The recreational program is considered a learning program. The philosophy is for players to develop a love for the game of soccer while learning new skills and having fun with new friends.
The recreational program is for all players, new or experienced, from ages 4-18.
Registration for the recreational level is open to all boys and girls to play. No tryouts are held in recreational soccer. The recreational teams are coached by volunteers, usually a parent of one of the team players.
Team Formation
The teams are formed by a computer-generated blind draft based on the number of seasons played. All Under 10 (U10) and above teams will stay together for the Fall and Spring season, and in the Spring season, new players will be added to teams to fill in for players who do not return from the Fall. Under 6 (U6) and Under 8 (U8) teams are redrafted each season.
Seasons
There are two seasons for recreation outdoor soccer a year, the Fall season which typically starts games the weekend after Labor Day and the Spring season which usually starts games the first weekend of March. Each season has approximately 8-10 games.
U12 and older teams may be required to travel outside of RYSA to play games. If there are not enough RYSA teams in a season, the RYSA teams will be interleague scheduled to play against other neighboring Ga Soccer Clubs which would require the teams to travel for half of their games and the other half of their games would be played at RYSA.
We also offer Winter Indoor Recreation Soccer. Please check the Indoor Section for more information.
Practices
Practices usually start one week before the first game. Most games are scheduled on Saturdays starting as early as 8:00 am and the last games typically will not start after 5:00 pm on Saturday. There may be a few games on Friday evenings starting after 6:00 pm and there could be a Sunday afternoon game or 2 during the season, with all Sunday games starting after 1pm.
Under 6 (U6) and Under 8 (U8) teams practice once a week, Under 10 (U10) and older teams may practice twice a week. Recreation players should be ready to commit to attending the practice sessions during the week and also the games on the weekends for the entire season.