Practice and Game Schedules
The season is a month away, why don’t we have a practice schedule yet?
The NPSC practices on town fields and we have to wait until the town lets us know our field assignments to schedule our practices. In most cases, we get our field assignments only 2 weeks before our practices start.
How many practices will there be each week?
In the Fall seasons we will try to have two professional training sessions (weekday afternoons or evenings) and one coach practice (Saturdays) each week. In the Spring we have reduced field time so we will have one professional training session and one coach practice each week.
How many games will there be each week?
Leagues assign each of our teams one game each weekend so most teams will play one game each weekend. Sometimes, due to weather, field conditions or schedules, games will be postponed or rescheduled and that can result in multiple games each week.
Why don’t we have a full game schedule at the beginning of the season?
The leagues assign one game per weekend to each team and specify if it is a home or away game. Once our coaches receive their game schedules, they work with our club and the opposing coaches to set the day, time and location of games. Often, you’ll know about the first few games as the season starts and then games will be scheduled further ahead of time as the season progresses. Your child’s coach will be responsible for getting the schedule out to players and their families.
Leagues
What leagues do NPSC teams play in?
NPSC places our teams in one of two leagues:
Mid-NJ
MNJ is a competitive league made up of teams all over the central part of NJ. They have divisions (with multiple flights) for each age group represented by our teams; U8, U9, U10, U11, U12, U13, U14 and U15. Games in this league may be up to an hour away from New Providence.
Suburban Youth Soccer League
SYSL is a recreation league based in Union County. They have divisions for U8-9, U10-11, U12-13, U14-15 and High School. As a result we usually place our less competitive teams at the top of these age groups in SYSL (U9, U11, U13, U15). Our Spring high school teams also play in this league. Games are typically closer to home, in Union County.
We do our best to place our teams in the appropriate league and flight for their skill level. Occasionally, we will have a team that plays at a level higher than MNJ and we have placed them in the EDP (Elite Development Program) league.
What is a “flight”?
Within the appropriate age group (U8, U9, etc.) leagues create “flights” meant to group teams of similar skill level together to foster a positive experience for everyone. We request specific flights when we register teams with our leagues but our teams aren’t always placed in the flight we request. Know that a lot of time and effort on our part and at the leagues goes into determining the appropriate flight for each team.
Evaluations and Team Placement
Are there tryouts for the U8-U15 teams?
We don’t hold “tryouts” because we don’t cut players from our program. If you’ve registered (up to two weeks before our evaluations) we will make a space for your child. We do hold “evaluations” in the Spring in order to create our teams for the following Fall.
How do U8-U15 evaluations work?
We typically hold TWO evaluation sessions for each age group. We encourage kids to attend both if possible. If for any reason they can only attend one session, they will not be penalized. Evaluation scores are combined with seasonal coach and trainer scores to determine team placement for the following year. WE DO NOT CUT KIDS who register before the evaluations.
Do kids in SDP have tryouts or evaluations?
There are no evaluations for the SDP program. Players will be placed on a team at their Saturday sessions. Teams may change throughout the season.
Do High School Teams have tryouts or evaluations?
There are no evaluations for our HS program. We will form teams by age/grade close to the start of the Spring season.
U8-U15 (3rd through 8th grade) Registration
When do I register for the Fall season?
We typically open up registration for the Fall season in March. Registration is open so early because we need time to hold evaluations for team placement. Players registered before evaluations who attend evaluations will be placed on teams that match their ability.
Registration will usually stay open after our evaluations. Players who register after evaluations but before we announce teams (usually late June) will be placed on the lowest flighted team in their age group. Registration will STILL be open over the summer but we can NOT guarantee that we will be able to find a place for players who register so late.
When do I register for the Spring season?
If your child is on a NPSC team in the Fall and plans to continue in the Spring you DO NOT NEED TO REGISTER AGAIN. When you register you either paid the entire year up front or you opted for our payment plan and your credit card will be billed in January for the Spring season.
If you are new to the program or your child did not play in the Fall season, we typically open up registration for new players as early as November and keep it open through February. We do our best to find a place for everyone who wants to play, but we can’t guarantee we’ll have space. Registering early is your best bet.
Billing
How does billing work?
That depends on the program your child is enrolled in. Here’s a brief description of billing for our SDP, U8-U15 teams and High School teams:
SDP
We’ll open up registration before each season (Fall and Spring) and you can register your child and pay for the season when you register.
U8-U15 Teams
We’ll open up registration before tryouts in the Spring for the FOLLOWING Fall and Spring seasons. You can opt to pay for the entire year upfront or you can opt for the payment plan that will charge you half when you register and half in January. You DO NOT need to re-register your child for the Spring season, we’ll carry the teams over. We expect most players to play in both the Fall and the Spring. If your child can not play in the Spring, please opt for the payment plan and let us know before January. If you do not let us know your child doesn't plan to play before January the cost for the Spring season will remain on your account and MUST be paid before anyone from your family can play on any of our teams in subsequent seasons.
High School Teams
We’ll open up registration in the winter for our Spring HS teams. You can pay for the Spring season when you register your child. If we don’t wind up with enough players to field teams, we’ll refund all payments.
Uniforms
I can’t find my child on the Go Soccer site to order a uniform
The transfer of names and numbers isn’t an automatic process. We have to give rosters to the store as they’re updated. Our uniform coordinator will provide GoSoccer with periodic updates including any newly registered kids. Please email [email protected] if your child isn’t in the system at the start of the season or if it’s been over a week since you registered and the season has started.
General Questions
Why do you require a full-year commitment for the most competitive teams
We expect most players to play with us for both the Fall and Spring season each school year. When players only play one season it can greatly affect our team formation. The Mid-NJ league where most of our teams and ALL of our most competitive teams play requires that we keep the same teams from Fall to Spring. Shifting rosters sometimes result in teams that are smaller in the Spring and make it difficult for coaches to ensure enough players for game days.
We understand that there can be injuries, surprises and other commitments that players may have and we’ll do our best to accommodate those who want to play for only one of our two seasons. But we place those players on our less competitive teams which may have more flexibility and movement, ensuring the players who want to compete are given the chance to do so.