Friday, 8/22, there will be a parent meeting at 6pm on Ritzer Field (behind Columbia High School). Come hear from Coach Muirhead and the Booster Club about the upcoming season!
Category: Coach Muirhead
Tryouts
Freshmen
Monday 8/18 2:30pm – 4:30pm, at Ritzer (Grass field behind CHS)
Tuesday 8/19 2:30pm – 4:30pm, at Ritzer (Grass field behind CHS)
Wednesday 8/20 8:00am at Underhill Track for 2 mile run; final evaluation 9:00-11:00am at Ritzer
Wear sneakers for the two mile run on the track. Music is allowed and GPS tracking/timing devices are encouraged to track pace/time. Walk or bike down to CHS for the final tryout session.
Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors
Monday 8/18 7:00 – 9:00am, at Underhill; 2:00-4:30pm at Underhill
Tuesday 8/19 2:00 – 4:30pm, at Underhill
Wednesday 8/20 7:00 – 9:00am at Underhill; 2:00 – 4:30pm at Underhill
Seniors will start with a 2 mile run (wear sneakers) while juniors and sophomores will participate in field evaluations. After seniors run, juniors will do the 2 mile, with seniors and sophomores on the field, ending with a sophomore run.
Parent Meeting
There will be a parent meeting (location TBD–either Ritzer or Underhill) Friday, August 22 at 6pm.
Preseason & Start of the Season
Players must be present for the first three days of tryouts (and, if they make the team) the next three days of practices in order to be eligible for scrimmages on Monday 8/25 and Tuesday 8/26 (NJSIAA rule states a player must have six days of practice and a day of rest before competing in competition against another school).
Our season begins on Thursday 8/28 with games for JV and varsity; there will be practice for all teams on Friday 8/29.
For the freshman team, no practice will be held on Saturday, 8/30, or Sunday 8/31. They will practice Monday morning, 9/1, as their next game is Tuesday 9/2.
The varsity team will have their first ever Media Day, Saturday 8/23 from 10:45am-11:30am in the CHS Main Gym. Practice will be Sunday 8/24.
Varsity and JV will practice multiple days over Labor Day Weekend since their second game of the season is on Tuesday 9/2.
Game Schedules
To see scrimmage and game schedules for all three teams, go to the CHS page on the Super Essex Conference website (sec conference.org). At the home page, click ‘Columbia High School’ at the right, which should take you to the calendar. Please note that the schedule is subject to change, so check often for the latest information.
There are several summer playing and training opportunities available for CHS boys soccer players. Information and registration links are below. Please note: The Boosters can cover costs for those experiencing financial hardship; just email info@chsboyssoccerboosters.org.
Summer League at Montclair State
Coach Muirhead and his staff are putting together two teams for a summer league at Montclair State. This is the second year that CHS has fielded teams for this league. This is open to players who played on any CHS team last year and to those who will be trying out for a team in August. You do not have to be present for all games to participate. Details:
- 8 v. 8
- June 10-July 16
- six games on Monday or Tuesday nights
- approximately $65-70 per player
If you are interested, fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
West Essex Tournament
The coaches are also putting together a team to play in the West Essex Tournament on Saturday, June 22. The cost will be approximately $30-40. This is open to rising sophomores through seniors, with priority given to returning varsity players. If you are interested, fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
Summer Training With Sammy Adjei
Sammy Adjei is once again running a summer training program for players who will be trying out for boys or girls soccer at Columbia in August. We expect the training sessions to be at Underhill, but the field isn’t definite yet. Learn More and Register
Summer Camps
The coaching staff will be running a summer camp for rising 7th and 8th graders the week of Aug. 5 and another for rising 9th through 12th graders the week of Aug. 12. Follow the links to register.
Coach Muirhead hosted a meeting for all players and families on Thursday, March 7.
The coaching staff reviewed details of the upcoming season and took questions. If you were unable to attend, please review this document.
Coach Muirhead has shared his annual letter for players intending to try out for boys soccer at Columbia in August.
Please read carefully as there will be significant changes to tryouts this year. Some important dates:
- Blackout Dates: No organized team activities from July 27 to Aug. 4, which makes this the best time for vacations
- Middle School Camp: The week of Aug. 5 for rising 7th and 8th graders
- High School Camp: The week of Aug. 12 for rising 9th through 12th graders
- Tryouts start Monday, Aug. 19
In case you missed the email, here are the tryout details from Coach Muirhead:
Hello Cougar Soccer Families,
I just wanted to send you all an email highlighting our tryout and preseason period as I know even though I have shared this information with your son(s), it may not have made it back to you yet. Below is our schedule for the week of August 21st and how things work. Additionally, a quick note regarding medical clearances – I know some of you have been CC’ing me on emails to our athletic trainer regarding player clearance, the clearance list has remained largely unchanged for the past month due to Vanessa not being a 12 month employee, however, with football now underway, she is back and working on the medical paperwork – please keep an eye on your emails in case she reaches out regarding a missing form/signature. I will post updated clearance lists on our Google classroom and Group Me as they begin to accumulate.
Monday 8/21
AM Fitness (2 Mile Run)
- 9:00am Seniors
- 9:15am Juniors
- 9:30am Sophomores
- 9:45am Freshman
The run takes place on the track up at Underhill, please make sure you are in sneakers, headphones, music, pacing devices are all fine to use during the run.
The posted time above is when your son should be there to check in, the run will start 10 mins after check in time.
Our target time is 12 minutes, the run will be terminated after 15 minutes
After each grade level completes their run, they are free to go until we come back for the evening session.
Evening Session
- 5:00pm-6:30pm Freshman Evaluation (Underhill Turf)
- 6:30pm-8:30pm UpperClassmen Evaluation (Underhill Turf)
Tuesday 8/22
UpperClassmen Have a Double Session
- 3:30pm-5:00pm Upperclassmen Evaluation – Session 1 (Underhill Turf)
- 5:00pm-6:30pm Freshman Evaluation (Underhill Turf)
- 6:30pm-8:30pm Upperclassmen Evaluation – Session 2 (Underhill Turf)
Wednesday 8/23
AM Fitness
- 8:30am Freshman
- 9:00am Sophomores
- 9:30am Juniors
- 10:00am Seniors
This morning fitness will take place on RITZER FIELD (behind CHS)
The posted time above is the START time for the fitness evaluation
This evaluation measures push ups, broad jump, shuttle run time, sprint time and timed dribbles through cones.
After each grade level completes their assessment, they are free to go until the evening evaluation period.
Evening Session
- 5:00pm-6:30pm Freshman Evaluation (Underhill Turf)
- 6:30pm-8:30pm UpperClassmen Evaluation (Underhill Turf)
What comes next…
By 10:30pm on Wednesday night every player will receive an email to their student email address, the email will either say congratulations, we are offering you a spot in the program this season, practice is at this time and this place tomorrow – or the other email that will go out is that unfortunately we are not able to offer you a spot this year, if you are interested in being a manager for the team (helps coaches with practices, participates in practice when the opportunity arises and helps coaches with stats during games) please let us know, additionally we encourage players to reach out and to set up a meeting with the coaching staff the following week so that we can provide a more in depth overview of their evaluation and how they can improve.
Why the email method – this was adopted as a recommendation from the athletic department leading into the covid period (in lieu of posting names on a board or calling the kids in one at a time), this coupled with the growth in the soccer program (we have 98 players who gave me their name for tryouts this fall) plus a condensed preseason schedule courtesy of the njsiaa (more on that shortly) has made it almost impossible to sit down with 30-40 players one at a time immediately following the final tryout. Additionally, making reductions is the worst part of this job and having been cut before myself (high school basketball) I know it’s never easy to digest from the player’s side either, which is why we recommend the meeting the following week for players who want to follow up on their evaluation.
The Preseason…
Practices for all levels begin the next day so there will be practice Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The NJSIAA requires 6 practices and a day of rest before a player is eligible to participate in a scrimmage. Our first scrimmage is the following Monday 8/28 so a player must be at all 3 days of tryouts, plus the following three days of practices to be eligible to play on Monday. For those of you trying to plan one last get away before school starts, our schedule for the end of August looks like this:
- 8/28 – Scrimmage
- 8/29 – Practice
- 8/30 – Scrimmage
- 8/31 – Practice
- 9/1 – Scrimmage
- 9/2 – Off Day
- 9/3 – Off Day
- 9/4 – Morning Practice
- 9/5 – Scrimmage
- 9/6 – Practice
- 9/7 – First Game of the Regular Season
…. Pretty crazy, but with the four scrimmages and days off, we only get 7 days of practices between the last day of tryouts and the first game of the regular season. Everything moves very very quickly once we are underway.
There will be a player and parent meeting on the evening of Friday August 25th, location TBD (pending access to the high school) where we will discuss more and answer any questions, but hopefully this email should take care of most of the pressing issues.
-Coach Muirhead
Columbia High School
Business Teacher
Varsity Baseball Coach
Varsity Soccer Coach
Coach Muirhead and the Columbia High School coaching staff will run two soccer camps in August.
The first, from Aug. 7-10, will be for rising 8th and 9th graders. The second, from Aug. 14-17, will be for rising 10th-12th graders.
Both camps will run 9am to 1pm Monday to Thursday on Ritzer Field, and the fee is $280 with a 50% discount for siblings.
Follow the links below to learn more and register.
Interested in playing boys soccer at Columbia High School next year? If so, come out and meet the coaches and our booster organization on the evening of March 14. The coaching staff will share everything you need to know about the high school program. If you have questions, please submit them through this Google form before the meeting.
Who: Any 8th grader (and parents) interested in playing Boys Soccer at CHS next year. Seventh graders who are interested in what’s to come are equally welcome to join.
When: Tuesday, March 14, 7:15pm
Where: The Black Box Theater at Columbia High School
Thanks to Ben Niles for putting together this look back at all three teams’ seasons!
