FM Soccer Club Travel Program
Travel Soccer— For those players
looking for more
FM Soccer Club Travel Program
Program Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 3
Travel Program Ruling Bodies................................................................................................................. 3
Travel Program Philosophy..................................................................................................................... 4
Travel Team Player Selection: ................................................................................................................ 4
Player and Parents’ Commitment to Travel Program ............................................................................ 5
Team Rostering....................................................................................................................................... 6
Coach and Team Manager duties and Responsibilities.......................................................................... 7
Head coach-........................................................................................................................................ 7
Assistant coach-.................................................................................................................................. 7
Team Manager- .................................................................................................................................. 7
Age Appropriate Player Eligibility........................................................................................................... 7
FM Soccer Club Travel Program
Program Objectives
The FM Soccer Travel Program is dedicated to promoting and enhancing the game of
soccer and to encourage healthy development of players, creating a fun but competitive
environment for participants, parents, coaches and children in the FM Community.
Our efforts and energies are directed to the following objectives:
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We strive to develop players at all levels of play by building and improving their
skills, confidence, fitness, initiative and a sense of teamwork.
The club or travel team player who enjoys the spirit of competition
We are focused on developing a comprehensive training footprint which
leverages consistency around the basic technical and tactical learning of
soccer.
We promote and encourage high standards of sportsmanship and fair play.
The Travel Soccer program is open to all players within the FM District, that reside
within NYWEST jurisdiction and that are cleared to play with FM Soccer Club through
NYWEST, who are looking to play at a more advanced level than the recreation program.
The program begins at the U-9 age level and will carry through to U12. The Age
Matrix as adopted by NY West Soccer Association will be used to determine if (and at
what level) a player is eligible to play.
It is a goal of the program to field both girls and boys teams in the respective age
brackets.
Travel Program Ruling Bodies
The FM Soccer Club Travel Program falls under:
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the guidance of the Central NY Junior Soccer Association – CNYJSA (local level)
New York West Youth Soccer Association – NYS West (state level)
and US Youth Soccer (national level).
As members of these organizations, the FM Soccer Club has the ability to pass along
many of the philophies, training and guidance being used across the country. ( A good
FM Soccer Club Travel Program
example of this is the utilization of small guided games and drills that allows a player to
increase the number of touches and become comfortable with ball handling.)
Travel Program Philosophy
The FM Soccer Club’s Travel Program is a full year developmental program
designed to offer players a more challenging learning experience, higher levels of
competition and an opportunity for advanced skills development.
We believe in age appropriate developmental training duration and intensity, and on
establishing a off-season window to allow young players for sport specific rest and the
opportunity with cross-training. This off-season period is from middle of July to middle of
August.
The FM Travel Program is a community centered, volunteer based structured
approach. Our teams are coached and managed by parents of players, with the active
support of the Travel Coordinator on player development and team development
Travel Team Player Selection:
Players interested in being on a travel team must participate in mandatory tryouts
during the second and third weeks of June. Tryouts are held on weekday evenings and
consist of two (2) sessions. Players must attend both sessions to be considered. Players
will be evaluated on the following types of criteria:
-Receiving
-Passing
-Shooting
-Heading
-Defense
-Dribbling
-Movement off the ball
-Knowledge of the game
-Communication
- Speed
-Goaltending
The Travel Program will utilizes contracted certified professional coaches for each age
group to evaluate the players at the tryouts. These professional coaches will recommend
who makes each respective team based on their evaluations of the player’s performance.
Please note: Just because a player makes the team one year does not guarantee they will make
the same team the next year.
FM Soccer Club Travel Program
Player and Parents’ Commitment to Travel Program
Each player is required to sign a Commitment Letter. The intent of this is to make the
player and his/her family aware of the level of commitment that the Travel Program
requires:
1. The program is based in age appropriate practice and game time durations per
week.
2. One Team practice per week not to exceed 1 hr 15min per week.
3. One Player Skills Development session of 1 hr 15min per week.
4. One game per week, with durations per NYWEST/US Soccer age matrix (between
2 halves of 20 min to 2 halves of 35min depending on age group).
5. Player is expected to participate in all Skills Development sessions, games and
Team practices during the entire session. This is the commitment expected from
all players that wish to participate in the program.
6. All Travel teams will play twice a year in the CNYJSA league (Fall and Spring).
7. All Travel teams will play at least one indoor season (Fall or Winter).
8. Travel teams are encouraged to participate in as many tournaments as the team’s
families agree to.
9. Once players and families are notified by the Travel Program Coordinator that they
have been accepted into a Team, and they confirm their willingness and
commitment, they will be officially rostered in such Team.
10. If a player decides to drop off a team after they have been rostered, any costs
incurred/paid towards the Travel program are not re-imbursable.
FM Soccer Club Travel Program
Team Rostering
Our Program is based on CNYJSA developmental league play in the Fall and the
Spring, and its start and duration are set accordingly. As such, our team roster size is
defined by the league rules and regulations as follows:
Division
U9
U10
U11
U12
Players on
Field
7 vs. 7
7 vs. 7
9 vs. 9
9 vs. 9
Minimum Players
Rostered
10
10
11
11
Maximum Players
Rostered
14
14
16
16
Team sizes are based solely on eligibility of players that tried out for a specific team.
The Travel Program Coordinator will do every reasonable effort to work with such player
pool, within the Club rules and regulations to field a team.
If a team in a division cannot meet the minimum quota of players, the Club will not field
a Travel team for that division for that season.
The FM Travel Program rosters up to 3 coaches, and one Team Manager per Team.
One of the three coaches must be a Head Coach, and the other two would be registered
as Assistant Coaches.
All players will be registered with our ruling bodies, and player passes will be provided
accordingly.
All 3 coaches will be screened and certified using the Risk Pass process in place with
NYWEST. The Team Manager does not require a Risk Pass to perform his/her duties.
The maximum number of Risk Pass holders rostered in a team on the sideline during
official FM Travel games is 3 (League and Tournament play).
FM Soccer Club Travel Program
Coach and Team Manager duties and Responsibilities
Head coachKey technical contact for FM Travel Program (for their specific team), League and
Tournament play. His responsibilities include roster integrity, practices, games, indoor
league registration, and tournaments registration. Is expected that he/she will perform
duties according to FM Soccer Club bylaws, CNYJSA no tolerance rules, and NYWEST
bylaws.
Assistant coachSecondary contact for FM Travel Program (for their specific team), League and
Tournament play. Assists with rosters, practices and games. Is expected that he/she
will perform duties according to FM Soccer Club bylaws, CNYJSA no tolerance rules, and
NYWEST bylaws.
Team ManagerLead administrative contact for registrations, rosters, player passes, referees fees,
announcements, uniforms and player emergency contact information. Is expected that
he/she will perform duties according to FM Soccer Club bylaws, CNYJSA no tolerance
rules, and NYWEST bylaws.
Is the responsibility of the Head Coach, Assistant Coach and Team Manager that the
FM Travel team represents properly our Club and our community. This includes but is
not limited to player behavior during games and practices, and spectators attitudes and
composure during practices and games.
Age Appropriate Player Eligibility
All players that comply with the Club Travel Eligibility criteria already described in
previous sections can play in their respective divisions as defined by the Age Matrix
published by NYWEST. All players will be placed according to their DOB, regardless of
academic grade per US Soccer new rules.
FM Soccer Club Travel Program
Travel Program Cost:
One of the big questions asked about travel soccer is How much does it cost?
Costs depend on how many tournaments and indoor sessions each team play over
the course of the year.
We estimate that the overall cost for playing travel soccer is between $400-500 per
year plus travel expenses incurred when going to tournaments.
As a reference, below is a sample list of the different kinds of costs involved:
$80 Uniform
$50 Fall Club Registration fee per season (Fall and Spring)
$190 Travel Registration- (covers the three items below)
Fall Friendly and Spring Leagues
Rostering and passes
Developmental Skills Training
$60-$105 Indoor League play per player per session (depends on Team’s choice of
location)
$50-$100 Indoor practice facility- per player per session (depends on team’s choice for
practice facility)
$25 Outdoor league Referee fees per player per season
$25 to $70+ Tournament fees- depending on number of tournaments and which ones. All
tournaments are voluntary.
Tournament travel expenses- varies depending on location and
length of stay