TRAVEL TRYOUT Dates for Fall 2013/Spring 2014

U8 (invitation only) - U12 Current Age Groups

Girls:  April 29th - May 2nd

Boys:  May 6th - 9th

We realize this is a ton of information, however in an effort to make the travel tryout process as transparent and easy to understand as possible, we are trying to supply parents with as much information as we can.  If this is your first time with a player eligible for tryouts - please visit the web site FAQ page for an explanation of the CMYSA Travel Program.

In an effort to avoid conflicts with School Concerts/Activities, Cup Photos, Memorial Day plans, etc.   we have moved up our Travel Team Tryout Dates to the following dates listed by current age group player:

Girls:

Current U12 - Monday, April 29th

Current U11 - Tuesday, April 30th

Current U10 - Wednesday, May 1st

Current U9/U8* - Thursday, May 2nd

(*Current U8 players must have an invitation to attend tryouts - more info below)

Boys:

Current U12 - Monday, May 6th

Current U11 - Tuesday, May 7th

Current U10 - Wednesday, May 8th

Current U9/U8* - Thursday, May 9th

(*Current U8 players must have an invitation to attend tryouts - more info below)

Check in is 5:30pm.  Tryouts will last until 8 pm.  They will be held at the Main Complex on W. McMurray Road.

YOU WILL HAVE TO GO ONLINE AND REGISTER YOUR PLAYER TO ATTEND TRYOUTS.   THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE - IF YOUR PLAYER IS NOT REGISTERED ONLINE BY APRIL 27th for girls and 5/3 for boys - THEY WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO TRY OUT.

THE SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED AND WE WILL SEND OUT A SECOND EMAIL WHEN ONLINE TRAVEL TRYOUT REGISTRATION IS OPEN (PROJECTED OPENING DATE IS 4/12), however we wanted to get you the dates and information as soon as possible.

1. You will not have to pay the full $80 registration fee.  At the time of registering online you will need to pay by credit card online a one time $35 non-refundable tryout fee.  If you decide your child will not play travel in the Fall 2013/Spring 2014, you will lose the $35 tryout fee.  If your child does play in the Fall 2013 or Spring 2014, this fee will be applied to your first travel registration only.  So for example if your player plays travel in the fall, $35 will be deducted from your registration fee at that time.   The same would be true if your player is a Spring only player - the $35 will be deducted from your Spring registration fee. We cannot accept checks for this process, you must pay online at the time of registering. This fee cannot be applied to inhouse registration or inhouse jersey purchases it can only be applied to travel registrations for Fall 2013 or Spring 2014.
2. It is vital that your player tryout with their current age group only.  We have too many players to make accommodations for alternate night tryouts and it is very detrimental to scores for players that tryout outside of their age group bc they are being compared to older players during the tryout process.  The registration process will only allow players to register for their correct age group based on their birthdate.  Individual players are not permitted to "play up" and must play in their current age group, based on the state birthdate chart only.
3. While it would be ideal to allow the tryouts for players to be more than one night, it is simply not realistic for a club our current size.  We have extended the actual tryout time to two hours and spaced out the tryouts over a two week period with girls the first week and boys the second week - to allow for each group to have more tryout time.
4. Tryouts will consist of four evaluations:

o   Dribbling - score counts 1x

o   Shooting - score counts 1x

o   1 vs. 1  - score counts 1x

o   Game Scrimmage - score counts 2x

Coaches (inhouse and travel) will be provided with more detail on tryout drills to prepare players.

5.  Goal Keepers.  Players interested in playing the Goalkeeper position will be permitted to rotate through the goalkeeper position in the Shooting Drill as well as the Game Scrimmage portion of the tryouts so their keeper skills can be evaluated.  Those players interested will be asked to notify us at check-in.  Players will be scored on their goalkeeping skills on a separate part of the tryout evaluation.  THIS SCORE WILL NOT COUNT TOWARD THEIR OVERALL TRYOUT SCORE, but will be available to the travel coach's when making their coach's picks for their teams - A teams (and B teams if more then 2 teams in an age group) are rostered by tryout scores only and then each coach gets 2 coach's picks where they can select players from anywhere on the list of rankings).   The reason Goalkeeper score is not included in the overall tryout score is because no player at this age should be playing keeper for the entire game - it is essential to their development to play other positions on the field.  Therefore to secure a place on a travel team, players must be well rounded and able to perform the skills evaluated at tryouts outside of the keeper position.

6.  While our goal is to have all outside evaluators to conduct the tryouts, this may not always be possible.  We hire and schedule evaluators for every tryout night based on the numbers of players registered for that night however there are times when these people cancel at the last minute or simply do not show up.  If this happens, Board members who do not have children in the age group trying out, will fill in.  This is not negotiable and we will not tolerate disruptions being caused at the field if this occurs.  Every player will be evaluated by multiple groups of evaluators.  We make every attempt to make scores as unbiased and fair as possible.

7.  While tryouts will be conducted earlier this year - in accordance with our bi-laws scores cannot be announced until after the PA West Open tournament, which concludes the second weekend in June.  Following that, rosters must be formed, etc. so teams will not be announced until late June/early July.  Players will be notified by the Boys or Girls Travel Commissioner of their team placement.

8. Current U8 Players.  We normally field only one U9 travel team for boys and one U9 travel team for girls each season year.  This team is for the top players in the age group to introduce them to the travel experience.  While they are true U9 players, they play in the travel U10 age group league as there is no U9 age bracket.  So they are essentially playing up an entire age group, which many players are just not ready for.    Last year we opened tryouts to the entire U8 age group and we had an extraordinary number of players attend the tryouts, many of whom did not have the skill set necessary to play at the older age group Travel level.  In order to insure that we can accommodate U8 players this year, we are asking current U8 coaches to recommend the players they believe have the skill set and maturity to play up one age group at the travel level in the Fall 2013/Spring 2014 season.  Therefore, U8 players will not be permitted to tryout unless they have received an invitation from the league to attend. Tryout invitations will arrive Monday 4/15. Questions can be addressed to your commissioners (girls) Dean Yendell and (boys) Steve Glancy - whose contact information can be found on the Board Member page of the web site.

If you have questions, please refer to the web site FAQ pages before emailing, the answers to the most frequent questions are listed there.

So everyone has advanced notice - you MUST bring a  COPY of your child's birth certificate to the tryout.  If this is not provided at check-in your child cannot try out.  This is a PA West requirement and it does not matter if you player has played on a travel team in the past.  We will NOT be taking photos of birth certificates, you must bring a COPY (we cannot stress this enough, NOT the original) of the Birth Certificate with you that can be sent to PA West when travel rosters are finalized. 

Please remember Tryout Registration is NOT currently open online - we will send a note as soon as the system is available.

For questions on travel teams, please contact the travel commissioners directly:

Girl's Travel Commissioner:  Heather Powelson

Boy's Travel Commissioner:  Brad Hilbert