Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Can anyone play travel? How do they get on a team?
A: Travel teams are for U10-U19 age groups (we form a u9 team also but they play up because there aren't enough other u9 teams). If you have a player who is interested in playing travel the evaluations for the following Fall/Spring playing year will be conducted in June. Teams are formed based on the eval scores as well as the inhouse/travel ranks from the previous coach.
Q: Do I still have to register my player if they played on a travel team in the past?
A: YES. Travel players must register and pay the registration fee every season. There is no guarantee that your player will stay on the same team year to year or season to season.
Q: Do rosters remain the same between the fall and the spring?
A: For the most part - rosters do remain the same between the fall and the spring season. There are exceptions in that some players play fall only or spring only and some rosters do have changes between seasons. It is completely dependent on the age group and the players that register each season. If there is a big movement of players off teams there will be changes between A and B team rosters. This may mean that players are pulled from B teams to A teams or in some instances players may need to be moved from A teams to B teams. Playing on an A team in the Fall does not guarantee placement on an A team in Spring. It is completely dependent on the number of players that register in each age group and eval scores.
Q: Who are the evaluators at tryouts?
A: We make every effort to have evaluators that have as much soccer experience as possible conduct the tryout evaluations. The majority of our evaluators are past professional players, current or former Cup level coaches, professional soccer trainers and former college players/coaches. We schedule evaluators based on the number of players in an age group that have registered. There is however cases where evaluators cancel at the last minute. If we are placed in that circumstance and are unexpectedly short evaluators, a member of the CMYSA Board who does not have a child involved in the tryout for the evening will fill in as an evaluator. There will be no discussions and no arguments from parents tolerated during the evaluations - we do our best to insure all evaluators are outside the league, but this is just not always possible and out of our control.
Q: What if my player does not make a team?
A: We make every effort to find slots for every player wanting to play travel, however it is not always possible in every age group and is based solely on the number of players committing to play, maximum and minimum roster sizes needing to be met, etc. If your player does not make a CMYSA travel team, per PA West rules, we are bound to find another local organization where they can play on a travel team. Or you may decide that your child would rather play for the CMYSA inhouse program which is a good opportunity for them to remain in CMYSA for the season.
Q: Why does it take so long to announce teams after tryouts?
A: According to our organization bi-laws, the team formations - as a result of the travel tryouts, cannot be announced until after the PA West Open Tournament, which traditionally happens in the final weeks of June and sometimes into the first weekend of July. Once the Open Tournament is over, the Travel Committee meets to determine how many teams there will be in an age group and how many roster spots will be available on each team. This varies by age group and has to take into account PA West regulations on roster sizes. All of this is completely dependent on the number of players in each age group that register. It then has to be determined where the team will play (Division 4, 5 or 6). Once that occurs, coaches are selected from those that have submitted their names to be considered. All of this info - the number of teams, the number of roster spots and the coaching staff for all teams (normally 20-28 teams) then has to be presented to the CMYSA Board and voted on to be approved. No announcements can be made without this process being completed.
Following Board approval, each A Team coach (starting with the oldest age group) is then contacted and given the names of the players on their roster in alphabetical order that have made their team based on their scores. They do not see the scores and players are not listed by how they did in tryouts. They are then able to make their final selection of their 2 coach's picks to complete their roster from the remaining players in the age group that are registered. They may ask for the next two players on the list by score, they may select a player who did not have a score, or who they felt did not have a good showing at evals and are capable of more. They may also ask for Goalkeeper scores on players that are interested in that position, that score is not included in the final eval score, but it is recorded for coach's consideration. Once the A Team coach has made his/her 2 coach's picks selections and CONFIRMED with every player on the roster that they are in fact playing for the season. When the A team roster has been confirmed, the B Team coach is then contacted with his/her roster and goes through the process of notifying players and confirming they are playing. This process is done from oldest teams to youngest - so as you can imagine, getting in contact with every parent and hearing back from every coach, is a lengthy process.
Q: Why aren't teams allowed to stay together from year to year?
A: 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 evals to insure that there is a fair and independent evaluation of all of the travel players in the league. Our goal each season is to field the most competitive teams possible to represent our league and district 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.
Q: What if I have more than one child playing, how will I get the multi-child discount?
A: Travel registrations are not eligible for multi-child discounts. Travel players in age groups U9-U14 may play in our inhouse program for free when playing travel in the same season. If you are registering your travel player for inhouse as well, please make sure you select the "Inhouse For Travel Players" option during Inhouse Registration. If you select the incorrect inhouse program, you will pay full price for inhouse instead of receiving it for free with your travel registration.
Q: What about ordering Travel Uniforms?
A: Following the announcement of travel team rosters, information will come about ordering your travel uniform. Do not order travel uniforms until a jersey number has been assigned to your child and the email has been sent.