Without a doubt the theme for this year has been soccer

Rainbow Soccer: Goals, History and Background

Goals

The goals of Rainbow Soccer are to provide recreational and competitive soccer for youth and adults in the Chapel Hill area. Rainbow supports the development and play of soccer at all skill levels and ages. Rainbow accepts all players, and attempts to keep fees as low as possible. A limited number of scholarships are available to players who cannot afford the fees. In the recreational leagues, players of differing abilities are mixed together on teams, and players get equal playing time.

History

Rainbow soccer was formed in 1971, and began playing on what are called the Rainbow Soccer fields in 1972. Rainbow does not own the “Rainbow fields” land. The Rainbow fields were originally lent to Rainbow in a gentleman’s agreement with William Muirhead, the original owner and developer of the Glen Lennox apartments. They were acquired by the Kenan Hamner investment group, who continued to loan the land to Rainbow. Development was considered at that time, but the fields (except for the grassy knoll) are all in Resource Conservation District floodplain and could not be developed. For a tax deductible donation the land was gifted to UNC. Rainbow has leased the fields from UNC on a yearly basis since UNC took ownership in 1985.

Importance of Soccer

Soccer is a growing sport, especially in this area. More and more kids play soccer each year, increasing the need for soccer fields. While the number of fields is growing, there are currently fewer schedulable fields available than are needed by the soccer leagues in this area. Each week during the season Rainbow has over 2000 players participating in games and practices.

Rainbow Soccer Organization

Rainbow Soccer LTD is a 501-3C non-profit organization. It is run by an administrative staff headed by Vicky Brawley, Director of Rainbow. It is overseen by the Rainbow Board of Directors (currently Vicky Brawley, Jorge Izeuierdo, Brad Hemminger, Pam Hemminger, Mike Strand). The coaches for all leagues (except youth competitive) are volunteers, including many UNC students. The referees for the non-competitive leagues are also volunteers. The competitive leagues (Challenge and Sunset) require paid, certified referees. The participant’s costs are calculated to allow Rainbow to break even financially. We have recently raised the rates, and added a field renovation fee ($5) to each player’s fees, in order to help fund the renovation and repair of the Rainbow fields. The annual expense accountings are available on our web site ( spring 2003, spring 2004)

Rainbow Soccer is comprised of several different leagues. It evolved from an original emphasis on youth recreation soccer. It now includes the following groups: Rainbow Youth Recreational (Peepers 3-4 year olds, Pippin 5-6 year olds, Pele 1^st-2^nd grade, Premier 3^rd-4^th Grade, Clipper 5-8^th grade), Wisely Adult Recreational, Sunbow youth semi-competitive (3^rd-8^th grade), Advanced Development league (6-9 year olds), Chapel Hill United youth competitive (Challenge, 10-16 year old), and Sunset Adult competitive. Rainbow has evolved to meet the needs of all recreational soccer players, and works cooperatively with Triangle United, its sister organization, which provides competitive leagues (both Challenge and Classic). Other soccer associations exist in and around the Triangle area (see MidState Soccer League for challenge teams, and NCYSA for classic teams). While Rainbow was founded for recreational soccer, and that remains its main thrust, an increasing number of Chapel Hill players are choosing to play competitively, resulting in increased demand for the competitive teams. Challenge teams play in the Mid-State Soccer League (MSSL), an organization formed to support games between competitive teams in the middle of North Carolina region. Their games are on Sundays, generally starting between 1 and 4pm, and involve travel to the visiting team’s fields half of the games. Classic teams participate in the NCYSA classic league with games on Saturday and sometimes Sunday, and also involve travel, sometimes farther than challenge leagues. The recreation leagues play on Saturdays. The recreation games are scheduled to best utilize the fields and match families’ schedules. The games start around 8-9am and run till 4-5pm on Saturdays.

Each year there are fall and spring seasons for each league. Most teams practice twice a week, and have one game a week, except for classic teams which practice three times a week. The breakdown for players (not counting referees and coaches) is

League	Description	Fall	Spring	Summer
Peeper	Youth Rec	200	187
Pippin	Youth Rec	120	128
Premier	Youth Rec	260	262
Pele	Youth Rec	120	103
Wisely	Adult Rec	250	253
Sunbow	Youth developmental	250	310
Chapel Hill United	Youth Competitive (10 and above)	250	351
Sunset	Adult Competitive	200	200	200
Advanced Development	Youth Competitive (6-9)	0	120

Over 90% of the participants and their families are Chapel Hill residents. While Rainbow Soccer is the oldest soccer organization in the Chapel Hill area, it was only in 2003 that Rainbow officially joined the North Carolina Youth Soccer Association (NCYSA), and through it the national organization, in it’s own capacity. Previously Rainbow participated through the Durham Strikers organization. As part of becoming officially affiliated with the NCYSA, Rainbow is working to follow NCYSA guidelines, which require smaller sided games for younger players. This results in increased demands for field space and coaches for the same number of players.

Fields

One of our biggest needs is for field space, especially quality field space. Soccer is meant to be played on short, dense grass, which makes the ball play regular and consistent, and cushions the players when running, or falling to the ground. There are simply not enough quality fields available to meet our needs. To provide the necessary field space we are renovating Rainbow fields, renting public schedulable fields, and lobbying to get more public fields in Chapel Hill. The most important factor for us is the number of fields we are able to rent, and maintaining the quality of these fields. This has resulted in our working with the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Parks and Recreation Departments to rent public fields, and make efforts to maintain the quality of the fields. When we rent fields there are usually two factors involved: quality and location. For our competitive leagues (CH United and Sunset) the field quality must be high. For practice fields for the recreational leagues, location is often as important as quality. We try to offer locations around town so that families have the option of practicing near home.