Fire Soccer Academy will be holding our second round of spring tryouts on May 5th.  In our first round of spring tryouts held 3/24/12, FSA welcomed 23 new players in to Fire Soccer Academy! The second round of tryouts will be held saturday 5/5/12 at Kapowsin Elementary in Graham.  All FSA players, new and returning, must attend this second tryout as this tryout will be used to determine which FSA team the players will be assigned to for the next year as well as give another opportunity for new players to join our groups. Within a week of the tryout, players will begin practicing with FSA teams 2 or 3 days per week. 

5/5/12 TRYOUT TIMES
12:00-2:00 5th, 6th, 7th graders
2:00-4:00 8th thru 11th graders

5/5/12 TRYOUT LOCATION
Kapowsin Elementary
10412 264th Street East
Graham WA, 98338

New players wanting to tryout shouldpre-register by emailing a completed FSA Tryout Registration form (word scanned PDF version) to mrichards@rainierconnect.com See the additional information below to learn more about FSA tryouts and the organziation of our academy.

FSA Tryout Flyer

FSA Tryout Registration Form (word)

FSA Tryout Registration Form (pdf)

FSA Team Chart

If you have any questions about tryouts or Fire Soccer Academy, please call or email Jackie Richards at mrichards@rainierconnect.com (cell 253-732-0950). Please note that if offered a spot on the roster, parents will have 5 days to pay the initial registration fee of $100. If the registration fee is not paid, the spot will likely be offered to another player.

Fire Soccer Academy will be holding tryouts for 2012 in a two step process.  The first step will be this coming weekend.  New players to the club currently in 6th grade to 11th grade will tryout Saturday 3/24/12 at Kapowsin Elementary from 4:00-6:00 (players should arrive at around 3:30 to check in)  Current FSA players are not required to attend this first tryout.  A second tryout will be held saturday 5/5/12.  All FSA players, new and returning, must attend this second tryout as this tryout will be used to determine which FSA team the players will be assigned to for the next year.  Within a week of 3/24/12 tryout, players will begin practicing with FSA teams 2 or 3 days per week.  
    
Players wanting to tryout need to pre-register by emailing a completed  FSA Tryout Registration form (word scanned PDF version) to mrichards@rainierconnect.com    See the additional information below to learn more about FSA tryouts and the organziation of our academy.  

FSA Tryout Flyer
       
FSA Tryout Registration Form (word)
         
FSA Tryout Registration Form (pdf)
      
FSA Team Chart

If you have any questions about tryouts or Fire Soccer Academy, please call or email Jackie Richards at mrichards@rainierconnect.com (cell 253-732-0950).   Please note that if offered a spot on the roster, parents will have 5 days to pay the initial registration fee of $100.  If the registration fee is not paid, the spot will likely be offered to another player. 

The Fire CPT had their 2nd road trip of the season, traveling to play spring Super League games in Lewiston Idaho and Wenatchee WA.   With the long trip over to Idaho the CPT left early Friday afternoon on the 7 hour drive (counting an hour stop for dinner).  The team stayed together in the Red Lion hotel then had breakfast together in the morning before heading to the field to play the Valley Thunder team that defeated us 3 to 1 earlier in the season at our home field.  The weather was great, about 60 and sunny! like spring is supposed to be!  The CPT played fantastic defeating the Valley Thunder team 2 to 1 on goals by Mariah Engelhardt and Faith Lindgren, our two stoppers.  This game demonstrated the advantages of our formation and the CPT showed they have mastered how to play it.   Defense and our keepers played strong with Mariah Hunstock continuing to improve and develop in goal.  After the game we headed to a local pizza shop for lunch then headed toward Wenatchee.  Arriving about dinner time, at our hotel in Wenatchee (they actually made chocolate chip cookies for us!!) the girls changed and we headed out to Applebees for dinner together.  Sunday morning after breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the field to play the Wenatchee Fire at a field on the hillside of East Wenatchee with an unbelievable view of the mountains that looked like Switzerland or something.   This game was an extremely fast and physical game with both teams having great drives up and down the field, both defenses and keepers saving the shots at the last second.  Bailey scored the first goal of the game early on a great thru ball from Courtney.  Bailey tapped it around the keeper on a breakaway showing the patience of a college player.  Alex had an amazing game at center back and the whole defense played incredible.  Amanda had the greatest save of the season with a two handed leap to stop an overhead ball from diving in the net just under the top bar, an amazing college level save.  With strong defense the CPT kept the Fire from scoring until the last 5 minutes of the game when they put together a perfect string of passes ending with a lightning fast dragback and shot in the goal, very tough to defend.   The CPT offense had many shots in this game with great crosses coming in to the middle from our outside forwards all game.  Although the game ended a 1-1 tie, the CPT played the best they ever have and the game was the most exciting CPT game ever.  At the end of the game the CPT were so excited and fired up. You could see the community and team camaradarie between tham that make this team so amazing to be a part of!  After the game the CPT headed to Red Robin for lunch and then the drive back to Graham on Sunday afternoon.  There were so many great moments this weekend that none of us will forget, like Rosie coming to Alex's defense in that dog pile in front of the goal :)  In 10 years of coaching, Jackie and I have never enjoyed a team trip, or pair of games as much as this weekend!  And we want to thank Nicole, Ashlee's mom for being our 3rd driver and spending the weekend with us as well as Deana and Annemarie our team managers for coordinating the trip for us!  What a great weekend!         

For the 2nd year now, the Fire CPT traveled to Oregon for the second leg of the Pacific Coast Super Cup college showcase tournament in Beaverton Oregon.  This tournament is an excellent opportunity for our players to get exposure to Oregon College coaches.  Andy Hetherington, the head coach of George Fox University Women's team watched both of our games over the weekend and then hosted our team during a tour of George Fox University on Monday.  It was a great weekend of exciting college level soccer! Both games were extremely intense and the CPT played well in both games with both ending up close losses, but with a lot of great CPT offense and goals in both games.  These trips are also great team bonding experiences with the girls staying together for 3 days of soccer, eating, talking and sleeping together, exploring the area, and doing fun things together like going to the movies and this time going to church together as well.  All of this just adds to the special "community" experience that being a part of this team gives to the players. Click "Read more" below to learn more about this trip including our first ever drop in at a local church for sunday service!  Check out photos from the weekend under the Pictures module, under Team Activities. 

Tryouts at the end of October resulted in enough new players to the program to allow FSA to create a 2nd Juniors age (6th to 8th grade) team, the Fire Juniors White group.  FSA wants to welcome the following new players and their families to the FSA program:

Haley Larson
Brady Hagen
Sami Long
Shannon Dooley
Katarina Astley
Michaela Cruz
Darynne Schachtel
Camille Jones
Danica Bare
Trinity Njuyen
Jamerika Haslett
Kylie Crane
Trisha Gates
Kylie Ablett
Nikky York

FSA continues to grow and we are now cosolidating our players and teams toward an eventual goal of 5 Girls teams and approximatley 100 players.  With 4 teams and nearly 70 players strong already, we expect to  reach our goal and our final 5 team form this coming spring.  As FSA ends it's first year of existence, we have enjoyed tremendous growth and have been blessed with so many great players and so many great families coming to our group! 

The Fire Juniors generally play their games and tournaments locally but each year we have 1 or 2 road trips with a couple of games in Eastern Washington.  The first trip the weekend of 10/24 they traveled to Spokane for a game then to Pasco for a game on, Sunday before heading home.  The soccer was great but the players will probably remember the trip more including eating out at the pizza place together, traveling together, staying in the hotels and swimming in the pools!  In the Saturday game against a strong Spokane Elite team, the Juniors lost but had shots on goal and a glorious combination play goal by Ariana! A glimpse of their future to come!   11/5 the team traveled to Leavenworth for a game and then to Wenatchee for a game the following day.  The girls went bowling after eating out together Saturday night and everyone enjoyed the beauty scenery of Leavenworth.  Both games this weekend were close on the score board demonstrating the progress the Juniors have made since starting as a brand new team playing against a group of great and established select teams from around the state.  They were great trips and everyone had a good time with lots of great memories.  We want to thank Amber's mom Tammie, our Juniors team manager, for making arrangements for the weekend trips!

One of the founding goals for Fire Soccer Academy over a year ago was to develop select level teams to help local high school coaches raise their team's level of performance.  We have made great progress toward this goal in our first year, as we now prepare to enter our 2nd year of the select program at FSA.  Congratulations to the following Fire Select players for making their high school teams!  We currently have two high school age select teams and hope to continue to grow that program over the next year and add more players from the local school teams.

The Fire CPT held their 5^th year of Team Soccer Camp at Camp Casey on Whidbey Island between 6/26 and 7/1.  Every year the entire CPT team and coaches go to Camp Casey on Whidbey Island for a week of 2-a-day soccer training sessions, team building exercises, and fun group activities.  Camp Casey is the most beautiful place around for a team camp with it’s views of Puget Sound, amazing painted sunsets, cool breezes, and huge green fields.  The camp provides mess hall services and the team stays in one of the barracks buildings. This year was the best year ever with by far the strongest and most compatible team we have ever had!   We had 3 high level guest coaches come in on 3 of the days and work with the team.  On Tuesday we had Alistair Shull, one of the top coaches from the Crossfire Premier program.  On Wednesday we had Mark Metzger, the Seattle Pacific University men’s assistant coach and a 30 year veteran coach, and former NCAA national champion with SPU!.  On Thursday we had Val Seid, one of the best coaches from the Northwest Nationals club.   We had movie night in the barracks (Facing the Giants was this year’s movie) , explored historic Ft Casey, did a long beach walk and campfire, took a trip on the Ferry over to Port Townsend to eat dinner out and watch a movie as a team, and then did a fun game of Spud War capture the flag in the old campground woods area.   On the field the girls performed at the highest level ever and Mark was extremely impressed after working with us for the last 5 years.  The girls really advanced over the last year and are already playing at a college level.   Click on Read More below to learn more about the CPT 2011 Team Camp……

In their second tournament of the year (The Snohomish United Invitational), the Fire CPT once again played the best soccer they have ever played and made it in to the final championship game again!  The Fire first played the Rainer Valley Slammers 94 (formerly Synergy), winning 2-0 with two goals by Bailey, one assisted by Courtney, one assisted by Faith.  Amanda and Mariah at keeper, along with the whole defense earned a shutout allowing only 2 shots the entire game.  The second game on Saturday was against the Snohomish United 94 team that won their state championship game in dominating fashion 5-1 a few months ago and also won the Washington Cup state championship for US Club Soccer.  The CPT lost to them 0-5 in that Washington Cup so we knew this would be a tough game.  The CPT ended up losing 0-3 in G2 of this tournament, an improvement but still a loss.  With 1 team backing out of the tournament, the CPT ended up with a 1-0 forfeit win for their third game puting them in the final championship game against the Snohomish United 94 team, a rematch.  For the championship game, we made some adjustments to counter their incredible crossing game and the CPT played with everything they had, down 3 starters and with only 2 injured subs on the bench.  The CPT played them to a 0-0 tie in the first half and then came out very intense in the 2nd half.  After allowing only a few shots in goal, United was theatening to shoot in the goal box and we fouled them giving them a penalty kick part way through the 2nd half, which they scored on.  Shortly after that Bailey made a couragous shot on a charging keeper resulting in a loose ball which the keeper tried to clear. Courtney at striker moved to the ball and sent a long distance (like 40 yards) shot over the keeper and into the undefended goal for our tieing goal.  The game ended in 1-1 tie and went to shootout to determine the champion.  After Amanda saved 2 shots as the CPT keeper!, the CPT ended up losing the championship by 1 kick.  This game against one of the best state champion teams, was the greatest moment in Fire history and te result of 9 years of development and hard work!!  Amazing teamwork, 110% effort by every player, great performances by our newer players (Dassah, Meagan, Raechel, and Mariah H) and ! and even with a select player playing her first games with the CPT (you were awesome Kelsey!).  It was an exhibition in teamwork.  Most of the CPT played the entire game showing that this group has finally developed the strength and endurance to play in college! There are lots of reasons why the Fire CPT are now enjoying so much success but the number 1 reason is COMMITMENT!  There is simply no other team in the state with the commitment that these players have to each other, to their team, and to doing the hard work that it takes to be the best they can be!  Great job ladies, you make all of us coaches and parents extremely proud!  The 2011 Fire CPT group is without a doubt the finest TEAM we have ever coached with the best chemistry as well.  After 9 years, they are now getting the rewards of all their hard work, loyalty, and commitment to each other.  Every one of these girls are focused on playing in college, and after watching them this weekend we have no doubt they will accomplish their goal!  The Fire CPT want to thank Ashley and Kelsey (both Fire Select players) for playing in this tounament with us and helping the Fire CPT be even stronger!

With their best tournament performance ever the Fire CPT made it in to the final championship game of their first tournament of the new year with 3 straight shutout wins and the most points of any team in our age bracket and as the only undefeated team.  The CPT won their first game 1-0 against the Sandpoint Strikers from Sandpoint Idaho on a goal by Bailey.  Then, in their strongest game of the tournament, the CPT beat the Fraser Valley action team from Canada 2-0 in their second game on Saturday with two excellent goals by Courtney and a great shutout by Amanda at keeper who had several great saves.  The teamwork and passing from the CPT in this 2nd game was the best we ever seen as the CPT schooled a very strong individual play team with their teamwork, chemistry, and skills.  On Sunday the CPT beat Spokane Elite Red 2-0 with amazing goals by Bailey and Amber and a shutout by the defense.  In this game the CPT did not give up a single shot on goal in the second half of the game.  In the final, the CPT faced an 18 player strong HPFC Eagles U19 team.  The CPT (with half the team being U16 and U15 players) played hard and Amanda had several great saves at keeper but the 1 own goal (deflection off a CPT defender) given up by the CPT 6min in to the game resulted in HPFC winning the championship game 1-0 as the second half went scoreless.  It was a great tournament and the most dominating play we have ever seen from the Fire!  Great job ladies!  Great way to start 2011!  You work harder, make more sacrifices, and are more committed than other team in youth soccer and you play true TEAM soccer! That is why you succeed :)  2011 is going to be a great year for the CPT!      

FSA coaches and staff have been working for years to develop relationships with college coaches throughout the northwest starting with our good friends at Seattle Pacfiic University over 5 years ago!  The influence that Mark Metzger and Chuck Sekyra from SPU have had on our program, our coaching, and in the path of our players has been profound.  Over the last year, the CPT coaches have made many new contacts and started new relationships with additional college coaches.  One goal of that effort will be to produce opportunities to play directly against existing college teams both as training and motivation for our players but also to further college opportunities for our players.  We have Succeeded in setting up the first such opportunity with Coach Scarlett, head caoch of the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers!.  Over the weekend of May 11th to the 13th, 2012 the Fire CPT will travel to EOU to meet the team and play against them in a friendly game!  The players will also meet the coach, tour the campus, and spend time getting to know some of the existing players.  We are very excited about this opportunity and it will be just the first as we work to arrange more games with other existing college teams around the northwest. Here is a link to the EOU Womens Soccer Program to learn more about EOU!  

The week of 3/28 Fire Soccer Academy held their first round of 2011 tryouts (the 2nd round for club players will be in May, see Tryout news article below for Tryout info).  The tryouts this last week were a huge success with nearly 40 players trying out!  The most quality players we have ever seen at tryouts in 10 years of coaching select & premier soccer!  We offered spots to 26 players and all but 1 accepted!  FSA has doubled in size again to over 60 players (we doubled in size last November with the formation of the Fire Select team) so our goal of expanding to 4 girls teams for 2011 will happen!  We will be looking to add a few more experienced players to both age groups through the 2nd round of tryouts in early May for existing club players.  FSA would also like to welcome Gary Klein to our coaching staff bringing the number of coaches in our program to 4 lifetime soccer players now!  Gary played soccer in college and adult leagues and has extensive experience working with youth through his career at the Boys and Girls Club.  Gary will be working mostly with our younger players in the Fire Juniors program but will also work with our older players. 

Following our visit to George Fox University in February, many of the CPT players sent their college resume packages and videos to Coach Hetherington expressing their interest in playing soccer for George Fox University, one of the top private christian colleges in the northwest.  Assistant coach Russell came up to attend our game in Everett on 3/13/11 versus Tynecastle 93 FC to watch these girls play.  The CPT players played a fantastic game against a great Tynecastle team.  Although the score ended up a 0-2 loss, the game was very even with the CPT having MANY shots on goal and many opportunities to score.  At times the CPT dominated possession but momentum of the game went back and forth.  Both teams played at a very high level of play.  The CPT defense and both of our keepers played extrememly well.  Since NCAA rules prevent contact at the field, the five interested CPT players met with Coach Russell at a local restaraunt after the game to talk about playing for George Fox University.  Coach Russell is a former player and long time participant in their program so she shared a lot of information about GFU with the girls.  All five girls played exceptional on Sunday and will continue to pursue an opportunity to play for GFU.  Most of those girls will be going down to a 2 day event called Bruin Preview in april where they will spend two days on campus, as well as spend a little time with the soccer team and Coach Hetherington.  We want to thank Coach Russell for making the trip to watch this Fire CPT game!   

Following the Field Turf Cup Showcase tournament at Starfire in November, Amanda Garoutte (keeper for Fire CPT) was contacted by the Eastern Oregon University coaching staff and invited to come to EOU for a visit to the campus.  On Feb 24, 2011 Amanda went on the long road trip to visit EOU in La Grande Oregon.  In the morning Amanda met with the coach to talk about the soccer program briefly then headed off for a guided tour of the campus by EOU staff.  Amanda  met with the financial aid department, student life department, and admissions department representatives.  Coach Scarlett then had three of his current players meet Amanda for lunch at the school cafeteria, then Amanda went with the EOU players to an Anatomy class.  Two of the players assigned to meet with Amanda were nursing students, so that worked out well.  Following anatomy class Amanda met with Coach Scarlett to talk soccer and playing for EOU.  Next on the agenda was a meeting with the Vice President of the university who made a strong case for considering EOU as he discussed some of the advantages of his school over others.  Then Amanda headed back to the athletic center and to the Women's Soccer Team locker room (they have their own locker room!) to get ready to do a weight training session with the soccer team.  Amanda warmed up with them, then lifted weights in their brand new training facility.  Following weight training Amanda got to watch them do a speed and aginility training session with Coach Scarlett.   Amanda will be considering EOU as she makes her decision about where to go to college over the next several months.  Coach Scarlett is in his second year there at EOU and it is clear he is building a strong NAIA team.   
       Also on on Feb 25, Ashley Richards was invited to spend the day with the Northwest College Women's Soccer team in Kirkland WA.  Ashley got to eat breakfast with the players, a tour of the campus, a chance to attend chapel, lunch with the current Women's soccer team, attended two college classes, sat through an admissions presentation, and participated in soccer practice with the team.  Ashley had a great time and learned alot about Nothwest College. 

The weekend of 2/21/11 the Fire CPT completed the 2nd leg of the Super Cup college showcase tournament, held in Portland Oregon.  This was the first Fire team trip where the whole team traveled together to a tournament with the coaches, staying in a hotel and spending the whole weekend together.  The three soccer games were great and the players had fun hanging out together, eating out together and going to the movies together one night.  The CPT played well especially in the last game on Sunday against the G92 Dolphins team, ending in a 0-0 tie against the team that won the championship the following day!  There were several college coaches in attendance including Corban university, George Fox University, and Lewis & Clark College.  The Lewis & Clark college coach wrote Faith back after watching her play and invited her to come to the college visit!  Way to go Faith!  On Monday, since we were very close to George Fox University we went for campus tour arranged by Kristen's sister Andrea who is in the admissions department at GFU.  Andrea arranged a great campus tour including a walk around the campus to see the buildings and dorms, a question and answer session with the admissions office, a tour of the athletic department and a meeting with the Women's Soccer coach Andy Hetherington.  After our meeting, Coach Hetherington took us on a tour of the brand new million dollar soccer complex there at GFU! The coaches want to thank the Fire CPT players for being so great all weekend, for acting responsibly, and for demonstrating your great character.  You made us proud to be your coaches! :)  except for Angela who played a creative prank on Tim (paybacks Angela, paybacks!)  It was a really enjoyable weekend!  Except the part where Amanda G sprained her ankle!   See the pictures section for pictures from the weekend.        

On January 29th, after practicing together for 2 months, the Fire Select got to play their first competitive game in the South Sound Copa League run through the Puget Sound Premier League.  Their first effort was a little shaky for the first 15 minutes or so as they figured out how to play their positions and gave up a few goals, then they got much stronger and gave up only one goal in the last 55 minutes of the game.  The Fire generated offense and the defense got much stronger as the game went along.  We are very excited to be working with the great girls on this team.  They are great kids, they get along well, they all work hard, and there is no drama.  They are selfless and supportive of each other and are already developing great chemistry and friendships for a team that has just recently formed.  Great work ladies!!  It's going to be a great first season together!  We want to thank Annemarie Dixon, the Fire Soccer Academy manager for helping get this team and league formed!!!

On the weekend of January 22 and 23rd, 2011 the Fire CPT participated in the first leg of the Pacific Coast Super Cup, a new college schowcase tournament featuring US Club Soccer teams from Washington's Puget Sound Premier League and Oregon's Premier League.  The Fire CPT first played the Puget Sound Slammers GU18 team on Saturday in a close 0-1 game then beat the PSS 93 Blue team on Sunday, 2-0.  Following the Saturday night game, two Fire CPT players (Bailey and Mariah) were approached by a college coach interested in having them play for his College team in Oregon.  The second leg of the Super Cup will be in Portland Oregon Feb 19-21st.  The players are inviting college coaches to come watch them play in Portland and it is a great chance to get Oregon coaches to come and watch.  This will be our 3rd showcase weekend of a our 2010/2011 season.   

College recruiting efforts are going well with Ashley and Amanda Garoutte invited to Northwest College to tour the school and practice with their current team at the end of February.  Following the Turf Cup College showcase in November, Amanda G has two college teams interested in her playing for them (Olympic College and Eastern Oregon University, both having the Nursing program she seeks).  Amanda will be going to visit Eastern OR university on Feb 25th after being invited by their coach.  Amanda will get to attend a team practice and the coach is setting up a tour of the school for her.  Several players have been communicating with other schools including George Fox University and Pacific Lutheran University.  A University of Puget Sound recruiter attended one of our recent games at Art Crate Stadium.  Kristen met and talked with the George Fox University coach on a trip there in December.  It sounds like the George Fox assistant coach will be coming to watch the Fire CPT play at one of the Portland games.  We are currently working on assembling Video clips for the girls to send to the college coaches from our recent games. Those should be on the website and linked through the player's profile pages soon!    

The Fire made their second college visit for the fall of 2010 to Pacific Lutheran University (PLU).  As a college prep team, the Fire will visit many college campuses each year (div-1 to NAIA) throughout the year in an effort to help the girls get motivated to do all the hard work it takes to make it in college and to help them learn what the different colleges are like.  For our visit to PLU, we first watched the Division 3 PLU Lutes women's soccer team take on Whitworth college from Eastern Washington.  It was a good game ending in a 0-0 tie after 2 overtimes.  After the game, the Fire met with head coach Lynette Buffington and several of the players from the team for a question and answer session.  We learned a lot about the coach, the players, and the team as well as Division 3 soccer versus Division 2 soccer (SPU is Division 2).  After the question and answer session the PLU admissions department took the team on a tour of the campus in two groups.  Through the tour we got to see many of the buildings on campus, what the dorm rooms were like, and from our two great tour guides we learned what it is like to be a student at PLU.  Then after the tour we took off to Starfire for our indoor game literally running on the field as the buzzer to start the game went off!  The fire played an awesome indoor game, obviously inspired by the day.  It was a memorable day and really fascinating to see the differences and contrasts between the first two colleges on our visit list (SPU and PLU).  Check out pictures from the day on the pictures page under team activities.  We want to thank Lynette Buffington the PLU head coach and the players for meeting with us after the game, the admin staff for arranging and taking us on the tour of campus, and our own Annemarie Dixon, the Fire CPT team manager, for arranging and coordinating this great trip and whole day of action! You are the best Annemarie!

A couple of Fire players recently started a bible study group for the members of the Fire team and their friends.  Two original members of the Fire, Kristen and Faith, who have been with us for 8+ years came up with this idea on their own and are organizing study material and planning fun things to do together at these once a month get-togethers.  The Fire coaches certainly support this activity as teaching christian values and teaching life lessons has always been one of our primary goals but this is completely their activity.  As coaches, watching our players demonstrate the leadership, cooperation, and initiative we have been teaching them for years is very rewarding.  We are extremely proud of them!  They had their second session on Saturday 10/9 and it was very successful.  A great time for all.  We hear Amber was in rare form and had everyone belly laughing when they were relaxing together afterward. Laughing is good for the soul!  Laughing together is good for the team! Two former Fire players, Sam and Courtney, joined the girls as well.  It was good to see them again.  This is not a required team activity but each session more players are getting bibles and joining in which is great and we wish them well with their project! 

Here is what Faith had to say when we asked her to write something about the bible studies for the website:  "A few girls, including myself, plan a bible study for the team.  through the bible studies our team gains strength and friendship and we all try to discuss the impact of God in our lives.  We were in no way pushed to do so; instead it was a choice that the players made.  We learn God's word and try to take it beyond the bible study and show that we all walk down God's lighted path.  With the bible studies and other little things our team does together, our team is drawn closer, making us strong individuals and even better friends.  The sense of fellowship within a three hour bible study is amazing and when it comes to an end these are the days I will look back on.  We are all fantastic individuals, wonderful soccer players, and together every one of us can make a difference.  I am thankful that we have our loving coaches that guide us through life and put a tremendous amount of time and energy in to our team.  Also I am thankful God created us to meet each other and change each other's lives.  Whether it be a team, or family, or group of great friends we will always be know as the Fire."  Faith Lindgren #44

For the third year running, the Fire CPT will be participating in the Field Turf Cup college showcase tournament held at Starfire every Thanksgiving Weekend.  This is the primary college showcase tournament held in Washington State each year!. Thirty plus college women's team coaches from all over the country come to watch them play and recruit players from our region.  The Fire CPT have been training and working very hard all fall to be ready for this tournament.  This year we go in to the tournament with the strongest and most experienced, most prepared team we have ever had, with our players now averaging 5+ years with our group. Here is a link to the Starfire TURF CUP WEB SITE which contains a list of teams (GU17), college coaches attending, and informational seminars.  Check back to the site as the tournament approaches.  New information is added regularly. The Fire CPT coaches work each year to help the Fire players prepare their Soccer Resumes, help them write letters inviting coaches to watch them play, and help them prepare a resume package to send to the coaches of their top 5 schools.  By mid November, the Fire CPT website will have a profile/resume sheet for each player and links to photos and game video for each player on the team.  You can go to the "Player Profiles" section of the Fire website to find this information on each Fire player.    THE FIRE ARE LOOKING FOR ONE GUEST PLAYER! to play with us in this tournament due to long term injuries to a few of our players.  If you would like to guest play for the Fire CPT in the Field Turf Cup, at no cost to you!, please send coach Tim an email at tgaroutte@comast.net. 

After our indoor game at Starfire today the Fire CPT had pizza at Stafire then went on to SPU to watch the Division 2 SPU Falcons take on Simon Fraser College. We got there early enough to watch the SPU Men's team play before the women.  The men's game was an exciting victory! the women's game went to overtime and ended in a tie.  The Fire players got to line the field and act as ball girls so they got a front row seat to all the action right on the sidelines.  We stopped for ice cream on the way home.  It was a perfect evening and we even got to see our good friend Coach Mark Metzger there as well. Check out the pictures from the evening on the Pictures link, under team activities.   

The Fire started their fall indoor soccer season at Stafire on 10/2.  The Fire will play 10 indoor games at Starfire on Saturday nights between 10/2 and 12/11.  Indoor soccer is a different, and much faster game than outdoor soccer.  Speed, tight teamwork and passing, fast transitions, and hard shooting are what make a team succesful in indoor soccer.  It is also great training for our keepers with so many hard shots on goal per game.  Indoor soccer has so much continuous running that is also great conditioning.  The Fire always enjoy the indoor season as a change of pace from outdoor soccer that they play the rest of the year.  Stafire is a beautiful complex and just going there to play games makes you excited about playing soccer!  This years group of teams are the best we have had in three years so it should be a great fall season. 
 
  

The Fire are working extremely hard in their school work and all of them have the goal of going to college! To help prepare to do their best on the PSAT, the 10th and 11th grade girls all got a study guide book and are now doing a weekly study group, working through each section of the test together and doing homework to prepare for the test.  The group will continue on after taking the PSAT to study for the SAT exam together.  Working together as a team in this group has come to mean more than just playing soccer together.  We are great friends, we are a family, we help each other to succeed!  The Fire coaches are proud of everyone of the girls in this group that are working so hard to become not just the best soccer player they can be, but the best students, and the best people they can become.  The young women on this team have truly learned what it means to be a member of a real team.