MYSA provides recreational soccer for children ages 4 through 13. Inhouse teams practice once a week and play games on Saturday mornings. We play eight games during each of the fall and spring seasons. We provide fundamental soccer training to all ages, but first we want the kids to have fun while learning the game of soccer.
To be eligible for the inhouse program your child must be 4 years old by July 31. Soccer age groups are based on a year beginning August 1 and ending on July 31. We use terminology like "Under 6" to describe players that are 4 and 5 years old and have not turned 6 by July 31. It is confusing but you get used to it. Your child will be in the same age group for the fall and spring seasons.
For the inhouse program, we typically have four main age groups. Under 6's (again this means 4 and 5 year olds) and Under 8's (6 and 7 year olds) play at the UPPER field at the Burkett Sports Complex which is in Robinson Township. The U6’s are coed. We are trying a new process this fall in order to keep more girls playing soccer. This season, the U8’s will have separate boys/girls teams. If it is successful, we will expand to the U10’s. We may have 8 to 12 teams in each age group. Under 6's play 4 players versus 4 players (4 V 4) without a goalie. The emphasis in this age group is lots of "touches on the ball" and learning how to handle and move with the ball. The Under 8's play 5 V 5 including a goalie. Once again, the emphasis in this age group is ball handling, learning to shoot, and learning different positions.
The U10's play at the LOWER soccer field at the Burkett Sports Complex in Robinson Township. Due to low numbers of girl players, this age group is coed for this fall but we hope to increase the numbers and change to splitting out to girls/boys teams soon. We can have 4 to 6 teams that play 7 V 7 including a goalie. In this age group, the emphasis on ball handling skills continues as well as team passing and playing a position.
For older players, the U14 age group consists of players 10-13 years old. They have separate boys and girls teams. For the Boys, we experimented in the spring with smaller sided games against our own teams, which proved to be a great success. These teams play 7 V 7, which will enable the players to continue the emphasis on passing, player positioning and working together as a team. Our girl's teams will continue to play against Moon, splitting the games between our Burkett field and Challenger Field in Moon.