All players registering for Fall 2010 Travel Programs MUST participate in Spring skills assessments. Click here to find out more!

CYSA’s Travel program is about playing for your town against other communities in Middlesex County. CYSA Travel teams play in the Middlesex Youth Soccer League (MYSL) and many of the communities are nearby, including Billerica, Westford, Lowell, and Wilmington. You can see the entire MYSL town list by clicking on this MYSL member town link. The Travel program is not high pressure, but does require a higher level of commitment than the Intramural program. CYSA encourages its coaches to focus on the kids having fun while developing as soccer players and people. Players are expected to attend all practices and the game each week.

The Travel Program fields teams in five age brackets: Under 10 (U10), Under 12 (U12), Under 14 (U14), Under 16 (U16) and Under 18 (U18). Several teams are formed in each age bracket based on the number of player registrations for the season. Within each age bracket MYSL has four divisions (division 1 being the most competitive). We do our best to get every player on a team each season and each team placed in the appropriate division. As much as possible, teams stay together between the fall and spring season in order to build a stronger team. Coaches assigned to travel teams are most often parents from someone on those teams and are generally the most experienced in the CYSA program and have obtained coaching licenses through Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association (MYSA). That being said, CYSA does not accommodate requests for the Travel program.

In the fall season there is no post season play. In the spring, when it’s more competitive, the top teams in each division are eligible for post-season championship play. In divisions 1 and 2 of U12 and above, the winners have the possibility to advance and play in the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC). Post season play takes place in June each year.

The following table outlines the differences/similarities between age brackets.

	U10	U12	U14	U16	U18
Seasons Played	Fall and Spring	Fall and Spring	Fall and Spring	Spring Only	Spring Only
Games per Season	9 Fall 10 Spring	9 Fall 10 Spring	9 Fall 10 Spring	7 - 8	7 - 8
Players on Field (including keeper)	6 v 6	8 v 8	11 v 11	11 v 11	11 v 11
Practices per Week	2 at 90 minutes each	2 at 90 minutes each	2 at 90 minutes each	2 at 90 minutes each	2 at 90 minutes each
Games	Saturdays two 25 minute halves	Saturdays two 30 minute halves	Saturdays two 35 minute halves	Sundays two 40 minute halves	Sundays two 45 minute halves
Attendance at Assessments/Tryouts (minimum 1 session)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Soccer Ball Size	#4	#4	#5	#5	#5
MYSL Rules and Roster Size Definitions	MYSL Rules Link

All eligible players are encouraged to register for the Travel program - IT’S A GREAT EXPERIENCE!

ASSESSMENTS/TRYOUTS

Each year in the May/June time frame CYSA holds Travel assessments/tryouts for U10, U12 and U14 age levels. These assessments/tryouts along with coach evaluation are used to place players on the appropriate level team for the following fall and spring season. There are two assessments/tryouts nights for each age/gender group over a 2 week period. Click here to find out more about the assessment process.

UNIFORMS

All players on CYSA’s Travel teams will purchase a full uniform (jersey, shorts, and socks) from Center Sports in Chelmsford Center. Uniforms can be reused as long as there are no number conflicts between players and no change in uniform style. Players may be required to purchase a new uniform when moving to a new age bracket. This will be determined by the Travel Directors. Players will be informed when they need to get a new uniform. Newly purchased uniforms can be used for at least 1 year — fall and spring. Players can also order replacement items at any time through Center Sports. Jersey number conflicts will be resolved by the Travel Director.

PLAYER NOTIFICATION

Players will be notified of their team placement by their assigned Travel Coach after rosters have been submitted to the MYSL Travel league. Players who are not able to be placed on teams will be notified in advance of players who are placed on teams by the Travel Director. Players who are not placed on teams may request to be waitlisted if a roster opening should occur, or they may request a full refund including any late fees. In the case of U10 players only, players may choose to play in the Intramural program and receive a rebate for the difference in the registration fee.

PASSCARDS

Player and coach identification is defined by the USSF and MYSA, and this ID is called a passcard. Passcards are required only in the spring season. Passcards are required for all travel coaches and for players U12 and above. The Travel Directors require 1" x 1" photos for players and coaches (preferably electronic) in order to create these passcards. These photos will be requested as part of the spring travel soccer registration process.

"Playing Up in Age" is a situation where a player is permitted to play in an older age group than their birth date normally would qualify them for. For example, a player whose birth date falls within the range defined for U10 and "plays up" in the U12 age group. A player may be allowed to "play up" in the older age group provided that the player is in the second year of the current age group and one of following criteria are met:

1. The older team would not have sufficient players without the participation of younger players; or
2. The player is being placed on a team in the older age group with his or her classmates; or
3. The player's skills justify the placement on an older team as determined by the Travel program Director. For the Travel program, the player must:
   • Be a highly ranked player on the first team of their current age group, and
   • Qualify for the first team of the older age group based on assessment/tryout results and coach evaluations from the previous year.

If the above criteria are satisfied, then the Travel Director may allow the player to "play up" provided that all requirements of appropriate organizations are met, including MYSL, MYSA, and USSF as applicable.

Note: Due to requirements of USSF and MYSA, U8 players are not allowed to "play up" in U10 travel.

CYSA strives to provide the most experienced coaches in the Travel program. To achieve this goal we encourage all volunteers to be certified through the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association (MYSA). Although there are no requirements to be a certified coach in the CYSA Travel program, we highly encourage coaches to have certain minimum certifications at the various age levels. For U10 and U12, coaches should be certified at the ‘F’ level or higher and for U14 and above at the ‘E’ level or higher. Please see our coach link to get more details on the available training through Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association.

When assigning coaches to teams, the Travel Directors will assign coaches based on various criteria which includes, but is not limited to: playing experience, training, licenses, team continuity (season to season and year to year), and coach evaluations.

Players will be placed on teams based on their Player Ranking in their Age Group as determined by:

1. Results of annual spring assessments/tryouts
2. Coach evaluations from most recent playing seasons

Annual spring assessments/tryouts (May/June) consist of organized skills and/or game stations where all players in each age group are scored on specific criteria relative to their peers. Coach evaluations are performed according to a specific process in order to rank players on a given team relative to their peers. Players MUST attend at least 1 full two hour session and preferably both in order for CYSA to better assess the player’s skill level and place them appropriately.

For CYSA Travel, players are NEVER placed based on requests, for example: to play with friends, coaching requests, car pools, etc. Players are also NEVER placed to accommodate filling team coaching requirements.

The number of players in the Travel program change every year, just as every player’s skills and overall development change. Therefore players are never guaranteed to be placed on the same team with the same group of players each year. Players are evaluated each year using their most recent tryout results and coach evaluations to ensure players are placed properly. Players typically stay on the same team for 1 year — fall to spring. Players may change teams from the fall to spring seasons based on players leaving and entering the program.

It is the goal of CYSA to place all players on teams. In the event where there are more players than roster openings, players will be placed according the following priority:

1. Register within the regular registration period and participate in at least 1 assessment/tryout.
2. Register within the wait list registration period and participate in at least 1 assessment/tryout.
3. Players who DO NOT participate in at least one assessment/tryout.*

* Players who DO NOT participate in at least one assessment/tryout will ONLY be placed on a team if there are roster spots available. Players who are unable to participate in assessments/tryouts for certain reasons, such as injury, may be given prioritized placement at the discretion of the Travel Director, provided that the Director is notified in writing (Email) in advance of the assessments/tryouts.

Players participating in weekly practices must play a minimum of 40% of the game that week, except for injuries or disciplinary actions. Playing time is determined by the coach’s discretion for those players who do not participate in any weekly practices.

U10 Travel	Highland Field
U12 Travel	South Row Field with Roberts Field in Fall if specified
U14 Travel	Harrington Field in Fall Murphy Field in Spring
U16-U18 Travel	Murphy Field in Spring

Travel Game Report Form (pdf)

Boys Travel Coach Evaluation Form (Word Format)

Girls Travel Coach Evaluation Form (Word Format)