of our children will have the opportunity to experience this for themselves.
The day of games will still begin at the regularly scheduled time of 9am, however the game schedule will be revised, so stay tuned. Concessions will be available for the day and are being provided by the West Shamokin Soccer Boosters, as well, they will be having a basket raffle to raise funds for their program. In addition, the UVSA will be having a 50/50 raffle to raise funds for our end of year tournament, and associated activities that will be happening on the following weekend, 10/22, back at Pottery Field.
Lastly, I cannot thank those enough who have helped to make this day happen. From the infancy of the idea, I have been working with West Shamokin Varsity Soccer Coach, Don McGaughey to coordinate the event and to get it approved with Armstrong School District. Without his help, we may not have been able to pull this off. And most importantly, our financial sponsors, who stepped up to provide the funds required to make this possible:
Toy Drilling LLC, Distant, PA
Blose Generator Services, Dayton, PA
Botelho Monuments, New Bethlehem, PA
These sponsors graciously agreed to support the program and the event, and I am thrilled for the contribution they each have made!
As a board, we're excited for this day, I personally am excited for this day and the experiences it will provide. We are glad to be able to put it together and look to all of you joining us!
Josh Rupp
UVSA President