Information for Parents of 2nd Grade Children

As your child prepares to enter 3rd grade, we thought it would be beneficial to inform you about the next phase of his/her soccer life.  The Belmont Soccer Association (BSA) fields teams for children entering grades 3-8.  Town teams are offered for U 9/10 and travel teams are offered for U9/10, 11/12 and 13/14.  Below is a list of frequently asked questions about this next phase of soccer life.

How does my child enroll to play soccer next year?

Beginning April 13, 2009, registration for the upcoming BSA Fall 2008 Soccer Season will begin.  You must register by May 18, 2009 in order to avoid a late fee.  Registrations after June30, 2009 will be placed on a waiting list.

***It is MANDATORY for you to register your child on-line BEFORE he/she attends a placement session.

What are Placements?

Every child who registers to play soccer with the BSA must attend one age-specific soccer placement session in May.  (There is no need to “sign-up” for a placement session.  The placement times for different age children are listed here.  Simply attend one session that matches your child’s age and gender. All placement sessions are held at the Belmont High School Field House (gym))

Placement sessions are held to help evaluate a player’s ability.  Each child participates in 3 drills- a ball dribbling drill, a kicking drill and a scrimmage.  Results from these placement sessions are used in conjunction with feedback from a child’s current year coach to determine a player’s rating.  This rating is used to group children into appropriate teams.

In the case of in-town teams, the intent is to create homogenous teams with a cross-section of abilities.  For traveling teams (BAYS- Boston Area Youth Soccer), the intent is to place players with other players of similar abilities.  When you register your child, you will be asked to specify if your child is to be placed on a travel team or in-town team.

In order to assemble viable teams, it is mandatory for each child to attend one placement session for their age group.  BSA provides one Saturday and one Sunday session per age group to maximize flexibility in scheduling.

Note:  Please refer to age guidelines.  There will be some circumstances in which a child is in one age group where the majority      of children are in one grade and that grade is different than the grade of your child.  (i.e. Your son’s birthday is 7/15/98 which places him in a U11/12 age group.  The majority of children in this age group are in 5th and 6th grade.  However, your son is in 4th grade.  So, in this instance, you may want to “Grade-Mate” your child so that he can play with the majority of his grade-level peers.  In order to do this, you register your child and then you simply show up at the placement-session for the age level in which you want your child to play.  (For this child, he would show up at a placement session for U9/10 boys. 

When you arrive at the placement session, it is important for you to mention to us that your child is “grade-mating” in order for us to find the appropriate registration paperwork for him and to process him according to your wishes). 

*** Grade-mating can be requested for all in-town U9/10 teams.  For all travel teams (U9/10, U11/12, U13/14), BAYS strictly adheres to all age guidelines.  There are a couple of exceptions which can be learned by visiting the BAYS web-site at www.bays.org and clicking on the rules and procedures section.  Please contact Karen Kelly at kllykr4@aol.com if you have any questions or need further clarification.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can a player play only one season- either fall or spring?

Yes!  We hold a separate registration period for the fall season of soccer (registration takes place in April) and for the spring season of soccer (registration takes place in October).  However, Placements are held only once a year in May to determine placement of each player on an appropriate level team for the fall season.  If your child decides to only play Spring Soccer, he/she will be placed on a team, however, it may be a lower level team since there is no record of his/her abilities from Placements.

2. Can a player move from in-town to travel or travel to in-town from fall season to the spring season?

Yes, since there are separate registrations for each season.

3. How long does a player stay with the same team? 

Typically, a child stays with the same team for the entire school year (both fall and spring season).  However, due to changes in numbers from the fall to spring season, players may need to be moved in order to balance teams. 

4. How can I best prepare my child for soccer placements? 

Please, do absolutely nothing!  We make every effort to keep this process as low-key and stress-free as possible for each child.  This is not a competition.  It is simply a chance for us to get to know your child’s abilities and place him/her on an appropriate team. 

5. When will my child be notified of team placement? 

Your child will be notified by his/her coach after August 15. 

6. What size fields are used? 

U9/10 are small-field 6 players vs. 6 players, U11/12 are medium field 8 v 8, and U 13/14 are large field 11 v 11. 

7. How long is the soccer season?

The soccer season is 10 weeks long and runs from early September to mid-November in the Fall and early April to late June in the Spring.  This applies to both In-Town and Travel Teams.  Practices are once or twice a week depending on a coach’s preference and time availability.  

8. What time are games played?

ALL GAMES ARE PLAYED ON SATURDAYS, with the exception of the high school age teams. 

-Girls U9/10 Travel:  11:45 suggested at PQ Field

-Girls In-Town:  11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. (varied) at Winnbrook (predominantly)

-Boys U9/10 Travel:  1:00 p.m. suggested at PQ Field

-Boys In-Town:  9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1:30 and 3 p.m. (varied) at Belmont Day School (predominantly)  

***Please note that these are basic guidelines.  Variances to locations and times do occur from time to time.

*** For Travel Teams, 5 home games are played and 5 away games are played.

9. How far away are travel games?

The Boston Area Youth Soccer (BAYS) or travel league that we belong to includes such neighboring teams as Winchester, Newton, Lexington, Arlington, Concord-Carlisle, Wayland and Cambridge.  However, the league also includes teams from towns such as Wrentham, Medfield, Holliston, Foxboro, Marlboro and Dedham.  Some consideration is given to travel when BAYS makes the groupings (typically 6 teams per group), but top priority is given to parity in the groups.   At its worst, travel can be up to an hour away. 

10. Can I help at Placements? 

ABSOLUTELY!  In fact, we depend on the generosity of parent volunteers to help us keep the sessions running smoothly, especially for the younger children.  Placement sessions for U9/10’s can run quite long since it is their first time doing these drills.  Therefore, it is EXTREMELY helpful to have enough volunteers at these sessions.  During the 4 days of placements, we process over 700 children.  So, your help is greatly appreciated.  We would ask you to arrive 15 minutes before your child’s placement session in order to be given instructions for that session.  Each placement session runs anywhere from 1-2 ½ hours depending on the number of volunteers we have to help. In order to volunteer at a Placement Session, please contact Karen Kelly, Placements Director, at kllykr4@aol.com.

We hope that we have been able to address some of your questions and help clarify for you the next stage in your child’s soccer life.  We look forward to a great Fall 2009 Soccer Season!