Road (Travel) Program Description
Mansfield Youth Soccer is a volunteer parent organization. Our Road program is associated with Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association. We participate in the BAYS league (Boston Area Youth Soccer, Inc.). We currently have over 500 players in the Road program, which means coordinating about 40 teams. Each team has a volunteer head coach, an assistant coach and a team parent, which every parent may volunteer to do. All adult volunteers must supply their date of birth on the player registration form, this is required for CORI checks to be done by MYSA.
Road Team Tryouts
The MYS Road program is more competitive than our MYS In-town Program. Any player (U-9 to U14) may register for the Fall Road program and will be placed on an appropriate road team. All fall registered road players must attend MYS Road Tryouts which are held in June of every year. During the day, players participate in drills and games, so that volunteer raters can assess a player’s abilities. Players are given an over all rating which is then used to help place the player on an appropriate road team.
NEW SPRING ONLY TRY-OUT POLICY!!!
If your child is unable to play in the Fall, but will play in the Spring for the upcoming Fall/Spring year; they will need to try out this Spring along with the other Fall/Spring participants. (For example: June 2012 there is one Try-out held for both the Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 Seasons.)
1. In order to Try-out you must register as "Spring Try-Out Only" on the Registration Page. Tryouts will cost $10 (non-refundable).
2. Your child will Try-Out at the scheduled time for his/her age group
3. After try outs MYS will email the expectations of the Spring Only Try Out Policy; MYS will request a confirmation from parents that they have read and understand the process. At that time please email us back to confirm your understanding
of the new Spring Try Out Only Policy.
4. The Fall teams will be
assigned.
5. Register for Spring Before the travel deadline, this is done
during the fall season.
6. When teams are assigned for the Spring season, the Fall teams should remain mostly intact. If we have children unable to play in the spring or low numbers then the Spring Try Out Only participants will be placed on a team. This happens very close to the start of the season (Mid-March). We wait until the last minute to ensure that if Fall participants drop out unexpectedly due to injury etc. we will give the Spring Try Out Only participant the slot.
7. Hopefully the Policy will work out and a space will be available for your child to participate in travel soccer in the Spring!!! We do our best to accommodate every child we can. If there is no slot available for your child you will be offered a slot on an Intown team (if a corresponding age group has an intown team) or we will give you a Full Refund of the Travel Waitlist Registration Fee that you paid to register in the spring. We can process that as a credit in your account; or if your request, as a check to be delivered within 2 weeks.
The deadline to register for Try outs is December 30!
Uniforms/Equipment
All registered road players must supply their own soccer cleats and shin pads. MYS highly recommends the use of mouth guards. Fall 2012/Spring 2013 uniforms are ordered in June 2012 during the Road Tryouts. Road players need to use their uniforms for both the fall and spring. New spring players will be able to order a road uniform, please let your coach know you need a team shirt, shorts and socks.
All uniforms ordered during registration will be distributed through the coaches at the beginning of each session. Any orders that are outside the registration process must be ordered through the equipment director and paid for at the time of receipt of the uniform. In the event that there is an error in the registration listing of uniforms ordered, any corrections may be initiated through the coaches but will be handled by the equipment director. As to the wearing of accessories, no jewelry is allowed including bracelets, necklaces and earrings. Only soft hair accessories are allowed.
Age Groups (Fall 2012/Spring 2013)
All new players to MYS must submit a copy of the player’s birth certificate with the registration form. (Please see the registration page for more info.) The MYS Road program starts with the U-9’s, 3rd graders, and ends with the U14 or 8th grade.
MYS arranges players by age and not grade. We must follow the BAYS league birth date cutoff rule which is different than the Mansfield schools. When it comes to a player with an August birth date, we allow that child to play with their grade. We contact them and give them the choice.
Most players should fall into the following ranges. U-9 means "under 9 years old" - the player is not yet 9 years old at the start of the session.
| Birthday Range | Age Group |
|---|---|
| August 1, 2007 - July 31, 2008 | U5 |
| August 1, 2006 - July 31, 2007 | U6 |
| August 1, 2005 - July 31, 2006 | U7 |
| August 1, 2004 - July 31, 2005 | U8 |
| August 1, 2003 - July 31, 2004 | U9 |
| August 1, 2002 - July 31, 2003 | U10 |
| August 1, 2001 - July 31, 2002 | U11 |
| August 1, 2000 - July 31, 2001 | U12 |
| August 1, 1999 - July 31, 2000 | U13 |
| August 1, 1998 - July 31, 1999 | U14 |
Age groups may be mixed (ex. a U-9 player can move up and play on an U-10 team), but players can not move down. This is all dependent upon how many players register in each age group.
Road Games
All games are played on Saturdays, usually starting the first Saturday in September (and the first Saturday in April for the spring session) for 10 weeks at the Plymouth Street fields. There are 5 home games and 5 away games, as scheduled by BAYS. Each player should receive a BAYS schedule book from their coach at the start of each session.
U-9 and U-10:
Games are 60 minutes long with a one-hour practice during a weekday afternoon/evening. There are approximately 12 players on a team and they play on a smaller field 6V6 (6 players on a side including a goalie).
U- 11 and U-12:
Games are 60 minutes long with a one-hour practice during a weekday afternoon/evening. There are approximately 14 players on a team and they play on a midsized field 8V8 (8 players on a side including a goalie).
U-13 and U-14:
Games are 70 minutes long with two one-hour practices during weekday afternoon/evening. There are approximately 18 players on a team and they play on a regulation size field 11V11 (11 players on a side including a goalie).
Road Awards/Trophies
MYS participates in the BAYS league. The BAYS fall session does not count towards divisional standings. During the spring picnic only spring division winning Road Team players will receive a trophy, as per BAYS rules.
