LYSC TRAVEL TEAM TRYOUTS          Lititz Youth Soccer Club is committed to having our players play at the highest level of soccer the players are capable. LYSC Travel Teams are one way the Club promotes this. The following provides an overview of the Travel Tryouts. It is the goal of the Travel Team tryouts to pick the best players for LYSC's Travel Teams. LYSC is interested in serious soccer players who are dedicated to the sport and committed to excellence. Travel Team tryouts are held once per annual soccer seasonal. The "annual" soccer season runs from August through the following July and is compromised by one fall season and one spring season. Good luck in your quest to become a better soccer player and best wishes for a successful tryout! Please read over the following information regarding the club's tryout process. We look forward to meeting you at the Travel Team Tryouts.    General    Tryout player registration begins 30 minutes prior to the start of the tryout. Players must complete a Tryout Registration Form for each tryout. Each player will receive a numbered T-shirt at the tryout. There is a $5 fee to participate in the tryout. The fee includes the cost of the T-shirt, field, equipment use and administration cost. The player is not required to pay a second fee when trying out for an older age group. A new shirt will not be issued to the player. In an effort to save time, please print and fill out the Tryout Registration Form (see below) and bring it with you to the tryout. Only cash or checks payable to LYSC will be accepted. 3-5 evaluators will evaluate the players. The evaluators have been carefully selected based on their coaching knowledge and soccer experience. The evaluators' assessment of players is solely used for player selection. Because of this the evaluators cannot have any affiliation with a player. It is the goal of LYSC to notify the participants of tryout results with in 7 days of the age groups last tryout date. Corresponding ranges of birthdates for each level are listed in the Age Group Travel Chart PDF file. Please direct any question to Bob Kelly, LYSC Travel Team Coordinator. kellyr@jaygroup.com    What is Travel Soccer in LYSC?    We understand that there may be a lot of misconceptions concerning exactly what "Travel Soccer" is and what it involves on the part of the player and the parents. We hope the information contained in the hand out helps to clear up some of the misconceptions and perhaps opens a door to new a dventures and opportunities for your child in the world of soccer. There are typically three levels of youth soccer in this region. Intramural is the lowest level of competition and there are not tryouts and selections for team spots. Generally speaking all intramural teams are made up of players from the same school district. Travel is the next level up and is made up of players who come from the intramural level and tryout for a spot on the team. Travel teams are mostly made up of players from the same school but many times could have up to 1/3 of their players from outside the school area. The final level of club team play is the Premier level which is a highly competitive level made up of players from a fairly large geographical area. LYSC fields and trains both Intramural and Travel Teams.    TYPICAL QUESTIONS ABOUT LYSC TRAVEL SOCCER    Does it involve a lot of travel as its name indicates? Not really. The teams usually play in the LANCO League which in many cases are the same clubs that participate in the intramural league. The difference sometimes is that the Travel teams do attend more tournaments which can equate to more travel at times on weekends. More info about tournaments below. Is the competition level a lot higher then intramural soccer and will my child fit in? Yes, the competition within the team and the teams they play against will have a higher challenge in regard to the level of skill and proficiency both individually and as a team. It is the coaches job to properly prepare his/her players for that level of competition. Like all sports at all levels, sometimes the competition will be higher and sometimes lower than your own team. The tryouts are designed to select the players who the evaluators believe can play at a Travel level. What is the over time commitment? It is close to the intramural level but it is higher. Training is typically twice a week for 1.5 to 2 hours per session, League games are once a week on the weekends, There are two seasons, spring and fall and each are about 10 to 12 weeks long, While up to each team, most teams will play two or three tournament per season. Do we need to commit to both the spring and fall season? In general, yes, you need to commit to both spring and fall seasons. However, usually at the younger age levels the non-dominant spring season there can be latitude on the coaches part to allow limited participation. For example the coach may only ask that the player makes one practice a week in the spring and may reduce the number of tournaments. Best thing here is to ask the coach at the tryouts when he meets with the parents and before you make your commitment to the team is asked to play. Do they attend a lot of tournaments and are the far to travel to? Usually 2 or maybe 3 tournaments in a season and many times they can be local like the Lititz, Hempfield, and Lancaster tournaments. These decisions are usually made by the coach with input from the parents. In the spring at the younger levels sometimes there may only be one tournament. What is the typical cost for a year? They can vary based on how much a team plays in tournaments, but let's assume two tournaments in the fall and one is in the spring with one of the tournaments being the Lititz Tournament in July: registration costs for the two seasons is $150, uniform costs with 2 jerseys, 1 short, 2 socks, $75, tournament costs per player will be $30 to $40 per tournament, in addition you may need food and lodging costs if your team goes to a tournament that would require an overnight stay, and miscellaneous items like tournament club patches $20 per year, and finally optional personal items like an equipment bag $50 and warm up $80. First year total cost would range between $325 and $425 and subsequent years between $200 and $300. Is there an emphasis on wining as a first priority. What is the philosophy? LYSC works to select and educate their coaches to understand while winning can be a goal; it cannot be the first or only goal. Other things like player development, safety, integrity, and sportsmanship must come first. So while there is a higher emphasis on winning, it cannot come at the expense of the areas mentioned above that must take a higher priority. Are the coaches experienced and knowledgeable? All LYSC Travel team head coaches must have their coaching diploma or license in order to coach at the Travel Team level. Many of our coaches h ave far exceeded the minimal level of coaching education and have accumulated many hours of formal coaching education. In addition most also have many years of coaching experience as assistant and head coaches. When are tryouts for the Travel Team and how do I register to tryout? Tryouts occur in the spring (April) for the 2010-2011 seasons. They are usually at one of the local fields. Check http://www.lysc.org for specific times, dates, and places. What age teams do we have Travel Level in? We start at U10 and go all the way up to U19. We also allow U9 players to tryout for the U10 teams. How much does it cost to tryout? Tryout cost is only $5 and every player receives a t-shirt. If I tryout and do not make it, can we still play intramural? Absolutely. We do not assemble the Intramural teams until the Travel Teams players have all been selected and placed on teams. What are some of the benefits of playing Travel soccer rather then Intramural soccer? The main advantage is individual player development which is critical to your childs continued growth within the sport and will better allow them to continue to participate at the many levels of soccer starting with intramural and going through college and even onto the pros. In addition, by playing at a higher level, it helps to build self confidence and a high level of self esteem by challenging them to constantly reach for higher goals. If they are not challenged they will become complacent and bored. What if I have questions specific to my individual case and need more answers? Contact one of the following people for more answers: Director of Girls Soccer Tim Snader at snaderfam@aol.com, Director of Boys Soccer Tim Meyer at tgmmeyer@gmail.com, Director of Soccer Mike Logan at loganwhs@verizon.net, and President Bob Kelly at kellyr@jaygroup.com Come on out and tryout. What have you got to lose? If selected to play you always have the final decision to join or not! Travel Team Registration Forms can be downloaded here in either Microsoft Word Document format or Adobe PDF format: TravelTeamRegistrationForm.doc TravelTeamRegistrationForm.pdf          Registration Form for Travel Coaches          LYSCRegistrationForm.pdf          For Travel Players Who Need Uniforms          Schuylkill Valley Sports is all set for travel players who need uniforms to come in and order. All players need to come in before June 30th      HOME      CONTACTS   Lititz Youth Soccer Club 2011 gtw 06/18/2011