Parents

Welcome, parents! Please see the information below, where we’ve tried to answer many common questions.

Eligibility

Kids ages 3-18 can play soccer with the Mountain Area Youth Soccer League. You can find out your player’s age for league placement at the CYSA Division 7 League Age Chart or the CalNorth Age Calculator. (See below for more details.)

Register

MAYSL’s primary season is in the fall, from mid-September to mid-November. If you’d like to sign up your kids:

Register players at GotSport
- Registration for travel teams ends in mid-July.
- Registration for local teams ends in mid-August.

1b. If you need to upload birth certificates for your players after registration, use this form.

Your players will be assigned to teams starting the week after school starts. Coaches will reach out that week or next to discuss practices.
The first games for local (non-travel) teams is generally the 1st or 2nd week of September.
The last games of the season will be on the weekend before Thanksgiving.

See the News section for specific dates.

How do I know my kids’ league age?

At MAYSL, teams usually separate into divisions for U4, U5, U6, U8, U10, U12 or U13, U14 or U15, and U18.

ussoccer.com says, “an age group can be determined by subtracting the birth year from the year the season ends.”

Our current season ends in 2024
Subtract your child’s birth year
The result is their league age
The division they’re in must be at or below their league age

For example, U10 is for kids 10 and under. If your child was born in 2014, they’d be in U10 because 2024-2014 is 10.

Player Safety

US Soccer places a lot of value on player safety. If your child has any special health conditions, like the need for an EpiPen or an inhaler, please talk to your coaches about it. Make sure they know how to recognize signs of problems and how to deal with them. They’ll want to be prepared in case there’s an emergency, and they should be able to recognize changes in your childrens’ normal behavior.

Equipment

What do your kids need to play soccer with MAYSL?

shoes or cleats
shin guards
socks
shorts

The league will provide jerseys and soccer balls for the team.

What can’t your kids wear?

jewelry (any kind)
watches
hard medical devices (e.g. casts, plastic knee braces)
hats (goalkeepers may wear baseball-style caps, though)

See Law 4, The Players’ Equipment, for the exact rules.

More guidance for how we approach equipment at MAYSL is given below.

Your Soccer Home has a great page on What You Can (and Can’t) Wear for Soccer, too.

Soccer shoes

Can you use cleats from another sport? You sure can, as long as they’re just plastic knobs and they don’t have a front stud like baseball and football cleats often do.

Can you use shoes that aren’t cleats? Yes, but they should be appropriate for sports – think “outdoor athletic shoes” – with enough traction to keep your kids from slipping on the grass, and laces in good enough shape that they stay firmly on your kids’ feet. Nobody wants to see your kid fall and get hurt or lose their shoe during a kick.

Many soccer players will want soccer cleats because they’re designed for good ball control: they fit the shape of your foot, they keep you nimble for quick turns and sprints, they allow for feel in the toe while still allowing you to make a solid kick, and they give firm traction in a variety of field conditions.

Socks

Uniform socks should rise to just below the player’s knee. They must fully cover the player’s shin guards.

Sock colors are up to each team’s coaches. For travel teams, all players’ socks must match.

Shin guards

Shin guards are required. They must be in good condition with adequate coverage of the player’s lower leg. What does that mean? All modern shin guards will have their intended height range etched into the plastic. Your player can wear them if they fit within that range.

Shin guards do not need to have straps or stirrups, but they must be fully covered under the player’s socks.

Shorts

Most teams at MAYSL wear black (or mostly black) shorts. They should be a loose-fitting sports style (not cargo shorts, denim, or form-fitting exercise shorts, for example). Tights or bicycle-style shorts can be worn underneath, but they should also be black.

Goalkeepers may wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts.

Other clothing

A long-sleeve shirt or a sweatshirt without a hood may be worn under the game jersey.

Goalkeepers are allowed to wear a baseball-style cap as long as the brim is facing the front.

Sports-oriented sunglasses are allowed, but they should be made to withstand the rigors of the game. It’s up to the referee at any given game to exercise their judgement, but as a general guideline, they should have strong plastic lenses (no glass) and durable plastic frames.

Jewelry

Law 4 is very clear:

All items of jewellery (necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, leather bands, rubber bands, etc.) are forbidden and must be removed. Using tape to cover jewellery is not permitted.

(Americans, that’s “jewelry” to us. :-)

This is an important one to keep in mind well before the season starts. There are no exceptions for fresh piercings where the studs or earrings shouldn’t be removed within the first weeks. If a player won’t remove them, they can’t play.

Pictures

Near the end of every season, the league has a picture day. Team and individual photos are included as part of registration, and the photographer typically offers additional packages that players and their families may purchase. See Picture Day for more details.