Registration information for Youth Soccer Players

For the 2008-09 soccer season which begins in the Fall of 2008, we will be allowing players to choose the team they want to play on.  If you have had players in our Junior’s program you’ll already be familiar with this process.  Available teams will be listed on the website by age group, type and coach (i.e ‘U12 Boys Travel – Coach Singer’).  Some teams may also be listed by school (although these teams will not be restricted to players from that school) and may or may not have a coach listed.  Teams without coaches will have coaches assigned to them but we welcome and encourage parents volunteering to coach or help coach these teams as we can only form as many teams as we can find coaches for.  Our Director of Coaches, Thomas Singer, will provide education and assistance to new coaches who want help.

 When you fill out your registration form, you’ll be asked to make 3 choices:

1) TEAM TYPE – There are two options, Travel or Club.  The travel option will incur some additional costs for tournaments, uniforms, travel expenses, etc, as well as an increased time commitment.  The travel option is open to any player but is especially encouraged for players who hope to someday play on a select team.

     CLUB – These teams play all of their games on Saturdays at our home fields on Keystone Rd. (U12 teams may have one Saturday at another nearby field, such as Leland or Cadillac).  They will have one or two practices per week at the coaches option.

     TRAVEL  - These teams play in either the Northern Michigan Soccer Alliance with games in Petoskey, Cheboygan, Alpena, Gaylord, etc or in the Grand Valley Soccer Association with games in the Grand Rapids area.  They may play on either Saturday or Sunday and usually have two weekends of home games during each season.  They will also participate in 2 or 3 tournaments per year.  The coach will make the decision about which of the two leagues they play in. 

     GIRLS NorthStar Academy – Registration is online only at the NorthStar website at www.northstarsoccer.org.

2) TEAM CHOICE –Please check the website for available teams and select a team in your child’s age* and gender group that has space available.  Make sure that you choose a team that is playing the TYPE of soccer you’ve specified – Travel or Club.  You should also give us a 2^nd choice since teams are filled 1^st come – 1^st served.  If you don’t give us a 2^nd choice and your 1^st choice team is filled we will assign your child to an appropriate team that has an opening.  If you don’t want your child on any team other than his first choice team, put ‘none’ on the 2^nd choice line.  In either case, if the 1^st choice is not available, your child will automatically be placed on the waitlist for that team.  If you don’t see the team you want, you can ask us to start a new team either by volunteering to coach or specifying a school designation for the team.  If any team is fine with you just leave this blank or write in ‘any’. 

3) SINGLE SEASON OR FULL YEAR - If you have chosen a CLUB team, you can also choose to play single season (either Fall 2008 or Spring 2009) or full year (both Fall and Spring on the same team).  A single season registration fee is $100.  The full year registration fee is $158.  We will NOT be able to issue refunds to players who sign up for the full year and then only play one season, nor will we be able to offer the discount to players who decide to play Spring after having played in the Fall season.  Travel players must sign up for the full year.

 Registration for 2008/09 begins at 12:01 AM on May 1, 2008.  Registrations received before this time will be returned to be resubmitted.  After Aug. 1, 2008, registrations for Fall can only be accepted to fill existing teams.  Registration for Spring 2009 will continue until Apr. 1, 2009, after which they can only be accepted to fill existing teams.  You can register online, by mail, by fax or in person. 

 Please contact us at office@tbays.org or 933-8229 if you have any questions.

 * U9/10 team players must be UNDER 10 on August 1, 2008.  U11/12 players must be UNDER 12 on August 1, 2008.  We can honor requests for your child to play on an older team but not a younger one.