Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Philosophy of Pelham Travel Soccer?
The mission and goal of Pelham Travel Soccer is to develop skillful and ultimately competitive youth teams by providing youths the opportunity to excel at soccer and to build positive character and promote principles of fair play by providing an enjoyable, fair and high quality soccer program.
Our partnership with New York Red Bulls provides professional teaching methods that aim to emphasize player development for better players in the future over immediate ‘winning tactics’. This partnership also reinforces the Club’s goal of a healthy parent involvement in youth sports.
What league does Pelham Travel Soccer participate in?
Pelham Travel Soccer (or “PTS”) participates in the Westchester Youth Soccer League (or “WYSL”).
WYSL is now one of the largest leagues in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association. The league is responsible for organizing the games, setting rules of play, providing insurance, and much more.
When are tryouts held by Pelham Soccer?
PTS holds general tryouts for all existing teams at the end of each spring season, usually in early June. Players are assigned to teams for the following fall/spring season based on their ability to play the game. If players have improved sufficiently over the season there is the chance that they can be moved up to the next level of play. Teams are arranged in an effort to optimally group players for their development.
What is the time commitment required to play Travel Soccer?
Teams hold two 90 minute practices per week and games are played on Sundays.
When are practice sessions?
Practice sessions are scheduled after school during the week. They are played on fields all over Pelham and due to the field constraints they are not held at the same time or in the same place each season. When scheduling practices, PTS does try to take into account the normal conflicts for each age group (for example, middle school aged players will not have practices scheduled immediately after school so that conflicts with modified sports practices can be reduced). Practice schedules are usually available just prior to the beginning of the season.
What are the registration fees?
There is a $25 non-refundable registration fee that is collected each spring at the time a player is signed up for tryouts. The total fee to play on a team is $1100, which covers both the fall ($550) and spring ($550) seasons. PTS allows for the full amount to be paid at once or spread out over two payments. All U9 Players are provided with a uniform and all other age groups are responsible for purchasing their own.
Are there scholarships available?
PTS believes that all interested players should have the opportunity to participate in the program and therefore offers scholarships to any player who would otherwise be unable to participate. These scholarships can cover in full or in part the registration fee and the training fees for each season. SEE APPLICATION HERE>>
When are games held?
Games are held each Sunday during the season unless there is a holiday. There are usually 10 games/season. The time of the games changes weekly but generally games for the younger teams do not start until early afternoon and games for the older teams can begin as early as 9:00am. Players are expected to attend games, and, in this respect, Sunday routines will need to accommodate this change for first‐time travel parents. Game schedules are available on the WYSL site just prior to the beginning of the season and are subject to change.
Where are games held?
Games are played both at home and away. The league tries to balance the number of home and away games by team. However, due to Pelham’s lack of field space PTS teams can sometimes play more away games in a given season. PTS competes against teams all over Westchester and in some instances in New York City as well.
Does Pelham Travel Soccer participate in tournaments?
Teams are responsible for coordination and payment of their own tournaments, should they wish to participate in any.
Who is responsible for training the players?
PTS has contracted with New York Red Bulls, an American professional soccer club based in Harrison, New Jersey. The Red Bulls compete as a member of the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer.
What are the roles of the parent volunteers?
Each PTS team has a Head Coach and an Assistant Coach, both of whom are parent volunteers. These volunteers are put in place to support the New York Red Bulls professional trainer in an administrative capacity. The parent coach will take primary responsibility for all communication with families. Such as, notices of game/practice changes and assisting with game rescheduling. The parent coach will also be responsible for confirming weekly games with the opposing team. The parent volunteers must be available to substitute for the professional trainer on game days. In the event a team's assigned trainer cannot attend a scheduled game the Parent Coach will be given instruction on the game day line up and pregame warm up exercises. The relationship between the Parent Volunteer and the New York Red Bulls Trainer is extremely important. There must be open lines of communication and the understanding that the Professional Trainer is the lead coach for the team. All Coaches must take a WYSL training course and complete a background check through US Soccer.