Making the Leap to Travel - A Guide for Parents

Hello, parents of 2nd-grade players (or anyone else considering switching from in-town to travel)!

Once your player enters 3rd grade (or beyond), you can play travel soccer for BYSA in the Middlesex Youth Soccer League.

If this is your first player reaching this threshold in BYSA, you may have some questions.

Our goal is to answer as many of them here as possible so you can decide whether you want your 2nd-grader to attend tryouts in the spring and join a travel team next fall.

Q. Where does travel soccer take me?

We play in the Middlesex League currently. In travel soccer, you would play approximately 50% of your games here in Billerica and the rest in surrounding communities. Towns we have played in the past include: Burlington, Charlestown, Chelmsford, Lowell, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Reading, Somerville, Stoneham, Tewksbury, Waltham, Westford, and Wilmington.

Q. How many games and practices per week?

Travel has 1 game per week, 16-20 games a season (fall and spring combined), usually on Saturdays. Unlike in-town soccer, you will have at least 2 practices per week - 1 with your team and one with your age group with other players for Academy Night. In some instances, your coach may schedule a 3rd practice night. Unlike in-town, games canceled due to weather are rescheduled and usually would fall on a practice night (if a Saturday game was canceled for weather, etc.)

Like in-town soccer, no games are usually on Columbus Day and Memorial Day weekends.

Q. How are teams formed?

Players attend a tryout in the spring of the previous year to help determine their ability and development level, and teams are formed based on those rankings, in addition to player evaluation data we collect during the season from coaches, referees, and BYSA staff.

Travel teams are formed by grade. BYSA has recently voted to create travel teams composed of a single grade of players wherever possible. While teams play in a 2-grade bracket (Grade 3&4, Grade 5&6, and Grade 7&8, often referred to as U10, U12, and U14), we will create teams with a single grade of players (numbers permitting).

So, for example, in the Grade ¾ division, we would create a team (or more) of 3rd graders, and a team (or more) of 4th graders. A combined grade team will be constructed if we have too many/too few players in a grade.

In certain circumstances, tryouts may be waived for certain age and/or gender groups due to numbers. For example, if there are only 8 3rd-grade boys, there may be no reason to run a tryout, since all 8 would be on the same team.

We switched to single-grade teams to allow teams to grow and develop together over time. Year after year, players (and hopefully coaches) will continue to stick together, building on the previous year with the same core players. This is in contrast to our previous method of making mixed-grade teams, where every year, 50% of the team would be brand new, making hard to build on the previous season with so many new players joining a team.

Q. Are players “cut”?

We attempt to place every player who tries out on a team. In rare cases, players cannot be placed. For example, Middlesex sets the maximum number of players on a Grade ¾ roster at 12, and a minimum of 9. If 25 players try out, we cannot make 3 teams, as we don’t have enough players, so someone will have to be left out. We always have an in-town option for grade 3-4-5 players, so it is never a case that they have no place to play.

Every year, players move from the in-town 3-4-5 (and even the 6-7-8) teams to join travel teams as they gain confidence and skills playing another season in-town - late-bloomers welcome!

Q. Can we play in the fall but not the spring, or vice versa?

No. Travel soccer is a full-year (fall and spring) commitment because our league does not allow us to change our rosters midway through a season for competitive fairness reasons. If accepted to a team, you are making a commitment to play both fall and spring - to not follow through on this, you put your team and teammates in a bind, as they will not be able to replace your roster spot.

Q. If I am selected for a team, what do we need/do/etc.?

Once placed on a team, you will receive an invitation to accept your place on the team, along with the link to register and pay. For the 2024-2025 season, the fee is $265, which could be paid all at once or in 2 payments - $150 to accept your place and $115 in October. Each season the fee may change due to external costs (Mass Youth fees, Middlesex fees, etc.), but any change will be communicated before tryouts.

The program fee includes your entire year (fall AND spring) and your uniform. So, you pay once and are set from Sept. through June for regular team play. Some teams participate in winter indoor programs, but those are optional and are an extra cost.

You will have a limited time to accept your place on the team - usually before the end of June, as we need to submit rosters to the league by the first week in July.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact any board member (listed on the website), and we will do our best to get you to the right person.