Based on my player’s age, what division should they try out for?

 The way the age brackets work is that you can’t be the age of the bracket prior to July 31. So for U11 – if the player turns 11 after July 31^st they are eligible for U11.

Examples

Player BD: March 11, 1996     Age as of July 31: 13        Eligible to Play in Divisions: U14 and up

Player BD: June 13, 1998       Age as of July 31: 11        Eligible to Play in Divisions: U12 and up

Player BD: August 1, 1998     Age as of July 31: 10        Eligible to Play in Division: U11 and up

Player BD: May 5, 1999          Age as of July 31: 10        Eligible to Play in Division: U11 and up

Player BD Sept. 12, 1999         Age as of July 31: 9          Eligible to Play in Division: U10 and up

 Who picks the teams and how?

  The EYSA coaches pick the teams with guidance from professional soccer coaches that are supporting our try-outs. Coaches rate players based on a number of categories during the course of the try-out. Afterwards they compare notes with their colleagues. In our competitive divisions, U12 and up, there is a Lead Coach chosen by the EYSA Board of Directors. The Lead Coach gets to pick all their players first. This team will typically participate in a more competitive bracket than the remaining teams. If there are multiple teams remaining, the talent is distributed among them. In some selected cases EYSA may choose to concentrate the remaining top players on one of the remaining teams rather than balancing the talent. This would be the case if we intended to field two teams in a Division I bracket.

 In our non-competitive divisions – U9, U10 and U11 – EYSA tries to balance out the talent among the teams. Coaches at the U9/U10 level simply draft players observed during the try-out. At the U11 level the coaches will divide up the talent if there is more than one team on the girls or boys side.

Why doesn’t EYSA form balance teams in all their age brackets?

EYSA is a competitive travel soccer program. Both the Granite State and Seacoast leagues have multiple divisions with increasing levels of competition. For EYSA to compete in the upper divisions, it needs to concentrate its talent. Frequently, players will start on a lower seeded team their first year in a division and move up to the upper bracket the following year.

My player is exceptionally skilled for their age, can they try-out for a higher division?

We do allow players to “play up”. Our preference is that they play in their age appropriate division. We believe that in most cases a player will have more touches on the ball if they stay in their age appropriate division. In the competitive brackets, playing time is not balanced, so a player that would have had extensive playing time in the U13 bracket may find they have far less playing time on a U14 team.

What will my player be expected to do at try-outs?

The younger kids will have a mix of athletic related activities (running, jumping ..) mixed in with simple drills and some small side games. The older players will be asked to demonstrate their skills in ball control, passing and striking. The majority of their time will be spent playing soccer in game situations.

Will everyone make an EYSA team?

Our goal is to provide an opportunity for as many kids as possible to participate in soccer as we have coaches and facilities to support them. We try our best to minimize the number children not placed on a travel team. Placement does becomes more competitive in the upper age groups. There may also be situations where we have an odd number of kids. We hope to avoid this situation. If this were to occur, we will establish a waiting list and hopefully by the time the season comes around we will have a roster sport.

Traditionally, our biggest issue has been recruiting coaches. We cannot field a team without a volunteer coach. So, if we have a team without a coach, we will let the parents know and hopefully a few of them will be able to step forward and lead the team.

Why can't parents request specific teams for their players placement?

Putting together teams for a fall season is a complicated task that typically takes almost a month to complete. Accommodating a request made by one family creates a ripple effect that can impact many other players. For this reason we cannot accommodate requests for specific team placement. Here are some of the factors that are considered when placing a player on a team.

Age

The NH Soccer Association (NHSA) and FIFA (the international governing body of soccer) have established rules for the maximum age that is allowed to participate in a division. A player’s age has to be less than the division number (i.e. U10) in which they compete prior to August 1. It is against NHSA and FIFA rules to place older players in younger divisions even when their skill level or size may fit better with a younger group of children.

Soccer Development

EYSA encourages age appropriate placement of players. In some cases, a player’s skills are advanced enough to warrant consideration for a higher division. This is called “playing up”. Our guideline for coaches is that they should only consider a younger player for their team if the player will receive significant playing time in the higher bracket.

Talent Balancing and Lead Coach Selection

In our pre-competitive levels (U9, U10, U11) we try to balance the talent when there are multiple teams in a division. In our competitive divisions (U12 and up), our lead division coach selects their team’s players first. This becomes our red squad which will play a higher level of competition when possible. We then look to balance our talent if there are multiple white squads within a competitive division.

The Availability of Volunteer Coaches

When we establish our teams we try to form them around a parent or parents that have volunteered to coach. Coaches always get to have their son/daughter on their team.  Most seasons we will have to find some coaches after the teams are announced.  This is a common situation and in most cases several of the parents on the team will volunteer.

Numbers of Players on a Roster

This is one of the hardest factors when forming teams. The two main issues are having an odd number of players or having too few players. Ideally we would like to have roster sizes ranging from 12 players on a U10 team to 18 players on a U14 squad. This is rarely possible. For example, we may have 22 kids eligible for a U13 team, but we can only field a team of 18. This causes a lot of juggling. We try to find a place for as many kids as possible by moving some players up if necessary with their parent’s consent. Other times we have to form a waiting list for a team.

The other issue is too few players. While too many players makes it harder for us to organize teams, too few players causes problems during the season.  The minimize roster sizes EYSA likes to field range from 10 players for a U10 team to 15 players at the U14 level.  If we fall below the minimum players for a roster, we typically have to combine teams. This is a painful process if it happens close to the opening of a season or during a season. Some of the reasons the number of players on a team frequently gets reduced include players choosing to participate in other soccer clubs after our teams are announced, injury, family moves, etc. EYSA tries to anticipate this by having enough players on a team to absorb the loss of couple of players. When the losses go beyond this level, we need to revisit our teams and make additional changes.