North Shore Views

Travel Soccer Tryouts on the North Shore

It’s that time of year when all of the soccer clubs are holding tryouts for the coming year (which starts in late August 2011 and runs through June 2012).  If you live on the North Shore, and your child wants to play club soccer, you have several options available to you, but all of the clubs are holding their tryouts at the same time – the week of May 31 – so your child may only have the option of trying out for one. My advice is to do your homework ahead of time to determine which club would be the best fit.  Last spring I gave some tips on trying out for a travel soccer team, based on my own experience as a soccer mom. You can read that here.

Here are the clubs on the North Shore and links to their web sites. There you will find more information about registering for tryouts:

Wilmette Wings www.wilmettewings.com Tryouts: May 31-June 5, 2011

Trevian Soccer Club www.treviansoccerclub.com Tryouts: May 31-June 5

Euro Soccer Club www.eurosoccerclub.net Tryouts: May 31-June 5

Team Evanston www.teamevanston.org Tryouts: May 31-June 12

Chicago Fire Juniors North www.chicagofirejuniorsnorth.com Tryouts: May 31-June 3

Glenview Soccer Club www.glenviewsoccerclub.com Tryouts: May 31- June 5

Spartan Football Club www.spartanfc.org Tryouts: May 31-June 4

Tags: travel soccer, youth sports

North Shore Soccer Club Tryouts – Tips for Choosing a Team

Tryouts for travel soccer are fast approaching. This year most clubs are holding their tryouts the first week of June. If your child has played park district soccer, loves it and wants to improve his or her level of play, then you might want to consider trying out for a travel soccer team. Be warned, though. It’s a fairly substantial commitment that both you and your child will have to make (financially and time-wise).

These days most clubs start at U8. That doesn’t mean your child has to start that early. Many join at U9 or even U10. After that it gets tougher to make a travel team because the skill gap between club soccer and park district soccer widens as the kids get older.

When choosing a team to tryout for, here are some things to consider:

1. What is the team’s overall philosophy- is it more about winning at any cost or is it more about developing a love of the game? This will be hard to glean from reading the club’s website because all of the teams say pretty much the same thing. You’ll get more by talking to team parents and/or “interviewing” the club president or head coach.

2. How intense is the program? Some clubs assume that this is the ONLY sport the child will play and demand 100% commitment. They don’t have a lot of tolerance for missed practices or games because of conflicts with other activities. Others recognize that there’s more to life than soccer: school, church, Cub Scouts, family etc. They still demand a high level of commitment to the club, but they are more understanding about life’s other demands.

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Tags: soccer, youth sports