Why do you do tryouts every year?
There are three levels of soccer. Recreational soccer is community based, without tryouts. AYSO is an example of this type of program. Next up is Select. This level is still community based, but players are selected for teams based on their ability level. This is the level that Laingsburg Soccer Club plays. So we are actually required to have tryouts. The top level of youth soccer is called Premier, and it is not community based. You can have kids from Dewitt, Laingsburg, Bath, and Lansing all on the same team. Tryouts are required for this level as well.
What kind of time commitment is involved?
There are two seasons, Fall and Spring. Each season consists of eight games, four home and four away. Teams generally have practice twice a week, for 60-90 minutes. Games are usually on weekends, but there can be some weekday games.
Where are the games?
u13, u15 and u19 home games are on the LHS soccer field. u9-u12 home games are at Laingsburg Middle school. Away games are at the other team’s home field. Most of the other teams will be from the Greater Lansing area, but some will be from further away, such as Portland or Manchester.
How much does it cost?
Player fees consist of the following: $35 to CASL (the league we play in), $20 to the Laingsburg Soccer Club, and the remainder of the fee is the referee fees divided up by player. u9 and u10 divisions usually costs around $60, while u11 through u19 ranges from $70-90. Since we divide up the referee fees among all the players, the more players, the less expensive it is. Your player will need a home uniform top, away uniform top, red shorts, and red socks. We have a web store that will open over the summer to order these items. A full kit usually runs $70-85.
How do you decide who plays where? How do you form teams?
The Laingsburg Soccer Club’s goal is to get as many kids as possible playing soccer. Sometimes this means we will ask your player to play up an age division. Sometimes this will happen repeatedly, sometimes only once. We look at the entire group of kids we are trying to get and keep involved, not at any one particular team. It is important to realize we have to form teams based on birth year, not on school grade, so your child’s best friend may end up on a different team, because even though they in the same grade, they are a different age.
Where do I get my soccer player’s gear?
We have a webstore through BSN that opens twice a year, once in the mid to late summer after teams are formed, and once in February prior to the Spring season. If you are new to playing for Laingsburg Soccer Club, your coach will facilitate making sure the number you pick for your uniform isn’t a duplicate with kids that are already playing.
What is my soccer player’s age? (Example u9, u11, u15, etc)
US Soccer works on a birth year system, so you can take the year that your player tries out minus their birth year + 1 to determine their age group. For example, someone born in 2013 trying out in 2022 would be a u10 player ((2022-2013) + 1)=10. If you have questions about this, feel free to contact us.
How many kids can be on a team?
We do have roster minimums and maximums, which are set by US Soccer. u9 and u10 teams can have a maximum of 12 players, u11 and u12 a maximum of 16 players, and u13, u15, and u19 teams can roster a maximum of 22 players, but only 18 can actually play in any one game.
Why isn’t there a u14 division? What does u15 non-high school mean?
Most kids that are u15 are freshman in high school, and would play on a u19 team. There are, however, a small number that are 14 years old but are still in eighth grade. Often, but not always, these are kids who have late birthdays in September through December. Our league (CASL) has created this special divison so those kids aren’t left without a team to play for. On average most u15 non-high school teams may have one or possibly two of these players. So in reality, the u15 non-high school division is mostly a u14 division, with a special exception made to keep these players playing.
What does playing up mean? Why do it? Is it a good or bad thing?
Playing up means playing in age division older than your actual age. This happens most often when we need numbers to create a team. It isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, it’s just something that happens because we are a relatively small community, and we try to get everyone playing. When we ask someone to play up, they always have the option of declining. It may be for only one year, or it may be repeated in future years. We try to pick players that will thrive playing up, taking into account tryout scores and coach opinions (if they have played for us in previous years). Players are NOT asked to play up simply because a parent requests it, or because they have in previous years.