Traveling Soccer FAQ

SWSA makes every attempt to keep the information as up to date as possible on the FAQ page.  If you have any specific questions regarding anything that is seen on this page, please feel free to reach out to the board for confirmation.

That depends on their birth year. You can view the US Soccer birth matrix here.

  • Children that are currently U7 have the options of:
    • Fall Traveling – Spring Traveling as a U8
    • Fall Micro and Spring Micro as a U8
  • Children that are currently U8 have the options of:
    • Fall Traveling – Spring Traveling as a U9
    • Fall Rec and Spring Rec as a U9
  • Children that are currently U9 have the option of:
    • Fall Traveling – Spring Traveling as a U10
    • Fall Rec and Spring Rec as a U10
  • Children that are currently U10 have the option of:
    • Fall Traveling – Spring Traveling as a U11

Tryouts for U12 and older teams are optional.  If a team is having tryouts there inforamtion will be listed here.

Additionally, you can also reach out to the clubs traveling coordinators to receive contact information for a coach in your child’s birth year.

  • Current U7 boy’s and girl’s are not allowed to tryout.
  • Current U8 boy’s and girl’s can tryout for their age group only.  They are NOT allowed to play up one year.
  • Current U9 & U10 boy’s and girl’s, are eligible to play up ONE calendar birth year age group. However, it will be required that:
    • (1) the player MUST attend at least one tryout in his/her calendar birth year age group. Failing to attend one tryout in the player’s birth year age group will result in that player being placed on the lowest rated team in their age group, as long as a roster spot is available.
    • (2) He/she may attend a second tryout for the age group that is ONE calendar birth year older. Players registering for more than one age group are doing so with the knowledge that the club will place them on their highest rated team according to their tryout results.
      • If the player rates for the “A” team in their age group, and receives a score within the club’s selection range to be on the “A” team of the age group ONE calendar birth year older, then that player will be automatically placed on the “A” team in the age group ONE year older.
      • However, if a player rates within their birth year age group on the “A” team and they DO NOT make it within the club’s selection range for the “A” team in the age group ONE calendar birth year older, then that player will be placed on their birth year’s “A” team.
        • In short if a player qualifies to be placed on a team in either their age group or the age group ONE calendar year older then the child/parents do not get to decide which team to play for after tryouts end. By trying out for the age group ONE calendar birth year older, the child/parents made that decision when registering for tryouts.
    • (3) You must note on your online registration if you intend to have your child tryout to play up one calendar year when asked during registering.

Typically tryouts are held in April or early May.  You do NOT want to miss them as they are mandatory in order to be placed on a traveling team for the upcoming Fall – Spring season.  See this page for all of the information on our next tryout dates.

Short answer is no, only 1 tryout is mandatory. However, coming to multiple tryouts allows the trainers to note your child’s performance on multiple occasions.

Yes, all registration is handled online.  You can do so by following the information for your child’s birth year on these pages.

In the past trainers setup the children in some ball drills to get warmed up for about 10-15 minutes. After that they play 3v3 or 4v4 games. Basically same exact setup as what happens in micro games.

This could change though based on the format the trainers provide for the upcoming tryouts.

Please make sure you bring your child’s pinnie, ball, shin guards, cleats, and a water bottle.

Yes, tryouts are mandatory to be placed on a traveling team.  The traveling season is for Fall – Spring.

Tryouts are extremely important to attend as your child will not be eligible to play on a traveling team without attending tryouts.  The tryout covers the upcoming Fall, Winter, & Spring Season.  There is no separate try out for the spring season.

We will make every attempt to find a team for your child to play on in U8-U11 age groups.  Unfortunately in some circumstances we have more children try out then we have spots on teams & some children end up not being placed on teams.  At that point depending on your child’s age they are probably still eligible to play micro soccer (U4-U8) or rec soccer (U9-U10).

At the end of every Spring season all teams are dissolved. SWSA has a tryout in the Spring for all age groups for players to be evaluated and selected into the travel program. The new teams are then formed for the Fall season. Players are carded for a team from August 1st through July 31st of the following year. If there are enough players for two teams (or more) then that many teams will be created.

Your best option is to have your child tryout regardless if you are 100% certain if you want them on a traveling team.

The reason is it still gives you an option of making a decision if you receive a traveling team invite. You could always decline the traveling invite after you receive more info on fees, etc.

We have many examples of children not trying out because they didn’t think their friends were going to tryout.  Only to find out after the fact that their friends did indeed tryout and made a traveling team.  And unfortunately at that point, the next tryouts are a year away.

The Fall 2022 – Spring 2023 travel season cost was $400/per player.  That did not include the uniform, any tournaments, or other leagues that each team can choose to individually register for.  Costs can always increase based on a variety of economic factors, and the upcoming travel seasons cost will be in travel acceptance email.

Travel teams practice two days a week. One practice is with a trainer and the other is a coach led practice.  SWSA also currently offers goalie training and foot skills training for no additional cost, when available.

Every team has five home games and five away. Some of the away games can be as close as East Greenwich or Logan and some could be up to 1 hour away. For the most part most games are within 30 minutes.

We encourage our travel teams to do tournaments and expect our travel players to make the games.  Tournaments are a separate fee from your league registration fee.

Please go to our how to become a traveling coach page & submit the form which the board will receive.  Please pay special notice to all of the requirements for becoming a traveling coach.

Rec Soccer FAQ

Rec soccer is similar to U8-U10 traveling soccer in that games are 7v7. Since a good majority of children jump up to traveling at this point, rec is still a traveling league as their are not enough kids left in the town to support it.

Rec soccer is optional for 2 years, which covers the U9 and U10 age groups. Please use our birth year matrix to find out if your child is still eligible for rec soccer.

Micro Soccer FAQ

Information coming soon.