Travel Teams

BSC participates in the Boston Area Youth Soccer league (BAYS). Brookline Soccer Club teams are typically referred to as “Town Travel Teams" because we play other towns and travel to those games. BAYS organizes teams by school grade, for example: Boys Grade 4 or Girls Grade 7 with certain age cutoffs.

Fall Season - Grades 4-8 Travel Teams, Grade 3 House League*
Spring Season - Grades 3-8 Travel Teams

*In the Fall, the BSC hosts a 3rd Grade House League. There are no trouts for the House League. Anyone registered (typically opens in late June) will be placed on a Fall House League team.  We group players by school for house league teams. Players are evaluated throughout the Fall season and transition into 3rd Grade Travel Teams for the Spring Season. Players are placed on 3rd Grade Travel Teams according to their ability level. Participation in the Fall House League does not guarantee placement on a Spring Travel Team. 

Coaching

• Parent Coaches: Most of BSC’s Grade 3 and Grade 4 teams (both boys and girls) are coached by parent volunteers. Prior experience coaching or playing soccer is not required to be an excellent parent coach. Parents receive training on running practices and coaching games from the club. Most parents find the coaching experience very rewarding.
• Professional Coaches: The BSC has the following paid coaching positions:
  • Director of Coaching - To guide and oversee the development of all players and coaches within the club.
  • Technical Directors - To provide mentorship to our volunteer 3rd and 4th Grade Coaches.
  • Head Coaches for Grade 5-8 Teams.
• Team Managers: Parent volunteers can serve as a Team Manager and play an essential and helpful role reducing the administrative burden upon the coaches.

Training

• Weekly Team Training Sessions: Acceptance of a player spot on a BSC team includes a commitment to attend weekly team training. Most teams have two training sessions per week at fields located in Brookline. Schedules are set by the club in conjunction with the parent or professional coaches working around available fields. The number of training sessions varies by age group with some older teams having additional practices.

• Logistics: Parents often carpool to and from training sessions and the coach or manager will help facilitate this with team contact lists at the start of the season. Players who accept a spot on a BSC team must be prepared to give team training sessions priority over other after-school activities.

Games

• Travel Required: All of our soccer teams are travel teams and represent Brookline in competition against other towns in the greater Boston area. If you are placed on a team, you can expect to travel as far as an hour away from Brookline. Some games will also be as close as Newton or Dedham.
• BAYS League: We compete in the BAYS (Boston Area Youth Soccer) league, the largest local soccer league in the eastern part of the state. There are separate boys and girls teams in each age group. All teams play a 10-game season in the fall and another 10-game season in the spring. In almost all cases the team assignments remain the same for both the Fall and Spring season.
• Schedule: BAYS games are scheduled for Saturdays. A small percentage of games are postponed due to weather or other state of emergency, make-ups can be scheduled for Sundays, as a second game on Saturdays or weekday evenings. Home games are played in Brookline, and away games involve travel to other towns. Parents often arrange car pools to make travel to/from games easier.

Attendance Requirements

• We expect that BSC will take precedence over other athletic commitments in the event of repeated schedule conflicts.  The general rule is that BSC players must attend at least 75% their BSC team’s training sessions and games during the course of a season, with excused absences for school, religious and family events when prior notification is provided to the coach.

Additional Events

• Tournaments: Many teams participate in one or two weekend tournaments over holiday weekends like Columbus Day or Memorial Day. Tournaments may be local or in another region as determined by each individual team with their coaches. Tournaments typically cost around $50 per player and are collected by the coach or team manager. Participation in holiday weekend tournaments, particularly at the younger ages, is optional.
• Futsal (Indoor Soccer): Many teams also elect to participate as a team in winter indoor soccer—called “futsal”. This is a modified version of soccer played with a smaller, less bouncy ball on a standard basketball court. Participation in futsal is not officially managed by BSC, but instead parents or coaches often organize this themselves. Some players who participate in winter sports cannot join for futsal but typically many teams have enough players to create one or even two teams. Futsal games are typically played on weekends in a variety of towns in the area including Brookline. Participation in futsal is completely optional.

Costs

• Registration Fees: The regular program cost, including registration fees, uniforms, equipment, and other expenses, is about $430-$630 for the year (two seasons) billed through an online registration process. Please note that costs may change from season to season.
• Financial Aid: Registration fees can be reduced or waived in cases of financial need through a confidential process.

Requirements

• Eligibility: BSC is open to all children who live in Brookline or attend school in Brookline.
• Grade/Age Restrictions: Players who are in a certain grade but are older than the age cut off set by BAYS cannot play with their grade. Certain rules about age limits are enforced by BAYS and cannot be waived by BSC.
• Minimum Grade to Tryout: BSC does not allow players to try out unless they are currently enrolled in 2nd grade at the time of tryouts.
• Gender Labels:  BAYS organizes teams by gender (“boys” or “girls” teams). However, BAYS has stated that, for the purposes of registration on gender-based teams, a player may register with the gender team with which the player identifies, and confirmation sufficient for guaranteeing access shall be satisfied by documentation or evidence that shows the stated gender is sincerely held, and part of a person’s core identity.  If you have a question about this issue, please contact the BSC Executive Director using the contact link at the bottom of the page.

How to Join a Travel Team: Spring Tryouts

• New Players: Any new players wishing to join a BSC Grade 4 through 8 team, must participate in a free open tryout held each year in the Spring. This single tryout determines placements for all Fall and Spring teams for the following seasons. We aim to make  tryouts as fair and impartial as possible.

• Returning Players: All players need to tryout every year and placements from prior years are not guaranteed. Players must arrive to tryouts wearing non-club soccer jerseys. Players are evaluated by an objective group of player evaluators who are typically parent and professional coaches for older age groups.

• No Guaranteed Spots: Current Brookline Soccer Club players are not guaranteed a place on the following year’s teams. 

• Tryout Schedule: The tryout schedule will be posted on the BSC website and social media on the website and pre-registration is required for new players.  Returning players will be automatically registered but must attend tryouts.

• Placement Not Guaranteed:  We unfortunately cannot accommodate everyone who is interested in our program.  Players develop at different ages, so we encourage players who are not placed on a BSC team to keep playing and attend tryouts in following years.

After Tryouts

• Email Notification: Players will be notified of the tryout results by email in June after the current BAYS season has ended, usually after the Brookline school year.

• Registration Required: Players who make teams will be given instructions on how to register on our website. Players who fail to register by the July deadline risk losing their spot. Also, be forewarned that your designated practice days will not be known at the time of registration. Players will receive their team and coach assignments in late summer.

• Placements: Team placements are based on ability. Our goal is to have each player playing with teammates and against opponents at the same skill level. Requests to be placed with friends or schoolmates will not be honored.

• Waitlist: Players with the requisite skills to play on a travel team who are not selected due to space limitations will be placed on a waiting list. We are often able to place several players on the waiting list at some point during the subsequent year.