My wife, four children (ages 10-15), and I have been Muttontown residents for about 15 years, and we feel very blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the country. One of the things we regularly give thanks for are the various recreational and educational alternatives for our children.

My eldest son attends St. Anthony's High School in Huntington. My second son, who has Down's syndrome, attends AHRC in Brookville. My daughter and youngest son attend Trinity Lutheran (N-8) in Hicksville. (We are also very thankful for the outstanding transportation offered to these schools by our home district, Jericho, led by Mr. Wilenski, director of transportation.)

Children offer different kinds of challenges with corresponding learning curves. My youngest, Victor, is no exception. He is the athlete in the family and loves sports of all kinds. I try my best in our busy schedule to have him participate in local programs. Our home district, Jericho, offers a variety of programs through the Jericho Athletic Association where Victor has played soccer for the past five years.

Unfortunately, notification via handouts to the children regarding signups, tryouts, etc, are made only to those attending the public schools. Hence, we found out about the Jericho travel-team soccer tryouts about one week too late. We proceeded to hurriedly register and attended several tryouts for the Syosset Soccer Program, only to find out subsequently through the grapevine that Syosset district residents have first dibs on the 24 slots available. Needless to say, my talented soccer enthusiast (alias Victor) seems to be out of luck come September.

Let me preface my request with another big thank you to all of the many volunteers who help to make these sports programs so beneficial to the children of our community. I am particularly impressed by those parents who coach a team without showing any favoritism toward their own children.

Now for two suggestions.

1. Would it be possible to level the playing field a bit by sending athletic team information home on the school buses, or perhaps via direct mail or e-mail?

2. In tryout situations, I think it would be helpful to advise out-of-district children that they are not going to be evaluated on an equal basis with their in-district peers. This would save many children (and parents) a lot of time and emotional energy.

Fritz Trinklein