Dedham Youth Soccer Travel Program (Grades 3–12)
The Dedham Youth Soccer Travel Program offers players in grades 3 through 8 the opportunity to compete against teams from other towns in the area. The Dedham Youth Soccer Travel Program offers players in grades 3 through 8 the opportunity to compete against teams from other towns in the area. In the spring season we expand this to include High School aged players in grades 9-12.This program focuses on advancing players’ skills, teamwork, and understanding of the game through a higher level of competition. Teams are formed based on evaluations to ensure appropriate placement, and games are played within the BAYS (Boston Area Youth Soccer) league. It’s a great way for players to challenge themselves, grow their love for soccer, and represent Dedham with pride!
Team Placement Philosophy
Dedham Youth Soccer (DYS) aims to place travel players on teams with others of comparable skill levels and to match them against similarly skilled competition. We believe this approach best supports each player’s development, confidence, and enjoyment of the game. Because children grow and develop at different rates, we re-evaluate every player's skill level annually to ensure they are placed appropriately. As a result, players may move between teams from year to year.
Player Evaluations & Tryouts
DYS has a multi-faceted approach to evaluate players to create a complete picture of their abilities from multiple different evaluators. The following are examples of some of the forms of evaluation DYS uses:
Spring Tryouts:
Tryouts are held in the second half of the spring season. All players in grades 2–7 who plan to play in the upcoming fall season are expected to attend. If a player cannot attend, families should contact the DYS Travel Directors at [email protected].
Players are evaluated by independent soccer coaches on their soccer skills, game play, and athleticism. Each player is given numeric scores by multiple evaluators, which are averaged and provided to DYS.
Coach Evaluations:
At the end of each season, coaches submit evaluations of all players on their teams assessing each player’s soccer abilities, athleticism, soccer skills, and coachability/commitment.
Team Formation Process
DYS forms teams based on the scores provided by the prior seasons coaches, tryouts, and outside evaluators. These scores allow for placement on teams in a composite and objective way. Team formation is facilitated by DYS officials (including Travel directors and the Registrar), based on coaches and tryout evaluation scores, and assisted by coaches from the prior season. Team formation occurs in grade/gender level meetings after the end of the spring season where coaches from the past year and DYS travel officials are invited. These meetings are confidential to promote honest, open dialogue about player development and ensure fair team placement.
DYS registration
DYS is committed to placing all players that register prior to the season registration deadline in grades 4-8 on a travel team (grade 3 players are ensured a spot on either town or travel teams). If a player does not register on time there is no guarantee that she or he will be placed on a travel team, although attempts will be made based on current team roster sizes and ability to identify coach volunteers.
Team sizes and structure
Once registration closes, DYS determines:
- The number of teams to form
- The division placement in the BAYS (Boston Area Youth Soccer) league
We follow BAYS roster size guidelines:
- 7v7 (Grades 3–4): Max 14 players
- 9v9 (Grades 5–6): Max 18 players
- 11v11 (Grades 7–8): Max 22 players
Our goal is to keep team sizes below the maximum while ensuring we have enough players to support the team throughout the season.
DYS forms travel soccer teams in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8, with 7th and 8th graders combined and playing in the 8th grade divisions and, when necessary, some 5th and 6th graders combined and playing in the 6th grade divisions
Spring soccer season
Soccer is a 2 season sport (fall and spring). DYS does not have a tryout or team formation process before the spring season and makes only minimal changes to rosters between the fall and spring season. Spring roster changes are primarily made because of changes in grade level registration numbers or overall team numbers.
