Travel Soccer
Our Philosophy:
Travel Soccer is devoted to player and team development in a more competitive environment. It also substantial commitment in time, energy, and money from both the player and their families. As players become more skilled, desire a more competitive soccer environment, and become willing to commit greater time to training, the Travel program exists for them as a higher-level athletic experience. Teams are more balanced with same capabilities and skill, and there is always an evaluation process. A travel team helps a player learn new skills, meet certified coaches, progress in soccer and have fun in the process. Travel teams help challenge players so they can grow. On a competitive travel team, players gain great experience in team play and sportsmanship. Travel games can be much longer driving then inhouse, usually no longer than 60 minutes of travel time each way.
Commitment:
As previously noted, travel soccer is a commitment by the player and the family. Teams play in a Fall and Spring session. They typically have 8 Sunday afternoons games per season. The fall session generally starts after Labor Day and continues through the end of October. The spring session generally starts at the end of March or beginning of April and continues through June. Travel teams practice twice a week in the fall and spring. RAYSA travel teams play teams from other communities from southwestern PA. RAYSA makes every attempt to provide every child wishing to play travel soccer the opportunity to do so. Ringgold conducts player elevations among other factors to determine placement of your child on a travel team. These evaluations will be conducted in May for the upcoming fall/spring season. Please look at the very last page to see the Rubric!
PSA TRAINING
All RAYSA Travel age group players receive free skills training, weekly or bi-weekly, each regular season from our highly qualified partners at the Pittsburgh Soccer Academy.
Fundraiser
*NO FUNDRAISER again for the regular season
*traditionally RAYSA coordinates 1-2 mandatory fundraisers each regular season. Currently, the league is able to operate and improve without this effort at the moment. Mandatory fundraisers may resume in the near future.
Ghost Check
Each season we have a required $100 ghost check (2 check max per family) to be turned in to your child's coach BEFORE the first game. Check should be made out to RAYSA with each child's name in the memo line, postdated to the end of the season (Fall 10/31/20XX or Spring 4/30/20xx). If I do not turn in this ghost check, my child(ren) will not be allowed to play in any games until check is turned in. Once concession stand duty is completed, the $100 check will be returned. If duty is not completed, check will be cashed by RAYSA. If check bounces or there is a stop payment on the check, you will need to send the bounced check fee ($35) along with another $100 check for RAYSA to cash. If you do not send the return check fee and your ghost check is not able to be cashed, you will have a balance due next registration. Head coaches and assistants are excluded from this.
UNIFORMS:
Team uniform kits are an additional cost and must be purchased by the family prior to the start of the season and must be worn for all games. A uniform kit consists of two team- colored jerseys (navy and white), one pair of shorts (navy) and one pair of socks (navy) to match their team color jersey. The RAYSA uniform kit changes every two years. An email will be sent to you within a couple of days after registration closes. Currently, soccer.com supplies the uniform kit for the RAYSA travel soccer.
Age Group
Travel age groups are U10, U12 and U14. All teams will be Co-Ed. After signups are over, if we get enough girls that signed up the all-girl team(s) will be formed in those divisions.
U10 7 v 7 Max roster size is 12
U12 9 v 9 Max roster size is 16
U14 11 v11 Max roster size is 18
Travel Soccer Divisions
The RAYSA belongs to the PA West Soccer league (District 4/South District) and there are three divisions in which RAYSA will enter travel soccer teams to play in within this league:
Division 6: Division 6 is considered to be developmental and will generally only travel 60 minutes away, with some exceptions.
Division 5: Division 5 is a competitive division and will also generally travel 60 minutes away, with some exceptions.
Division 4: Division 4 being the highest competitive level. Division 4 teams may travel anywhere within the PA West jurisdiction including Erie, State College and West Virginia
About Evaluations: THIS NOT A TRYOUT
***RAYSA will max out rosters per registration numbers and number of volunteer coaches available. The league will roster every registered player on a team per the aforementioned limitations.
Player evaluations will include all U8 players moving up to U10 as well as U10 and U12 players within all communities. RAYSA will base TRAVEL rosters on a combination of PA West age requirements as well as regular season observation and player evaluation scores from the annual May evaluations. Direct input from coaches may also be considered. Player evaluations will replace team practices that week and coaches are reminded to not have practices those nights so all players can attend. If you register for travel, then you will definitely play on a travel team regardless of your player evaluation, but specific team placement may be affected in that situation depending on final registration numbers and the skills and abilities of individual players. It is possible after rosters are maxed out per PA West policy, that some Travel registered players might be placed on a U10 In-House roster instead if eligible, or not rostered at all in which case a refund may be warranted. All eligible players must participate in at least one evluation session. Evaluations will be done by our technicaldirector, his staff, current travel coaches, and the rostering committee. Coaches input and observation during the regular season will also be used. Players must arrive at least 30 minutes early to sign-in, receive their assigned tracking number, and allow the coaches to start and end the hour and half time slot on time. There are to be NO parents allowed within view of the field during evaluations. Players should bring a soccer ball and water bottle with them to each session.
If a player does not participate in at least one evaluation session, then it is possible to negatively affect roster placement (even if a skilled player) for the next season(s) until the next round of player evaluations offered the following year. Board discretion and rostering committee discussion will make the best decision possible considering a variety of other applicable factors.
Why aren't teams allowed to stay together from year to year? Please remember that we are a youth development program. Our players are very young respectively and all of them develop and improve at different paces. Each year we hold evaluations to ensure that there is a fair and independent evaluation of all the travel players in the league. Our goal each season is to field the most competitive teams possible to represent our league throughout Western PA in travel play. To keep teams together year to year deprives those players who have worked to improve their skills from playing on the top ranked teams. Ideally, there would be movement of players between the teams each year based upon physical growth, soccer skill growth, personal interests, personal commitment to the sport and other factors. The expected commitment level should be the same at either level.
The rubric is below to see what the evaluation coaches will be looking at and the points they can receive for each player performance. If a player missed one of the two evenings or did not participate in the evaluations at all for whatever reason, then the roster decision is based on a combination of PA West age group eligibility and RAYSA rostering committee. Parents will not be given results of the evaluations.
There are five people on this committee to determine where your child is being placed on a team. Maximum points are 27 that your player can get for a score. Every player that shows up for evaluations receives a score. From that score the player receives, that determines what team you get placed on, if there is more than one team being formed. If your child does not come to evaluations, whatever the reason, then those 4-board member decides where to put your child.
The committee will not hold any child back or promote any child into a position based on the parent's ability/willingness to coach. The vice versa is true as well, we will not promote a coach based on their child's performance. When aligning the rosters, we will focus on the performance and development of the player and then move to finding appropriate staffing.
The committee will use their best judgement to make team decisions. We recognize the challenges and will work to help close the gaps. This process is truly a way of aligning rosters to offer players an environment within a team that will provide obtainable challenges and cultivate competition.
***** Something new we are going to try is have the rostering committee come to your players home game to watch them play. This will better help rostering committee to place your child on a team. This will also help us determine if a player was placed on the right team or if adjustments need to be made the following season.
Where your team practices are also based on where your coach is from!!
Once a child is rostered on a team, and the team is finalized, changes will not be made. RAYSA will try and keep the same travel team together to the extent possible for the entire PA West soccer year (every Fall/Spring season).
Why are we doing this?
Please keep in mind RAYSA is doing this for improving player development in the best interest of your children. At the travel level if your child has played on the same team with the same coach with the same core group of players in the past, then it is possible they could be on a different team with a different coach and different teammates beginning this Fall season. Please no special requests moving forward to be rostered on a specific team. It would not be fair to a player that may have received higher evaluation marks and deserved to be placed on a particular team instead. At the travel level, it is a possibility that a player be rostered in a higher age group as well if their skill set and abilities graded support such a move. Again, this is all in the name of improving player development in the best interest of the individual player.
RAYSA must have 100% parent support with this concept for this to successful. Any questions or concerns please direct to [email protected].
Rubric for Evaluations:
Player evaluations will be conducted and focused on 10 key areas of player performance. 9 areas will be related to their soccer skills and technical ability, while the tenth will be focused on their attitude during evaluation periods. These are to be evaluated from the angle of individual performance. Each category will receive equal weight during the evaluation process, disconnecting the evaluators personal biases or preferences. Players should be encouraged to persist during periods of unsuccessful attempts and challenged to improve performance during periods of successful attempts.
Scores are to be reassessed many times during the evaluation period. Players will be awarded a score that is appropriate to the level of play they most consistently perform. If a player is unable or unwilling to be evaluated, they will receive no score. Scores are to be kept confidential from anyone who is not an evaluator or board approved RAYSA member (President, Vice-President, and Player Development Director).
Technical Areas of Evaluation:
- First Touch – Player’s ability to gain control of ball
- Overall Dribbling Control – Player’s ability to maintain possession of ball with dribbling
- Speed/Pace of Dribble – Rate of which player is ability to successful maintain play
- Passing Accuracy – Player’s ability to accurately move ball to teammates
- Passing Strength – Player’s ability to move ball to new spaces on field at distance
- Offensive Decision Making – Player’s ability to successfully read play and maintain possession amongst team members
- Tackling – Player’s ability to correctly obtain possession of ball
- Defensive Positioning – Player’s ability to impact the play of the opposition using their position
- Defensive Decision Making – Player’s ability to successfully read play and identify when to pressure or when to not pressure opposition
Character Evaluation:
- Attitude – Player’s impact based on their interaction with other players and coaches
For example, First Touch will be graded as follows:
- 1 – Player is unable to judge ball and misses the first touch completely
- 2 – Player is able to receive ball but does so by stopping ball and feet or allows ball to bounce off them and chases
- 3 – Player is able to successfully receive ball in motion and keep close control providing an instantaneous opportunity to continue play
EXAMPLE RAYSA PLAYER EVALUATION DOCUMENTS
Blank evaluation form used by evaluators
Evaluation criteria explained