FAQ

Player birth year is used to determine which league they play in. The ‘u’ in the u10 designation stands for UNDER 10 as of the end of the year. See our birth year matrix for more information about Academy and In-House designations, or visit our Travel page for info about travel teams. Note: Players may decide to “play up” in an older age group if the parents choose to do so. Players may not “play down” in a younger age group for any reason.

WSA supports players ages 4-18.

All Academy practices and matches are held at Friendship Valley Elementary School.

Academy matches are divided into 4 quarters. The length of the quarter increases as the age increases (see Academy manual), but in general the total match time, including breaks, is under 1 hour.

All Academy matches are on Saturday mornings. Matches will start on Labor Day weekend and run through most of October.

Academy practices typically last for an hour.

Academy teams typically practices only one evening a week. Typical practice start time is 6:00 and last about an hour. Practices will start in early August and continue until it gets too dark too early typically (coach call). Practices typically begin the second or third week in August.

Please sign up! You can mention your interest on the registration form or email the coordinator for your league. WSA has plenty of folks to help you out and has coach training sessions and professional trainers working at every level.

While it’s a good idea to have a soccer ball at home for your player, coaches will have balls for practices and matches so you are NOT required to bring one.

Shin guards are required. Appropriate athletic shoes are also required. Cleats are optional, but if cleats are worn, they must NOT have a front cleat (i.e. baseball cleats are not permitted).

Registration includes a uniform (jersey, shorts, socks) and a trophy at season end.

In the Academy, the answer is YES and every effort is made to accommodate these requests which can be made on the registration form.

The age group coordinator form the teams in the Academy dividing the registrants into teams balancing number of girls/boys across teams. You will not find out what team your child is on, or practice night until AFTER registration closes. You should expect to hear the first week in August from your child’s coach.

In the Academy, the groups are single age u5, u6, u7, and u8. All leagues are based on birth year, with the exception of u5 which will be only those who are 4 as of July 31.

See our birth year matrix for more information.

Registration includes a uniform (jersey, shorts, socks) and a trophy at season end.

In the In-House leagues the answer is unfortunately NO. WSA found no way to ensure that these requests were not being abused to create powerhouse teams.

If you would like to have your child on a specific coach’s team, feel free to volunteer to be that coach’s assistant if they don’t already have one!

For In-House, the teams are formed via
coaches’ draft. The coaches get the information on all registered players including grade, age, gender, and years of experience and draft players. This is to ensure an even distribution of age/gender/experience across teams and, hopefully, provide the fairest set of matches possible for the season.

The age groups are u10, u12, and u15. The age groups are based on birth year. See our birth year matrix for more information.