EveryOne’s A Star Premier Night

Wed, August 20, 2008

5pm – 9pm

200 Fitness Court, Coppell, TX

Contact Phone: 972.471.2345

This fun-filled, family-oriented event is designed to show off the new programs and excitement happening at the place where we grow stars, because, “EveryOne’s a Star at Everybody Fits.”
The event, “EveryOne’s A Star Premier” will highlight new programs, bigger stars and more ways to find the star within each child. From Hip Hop to Tumbling, Acting to Singing, find your hidden star within our walls. Whether you want to be on stage or just learn to drive to see the stars at the movies, we have it all at EveryBody Fits.
EveryBody Fits will be shining with new programs, classes, and talent. Come for activities and performances by all programs, including Texas Dreams Gymnastics, NTA Taekwondo, the dance studio, Texas Theatre Academy, Play for Sport Fitness, and Kid Fit, our new fitness and conditioning program designed just for kids.

Meet the US Gymnastic National Team and 2008 US Olympic Training Team member Chelsea Davis.

Find out more about Cathryn Sullivan’s Acting for Film which has nurtured such stars as Cody Linley (Hoot), Demi Lovato (Camp Rock), and Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place) – (all three just named as TV’s Next Teen Idols) – and Madison Pettis (Game Plan). Prospective and current students come from throughout the state and Dallas area.
There will be food, contests, prizes, karaoke, auditions, a photo booth and you might just see a couple of stars. The night will also kick off the Tyson Fitness Challenge, with proceeds benefiting the Children’s Miracle Network.

We’re blushing.

Our inexperience in the world of fall season sports was revealed when we chose the topic for last week: What’s the best way to set your kid up in fall sports? You seasoned “soccer Moms” out there must have thought – ha ha! You’re asking this question in JULY???? That’s a question to be asked in June – or May – or, by gosh, even April! Well, we have learned a LOT in a week about the ins and outs, and let’s just say this is a lot more complicated than when we were kids ourselves. Now we’re ready to share the best ideas back with our Mom community.

While the steps below are going to sound daunting even to the most social, organized, and outgoing of you, we do have some good news: the first time is the hardest. Once you find a sport, a league, and a team you are comfortable with, the sports organizations are great about keeping you up to speed on all the dates to remember, registration processes, etc. But the implication is clear: Make the first time count.

So, those of you who have kids turning 3 or 4 in the next year, pay attention. Or, if your kid (or you!) didn’t have fun in sports the last time you tried, maybe reconsider doing the following and trying again. Here’s your step by step approach to making the most of the season.

Step One: Decide which city league your child will participate in.

Some cities make it easy for you – e.g., Frisco will not allow any child that does not reside within its boundaries to play in its league. Others are open, like Plano, which for a small increase in fee allows any non-Plano ISD resident to sign up. You will most likely play in the league of the city where you live for convenience reasons, so check it first. Links to some of the most popular sites are below.

Step Two: Determine when your child can start playing.

Cities differ as to when they will allow children to begin playing. The earliest we saw in our exploration was Age 3 by Sept 1 (Plano, Flower Mound), but most leagues don’t start until Age 4 by July 31 (Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Grapevine/Southlake, Lewisville, Carrollton). And there are no exceptions made; all of the cities require a copy of a birth certificate when you sign up for the first time.

Step Three: Figure out what sport you want to play – whoops, we mean the one your child – wants to play.

Just like professional sports seasons have stretched to the point you can at different times of year find football, basketball, and hockey on TV on the same night, so have kids sports. Fall season sports no longer means soccer or football….it can mean t-ball/baseball, softball, volleyball, cheerleading, basketball, etc. This means you will likely need to decide between sports….unless your child has infinite energy and you have infinite time to shuttle him/her between sports practices, games, etc.

When choosing, keep in mind that the sport your child plays is going to be the sport you will be playing with your child for at least the next few months. This is why it makes a lot of sense to us (and other Moms that wrote in) to pick a sport you will enjoy playing with your child. Most cities make this easy early on and only offer certain options for younger kids, and some are more limited in their sports selections.

Step Four: Recruit your team.

Wait! What, you say?? Recruit your team? Isn’t the Sports Association supposed to do that for us? You may not like to hear this, ladies, but from we can tell, it’s true. Joining as a team (or at least as a partial team) with coach (see Step 5) is a key success factor for how well your child (and you) will enjoy the season. This is intuitive as well: by the time your child is old enough to sign up for a league, they have started actually playing with other kids (not just engaging in the toddler / early pre-school “parallel play”). If they are getting to see their friends during the week and on Saturday, they are more likely to want to play. And you already know the parents, so are more comfortable, too.

We had several comments from Moms that agree reinforced the importance of this:

“The first year my daughter played, we did the lottery. They said they would match us to other kids in our elementary school, but it didn’t end up that way for whatever reason. We sat out the next season and then the following year when she was in elementary school and we knew more people, we found a team that already existed and we joined with them. It was a lot more fun because she already knew the kids and we knew the parents.” (Monica)

“We did sign up with friends. I think you can put one or 2 people you would like to play with or a particular coach you would like to have.” (Susan)

Step Five: Recruit your coach.

Just as, if not more, important for your team experience is to have a coach that is aligned with your goals for the team. Hopefully, if you’ve created at least a partial team, you know some of the parents already and a coach will emerge from that pool to take on the responsibility. It’s probably a good idea to discuss goals first with your team-mates parents early on (e.g., how many practices a week? is it OK to miss practices? will everyone get to play?).

“The coach has a huge impact on the team experience. There is a lot of decisions left up to him (or her). Basically the schedule gets set early in the season by the sports association, but other than that, the coach picks practice days/times, who plays when, basically everything.” (Jennifer)

Step Six: Recruit a team mom.

Having a great team mom is really important. This is the person who will communicate about practices, game times, snack duty, etc. If you are organized and like to plan- or are married to the coach (according to one of our Moms) – this might be a job for you to take on.

“We had a team mom that was married to the coach of the team one year and it was the best. She knew everything that was going on and kept everyone up to speed via email. It really helped us plan around the practices and games.” (Elizabeth)

Step Seven: Sign Up Online.

Yet again, a great advantage of the internet: online sign ups which can make it easier on everyone.

“From my experience, it’s been a great advantage to find the forms online and have them filled out prior to showing up at registration (for T-ball, coach prep baseball and now soccer). Luckily, we play in the Aubrey Area Youth Sports Association and they are organized and online well in advance of each season. Each time, I’ve been in and out – no hassle!” (Ginny)

There you have it, ladies. The mysteries of fall season sports, solved for you by Moms Out Loud. Below are links to the major area sports associations, with the registration deadline for their fall Soccer sign ups (please check their web-sites for other sports). Have a great time!

Plano: Online registration began on June 11th and ends on August 15th.

Frisco: Online registration closed on June 19th. In person registration closes on July 25th. The waiting list opens on July 26th.

McKinney: Registration is currently closed, but the waiting list is open.

Allen: Online registration began on May 2nd and closes on July 30th.

Coppell: Mail-in registration is closed. Online and in person registration ends on August 5th.

Grapevine/Southlake: Registration closed on July 19th. Waiting list registration opened on July 20th.

Lewisville: U5-U10 late registration fee of $50 is applied after July 1st and after July 15th for U11-U19.

Carrollton: Registration closed on July 15th. Late online registration is available.