2026 Summer Programs Parent Meeting Recap

Hi everyone,

Big thank you to all the parents who came to the meeting! We really appreciate you showing up.

For those who couldn't make it, here's a quick recap. This email is "short" on purpose — if you missed the meeting, please look through the slides for the full picture. You can't get everything from a recap.

What we covered

We talked through expectations for our program, parents, and players — with a strong focus on behavior and how we represent our club, both on and off the field. We're proud of GRASC, and how each of us shows up matters. The slides walk through this in more detail, so please take a look.

All the slides are here: Presentation Link

This covers both the in-house and travel presentations. Kelsey's slides are linked in there too.

Key Dates

  • In-house Future Stars (U6–U10) practices start Sunday, May 3 at West Elementary
    • U6: 5:00–5:45
    • U8: 6:00–6:45
    • U10: 7:00–7:45
  • Little Netbusters (U4) and Travel teams: Start dates are coming later — we'll send those when ready.
  • Picture Day: Saturday, May 16 — Individual and team photos by 3 MSP, 15-minute blocks per team. Finalized schedule coming next week.
  • Travel teams: Placements and tryouts are still going. We'll post schedules as soon as we have them.


    • Stay Connected

    A few things to do today so you don't miss anything:

    What to Bring to Practice

    Water, a ball, shin guards, and cleats. No jewelry, please.

    Uniforms

    • In-house (Little Netbusters and Future Stars, U4–U10): If you weren't at the meeting, you'll get your jersey at a practice or game. We can't do individual pickups.
    • U10 girls travel: Your uniforms are here! We'll get them out to you soon.
    • All other travel teams (U12 and up): Uniforms have not shipped yet. We're bummed too. We'll hand them out later.


    Team Placements

    • U4–U10: Teams are already live in Crossbar and on our website under "Teams." The easiest way to find your child is in the Crossbar app — just open it up and your team will be right there. Searching through all the teams on the website takes longer.
    • U12 and up: We'll keep you posted as tryouts and placements continue.


    Camps, Merch, and Fundraiser — see the attached PDF

    There's a PDF attached to this email with the full details on camps, merch, and our fundraiser. Please open it and take a look.

    A quick note on the Fundraiser since it's a big one this year:

    We're running our TeamFi 2026 Fundraiser, and it goes live this Friday. Once it's live, the contacts you've added will start getting messages from GRASC — those texts are real, not spam.

    Here's why we're doing it: GRACF (Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation) is matching every dollar we raise, up to $15,000. That means if we hit our goal, we double our impact ($30,000!). The money goes towards our scholarship fund at GRACF so any kid can play.

    Setting up your family page takes about 5 minutes. And there are prizes for participating — not based on how much you raise, but for sharing. You earn 1 prize drawing entry for every 10 working contacts you add. Prizes include:

    • Free Fall or Summer player registration
    • MNUFC Youth Camp registration
    • TPES Camp registration
    • GRASC merch and magnets
    • Player experiences
    • First dibs on reduced-price match and charter trips

    Please consider participating — every family helps.

    A Quick Ask: Help Us by Reading Club Emails

    This one's important and we say it with love. Please take a few minutes to read the messages we send out — at the very least, skim them and fully read the parts about your child's age group or team.

    Here's why it matters: when we get the same question over and over, it can feel like a lot. Each parent only sees their own message, but the board member/coach sees all of them. We're all volunteers doing this on top of jobs and families, and most of the answers are already in an email we sent, on our website, or on the first information page at registration. Reading the club emails helps us spend our time on the kids and the program instead of repeating ourselves — and we really appreciate it.

    Looking Ahead

    Fall registration is coming soon — yes, you can play fall soccer too!

    Thanks again to everyone who came. If you have a question, please check the recent club emails, our website, or your registration info first, and if you can't find the answer there, contact us and we'll help.

    Sean "Marty" Martinson
    GRASC Club President
    218-259-3129
    seanmartinson@gmail.com