Soccer-Turf

A NEW SPIRIT POINT SYSTEM IS IN TOWN. At the Sport and Social Club, ‘improvement’ is the name of the game. We are constantly seeking feedback from our players because our Club wouldn’t be our Club without you. Over the past several months, our team has been working on a full overhaul of our Spirit Point System to better match what our players value most, and to make our processes for managing sportsmanship issues at league nights cleaner and faster. This past Winter 2023 season, several divisions were selected to trial the new system and provide their feedback. Their feedback?

During a game of Soccer, try as we might, the ball is bound to go out once in a while. When this happens, your team must put the ball back in play with either a throw-in or corner kick. Rather than throwing or kicking it back in all willy-nilly, there are some tactics and strategies you may want to take advantage of to keep possession and even score a goal!

Defense is arguably the most important aspect of a Soccer game. While you need goals to win, if you have no defense, you have no chance!

There are 2 main strategies to defending your side of the pitch: man-to-man and zone – but you must learn one to master the other.

Man-to-Man:

You’re dribbling down the field when you hear your teammates yelling at you “BACKDOOR, BACKDOOR”! What? What door? Back where? Every sport has its own language, even soccer! So, if you are new to the sport, you may often find yourself puzzled over what your teammates are yelling at you. But, fear no more! Below is your guide to speaking like a true soccer player.

If you have played any type of soccer before, you have probably heard a teammate or coach yell “No Square Passes”! A square ball or pass is a direct pass from one player to another that is “square” or parallel to the end lines of the soccer pitch. There are two main reasons to avoid this square pass:

All offerings for ESSC Turf Soccer leagues are labelled as ‘turf’, but there is a significant difference in the turf material used between facilities. Based on this material, some facilities only allow certain types of indoor soccer shoes to be worn during play. I have explained these differences below, which will help explain to you what type of shoe you should wear and why.

While having variety is the ‘spice of life’, we understand that having multiple Soccer formats to choose from can be intimidating when registering, or a little confusing when playing in different formats night to night. This can especially be the case when there are slight rule variances among said options. In order to help you and your team navigate through the different Soccer offerings, we have put together a chart to show which rules apply to which formats to help simplify the differences. 


Ahhh the good ol’ advantage rule. It’s designed to avoid unnecessary stoppages and in turn, improve the flow of the game! Here’s the official rule from our rulebook:

The Advantage Rule refers to an instance when a foul occurs and the result is that the team fouled against is not disadvantaged by the play and therefore there are no consequences and the play continues. 

Let’s break it down, shall we?

Although in ESSC Turf Soccer leagues, we umbrella all of our facilities under the term ‘Turf’, there is actually a pretty significant difference in the turf material used between facilities. I’ve explained these differences below, which will help me explain to you what type of shoe you should wear and why. 

Astroturf:

Whether you are a veteran ESSCer or are new to the Club, you know that all of our leagues are self-officiated. Yes, we run our leagues this way on purpose, and no, it’s not because we don’t want to deal with the added cost of a referee.

The ESSC is above all a fun-first league that focuses on “play”; namely, “adult play.” We always position ourselves in this way and we truly believe in our fun-first, winning-second philosophy. We also believe that most adults can regulate themselves appropriately in play, so why give someone a babysitter when they don’t need it?