Edinburg Youth Soccer Club
P.O. Box 2365 Edinburg, TX 78540
Phone: 956-587-9063
edinburgsoccer.org
Edinburg Youth Soccer Club (EYSC) is a not-for-profit originally created in 1983 under it's
then newly chartered parent organization Rio Valley Youth Soccer Association (RVYSA) and is also
affiliated with South Texas Youth Soccer Association (STYSA) and United States Youth Soccer.
Our sister clubs also under RVYSA are McAllen Youth Soccer Association, Harlingen Arroyo Youth
Soccer Club, Brownsville Opportunity Youth Soccer Association, Rio Bravo Youth Soccer, and
Don-Wes-Mer United Soccer Club. Over the last four years an average of 450 to 500 boys and girls
between three and fifteen years of age enjoy the appeal, exercise, and fun of soccer each Fall and
Spring season. EYSC also offers a shorter Summer season with a lower fee which focuses on games
more then practices. Our purpose is to promote the sport of soccer and allow players to develop
key life skills and their soccer ability through both recreational and competitive play.
EYSC is administered and organized by a six member volunteer board that is elected to one
year terms by our member teams, both recreational and competitive. The Executive Committee
implements the rules, policy, and procedures established and approved by the member teams. To
guide and oversee the EYSC Executive Committee there is the parent organizations above us, Rio
Valley YSA and South Texas YSA. RVYSA has access to view our financial information, registration
information, and also has a Disciplinary & Protest Committee to review and hold hearings on matters
which can not be handled at the club level. STYSA in turn can hear appeals coming out of the
association level.
Player registration fees for EYSC recreational players include a full player uniform of jersey,
shorts, and socks. These fees cover EYSC's association fees, referee fees, volunteer background
check fees, player awards, competitive team fees, club telephone, printing expenses, office
supplies, required professional fees, referee clinics, and coaching clinics. Our current registration
fees have remained stable since 2009 and are as follows:
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$70
$50
$0
$40
$25
$20
$35
new registration (all players considered new registration each Fall season)
new registration of second/third child
new registration of fourth or fifth child
new registration with parent/relative volunteering to coach recreational team
Spring fee for return player (from previous Fall season)
Spring fee for return player if paid final week of previous Fall season
Summer fee for all players (all players receive t-shirt only, no awards given)
Competitive player registration is handled on an annual basis (both Fall and Spring seasons)
and helps cover the above expenses. If a family has one child playing competitive soccer and one
child playing recreational soccer, the recreational player will have the fee of a second/third
recreational player. Competitive fees are as follows:
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$90
$50
new registration (all players considered new registration each Fall season)
estimate of uniform fee, including second jersey
Recreational teams are formed every Fall season. Fall teams stay together for the following
Spring season as it is still part of the same soccer year. Teams may carry over from year to year,
based on Fall players. Spring teams may carry over to the following Fall season by authorization of
the EYSC Executive Committee. Vacancies on these teams, and newly formed teams, are formed
via a blind draft. Recreational teams are scheduled against other EYSC recreational teams in their
age division, typically an 8 or 9 game season. Every attempt is made to have seperate divisions for
each age and for boys and girls.
Competitive teams are formed through a selection process, with players chosen by each
individual team's coach(es). EYSC handles competitive teams in two different manners. A
competitive team may be considered an “official EYSC team” in which they take our club name
(boys are Athletic, girls are Athletica) and wear uniform of our colors. In return EYSC will pay the
competitive team fee for each season. The other option for competitive teams is to register
through EYSC but pick their own team name, own uniforms, and pay their seasonal team fees
themselves. Competitive teams are scheduled by RVYSA against teams from across the Rio Grande
Valley and can potentially play teams from Corpus Christi, Laredo, San Antonio, Austin and other
areas under STYSA.
For the Fall 2013 season EYSC had exactly 441 registered players, recreational and
competitive, 247 were boys and 194 were girls. Of the 441 Fall 2013 players:
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394 were from the City of Edinburg, roughly 89 percent of the club.
Players not from Edinburg were comprised of 28 boys and 19 girls.
A total of 48 players were competitive level players.
1 competitive player played free of charge (scholarship), 6 at discounted rates.
393 recreational players.
200 recreational players paid the full $70 registration fee.
13 recreational players received various discounts out of need, ranging from $10 to $40.
12 recreational players played free of charge (scholarship).
Remaining 178 recreational players paid $50 multiple child fee or $40 coach discounted fee.
Roughly 15-20 individuals benefitted from delayed payement or payment plan.
A portion of our registration fees are directed to our association fees to RVYSA and STYSA.
Those fees are as follows:
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$20.00
$16.00
$ 8.50
$ 3.50
$ 5.00
10 year olds and older competitive players
10 year olds and older recreational players
3 year olds to 9 year old recreational players
Rio Valley YSA player fee
Adult volunteer background check
Rio Valley Youth Soccer Association is the parent organization for the Arroyo Youth Soccer
Club, Brownsville Opportunity Youth Soccer Association, Rio Bravo Youth Soccer, Don-Wes-Mer
United Soccer Club (Weslaco Club), Edinburg Youth Soccer Club and McAllen Youth Soccer
Association who each sponsor local programs for players four years old and older. RVYSA
administers a Travel League for teams formed of players ten years olds and up to 18 years of age.
This competition qualifies teams to advance into a District and/or State Championships held in
December by STYSA. Each club field teams in this competition in the various ages through the
Under 18 age group.
In November, Rio Valley annually sponsors a Valley Championship for eight and nine year olds
after the local club seasons. This is designed for the top recreational teams from the respective
clubs to compete against their peers from other clubs. There are no fees assessed to the
participating teams other than the local fees paid to the local club. This Fall 27 teams participated
with close to 270 players involved.
Rio Valley is organized by a nine member volunteer board that is elected by each of member
club’s representatives, this include EYSC. This Executive Committee implements the rules, policy
and procedures established and approved by the member clubs. Six years ago, Rio Valley organized
a Division One competition for competitive teams. In creating this competition level, all clubs
agreed that registration would be centralized through Rio Valley. This was designed to ensure a
standard base registration fee, referee assignment and record keeping for STYSA qualification
purposes.
The South Texas Youth Soccer Association (STYSA) is a Texas Not-for Profit, 501c(3)
Corporation who purposes include the teaching of good sportsmanship, the educating of youth
participants and adult sponsors in the fundamentals of soccer, the promotion of soccer through
sponsorship of regularly scheduled youth soccer competitions; and by conducting such other
activities as STYSA deems appropriate.
STYSA is an affiliate of the United State Youth Soccer (USYS), the United States Soccer
Federation(USSF), and the Federation International de Futbol Association (FIFA). STYSA is
governed by a volunteer Executive Committee elected by its 30 member associations. The
geographic area stretches from El Paso in the west across Texas through Lufkin in the east and
from Temple in the central area to Brownsville in the south. Founded in 1964, STYSA offers soccer
programs for youth age 3 through 18 and currently registers over 100,000 players and 9,750
adults. STYSA maintains a full-time professional staff in Manor, Texas. Membership with STYSA
provides the following benefits:
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STYSA has adopted the KidSafe program as the foundation for STYSA’s Risk Management
Program. Every reasonable effort is made to deny participation to any person who has been
convicted of a crime of violence or a crime against another’s person that would bring
unnecessary risk to the health or safety of participants.
STYSA provides Accidental Medical Insurance automatically to registered members as part
of the registration fee paid to the State. This policy provides coverage for registered
players, coaches, trainers, and other officials during sanctioned events including regularly
scheduled practices and games. For players or members who have health insurance
coverage this insurance acts as secondary coverage. For players or members that do not
have other health insurance this coverage acts as primary insurance.
Liability Insurance coverage is provided to member associations, and leagues. Teams,
players, coaches, referees, sponsors, directors, officers and volunteers are covered while
acting in behalf of the named insured.
Directors and Officers Insurance coverage is provide to its members associations and league
directors and officers while acting in behalf of the named insured.
STYSA employs Mr. Neal Ellis as Director of Coaching and Player Development.
Coaching Education courses are offered to educate youth coaches, stimulate their interest
in coaching and promote youth soccer. These include youth modules, E License, and USSF
National D License level course as well as the USSF National Youth License.
After local competitions, STYSA hosts a series of Fall Championships each year that are
designed to determine a state Fall Champion in various Super II, Division 2, and Division 3
age groups. EYSC teams have participated in these events on multiple occasions, December
2013 being the most recent.
In the Spring STYSA provides various Cup competitions for competitive teams in the U11 to
U19 age groups, some which lead to advancement onto the Regional and National level.
EYSC teams have participated in these events on multiple occasions, May 2013 being the
most recent.
STYSA provides the Olympic Development Program, a nation program to help identify top
players in select age groups each year to represent South Texas at US Youth Soccer
Region III events.
Two state level meetings a year are held for associations and general members, with
classes or presentations running in conjunction on a variety of topics including registration,
insurance, risk management, and other topics to help give volunteers at the association and
club level information to better run their organizations. EYSC has been represented at these
meetings for the last six years.
Through our relationship as a member club of RVYSA, Edinburg Youth Soccer has been able
to enhance our recreational program by cooperating with sister clubs. Over the last couple of years
EYSC has teamed up with Rio Bravo Youth Soccer Club and Don-Wes-Mer United Soccer Club for
inter-club play at the recreational level. This has resulted in teams from Weslaco and the
Harlingen/Combes area coming to Edinburg for a handful of games against Edinburg teams. This
gives our teams additional experience against teams from other areas of the Valley and gives them
greater variety in their schedule. In the Fall of 2012 EYSC was host for the RVYSA Fall
Championships. This brought 32 recreational teams in the U9 and U10 age divisions together on one
weekend. Twenty-seven teams from Brownsville, McAllen, Harlingen, and Weslaco came to Edinburg
Municipal Park both Saturday and Sunday. This was up to 270 families visiting Edinburg that
weekend. This was the first time Edinburg has hosted this tournament and feedback from other
clubs was positive and EYSC would look to host this tournament as often as possible.
Edinburg Youth Soccer Club, in some cases with help from sponsorship money of local
businesses, has been able to provide multiple additional services to benefit all our members
including the low income community.
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Every season EYSC has a Picture Day in which parents may get photos taken of their child
before games. EYSC has ensured that ALL players in team photos receive a free team photo
regardless of individual photo purchase. EYSC also receives a percentage of individual photo
sales, which we are then able to reinvest back into the club.
EYSC regularly arranges discounted registration, payment plans, delayed payments, or
waives fees for players unable to afford our registration fee.
Every Summer EYSC hosts the Challenger British Soccer Camp, which brings trained youth
coaches from England/United Kingdom for a week long camp. Each year EYSC raffles off 5
free spots for this camp ($57 to $122 fee depending on age of child), as well as provide half
off for many others. For the June 2013 camp, EYSC paid half the camp fee for 14 children.
In May 2013, EYSC hosted a free one day training session provided by Challenger British
Soccer Camp.
EYSC will pay half of a tournament fee for recreational or competitive teams. Tournament
team fees can range from $125 to $550 or more, depending on level and age. This gives
teams and players a chance to go to a tournament that normally couldn't afford it. In Spring
of 2013 EYSC paid half the tournament fee for 6 different teams, ranging in age from 5
years old to 13 years old.
In December 2013 Edinburg Youth Soccer Club paid the $75 registration fee for a 14 year
old Edinburg boy to attend the STYSA Olympic Development Program Tryouts. If invited to
state level ODP training, EYSC will assist in travel to Houston for this player.
EYSC has agreed with the UTPA Women's Soccer program to hold free soccer clinics for
players of 5 years and older in February 2014, as well as a free coaching clinic for
volunteer coaches. This will be conducted by UTPA coaches and players. All youth players
attending will receive a free t-shirt. This is meant to be the first of many such events in
cunjunction with UTPA.
Every Easter weekend, after recreational games have concluded, EYSC puts on an Easter
Egg hunt for all players and youth family members in attendance.
Through our relationship with Academy Sports + Outdoors, EYSC has been able to provide
proper fitting soccer cleats and shinguards to individual players, given out soccer balls to
players, help supply referees with new equipment, and get other supplies for club use. In
Spring of 2012 EYSC, with sponsorship money from Academy Sports + Outdoors, purchased
40 soccer balls, 4 portable goals, and other various soccer equipment which were given out
via prize tickets hidden inside eggs during our Egg Hunt.
EYSC puts on our Summer League for a fee of $35 for new or return players. Players receive
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a t-shirt and play 6 games starting in mid to late June.
EYSC helps those wishing to referee from the ages of 12 years old and up by paying for
their referee certification courses which results in them becoming referees registered with
the U.S. Soccer Federation. Referees who perform well can advance out of EYSC in to
competitive games, local schools games, and higher levels. EYSC typically obtains the
services of 15 to 20 referees per season.
For volunteer coaches who wish to coach for an extended period of time, EYSC will assist
with coaching course fees by paying for half of the course fee.
EYSC orders uniforms every season before registration is done. Sometimes this results in
excess uniforms. We have previously given away some of these uniforms to local players, as
well as donating some for a local family to take on a mission to Panama in Summer of 2012.
With zero competitive teams in 2009, a commitment was made to grow this side of EYSC
with the purpose of offering the most affordable competitive soccer in the Rio Grande
Valley. EYSC paying for seasonal team fees only increases this affordability and has opened
up competitive soccer for kids who normally could not afford it. We currently have five
volunteer driven teams which have competed across the Valley and South Texas
representing the City of Edinburg. We continue to show steady growth in this area.
EYSC has received financial sponsorship from businesses operating in Edinburg such as
Fiesta Chevrolet, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Murphy USA and multiple small businesses
over the years. This in turn helps us do many things listed above at no additional cost to
members.
Supporting the City of Edinburg has also been something natural for EYSC, with most of it's
members and volunteers being Edinburg residents.
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Has participated in the Edinburg Blue Santa Toy Drive on multiple occasions.
Edinburg's National Night Out in 2012, obtained a booth and raffled off 5 free registrations
for the Fall season.
For multiple years EYSC has had all their printing needs handled by an Edinburg small
business.
A proud member of the Edinburg Chamber of Commerce.
Hold the majority of registration at the Edinburg location of Academy Sports + Outdoors for
the past five years.
Partnered with an Edinburg small business in Fall 2013 to operate the concession stand
during games.
As a true member club of RVYSA, Edinburg Youth Soccer Club is a voting club of that
association. We, along with the other clubs, nominate and vote for RVYSA Executive Committee
members, propose and vote on rules and policies, and in general help shape the soccer community
of the Rio Grande Valley. As a member of STYSA we receive multiple benefits as cited earlier. Our
teams are also able to participate in tournaments, even at the recreational level, all over the state
and beyond. Edinburg Youth Soccer Club has been a part of this community for over 30 years. Our
primary focus is giving the kids of Edinburg the chance to experience and enjoy soccer and to grow
to love the sport. We have enriched the playing experience and also brought sales tax dollars to
the city by bringing teams and players from other cities to Edinburg fields to play soccer. We make
every effort to help those most in need, we want to see every kid play soccer who wishes to.