As with the opening of retail, restaurants, and other services, getting back to youth soccer is going to take place looking differently in the immediate future...perhaps even beyond that.  The first of those differences is going to come with Tryouts and Team Formation. Typically, May would bring Tryout Date announcements, then 90 minute auditions, with the subsequent offers and Acceptances/Rejections.  In the current landscape this is going to look a little different.

Because a large number of our teams and players participate in Ohio South governed leagues, NKSA has generally followed their guidelines regarding Tryouts and Team Formations.  This year, without any specific guidelines coming from the Kentucky Youth Soccer office, that is going to be the case by default.

Here is what ALL clubs in the greater Cincinnati area under the OSYSA jurisdiction are mandated to:

• May 26, 2020-clubs may offer positions to players to a Team or the Club who last participated with that team or club during the 2019-2020 seasonal year.

•  Teams and clubs may also make offers to participate with their team or club to players who were last registered as a recreational player, or who did not participate at any level during the 2019-2020

•  May 29, 2020-clubs may offer positions to players regardless of where they played during the 2019-2020 seasonal year

The Governor of Kentucky has currently indicated that no youth sports activities can occur prior to June 15th, and that this date marks ONLY a potential opportunity to return to outdoor play in some fashion...likely with restrictions.  These mandates mean that clubs throughout the area will need to move forward with Team Formation/Player Placement without the traditional Tryout Process.  For NKSA, we have promoted the use of prior training and match performance, as well as rankings and evaluations from coaches and trainers as a method for guiding our decisions even prior to our current situation. 

This type of continuous evaluation has generally been accepted throughout the sport as being a more effective way to gauge a player’s ability and expected level of play, as opposed to a couple hours of post season tryout. Our staff and coaches have been working on collecting and reviewing this information since the end of April in preparation for this action, and we are confident that we will be able to appropriately place current players at this time.  Ultimately, the use of this format may prove to be a long-term benefit, and may serve to reduce some of the “Test Anxiety” aspect of the previous system.

Here are the general guidelines NKSA will utilize for Team Formation

• Team rosters will remain intact from the 2019-2020 season where feasible, based on registrations and as appropriate,  based on evaluations and rankings

• Evaluations and rankings will be utilized by the club’s Directors, in conjunction with the team coach and trainer to determine movement required to complete rosters

• New players will be identified and placed based on previous level of play, previous team played for, and previous evaluation or recommendation from a trainer or coach (not parent)

• Placement may be offered to an Age Group, rather than a specific team, if this action is deemed more beneficial to the player.  In these cases an evaluation to confirm Team placement will be conducted as soon as state mandates allow.

As always Player Registration is FREE, non-binding, and essential to the step of Team Formation.  All players, CURRENT or NEW, must be registered in order to be placed on a team.  NKSA is utilizing a new web system, Demosphere, for this process and will be rolling out a new website shortly as well.  In order to register, please follow this link-

https://nksasoccer.demosphere-secure.com/_registration

This information is also available on our current website Rotator and in the Links section. Current members should be able to use their same user name to enroll. 

In order to begin Team Formation May 26 NKSA is asking that registration be completed by Thursday, May 21^st.

Deposits-A non-refundable deposit will be required when a family accepts a Team Placement for the 2020-2021 year. However, because we will be at the beginning of the season process, if the Fall season is cancelled prior to the start of practices, a FULL REFUND will be provided.

Uniforms-NKSA was projected to begin a new uniform cycle for the 2020-2021 season, a decision which likely would have required a large expense for current members. In order to eliminate this financial burden the club has negotiated to stay in our current uniforms for one more year. NKSA is working with Soccer Village to ensure that uniform pieces will be available for new players or those who need to order replacement pieces.

Incentive Program-as a way of encouraging players to promote our club and their team, if a new player who accepts a Team Placement lists you as a referral, and accepts the position, you will receive an NKSA Apparel package.

Spread the Word-families are asked to Share, Like, Post, Retweet, and talk about, NKSA Player Registration.  Please spread the word in your neighborhood, in your social circles, etc.