We run intramurals in town in each of the Fall and Spring seasons.

In the Fall, all players U10, U12, and U14 play intramurals in separate Girls and Boys leagues.  Teams practice once per week and play a game each weekend against another intramural team right here in Marblehead.  U14 teams play on Friday nights under the lights at the Green Street fields.  U12 Girls and Boys and U10 Boys play Saturday afternoons.  U10 Girls play on Sunday afternoons in the Fall.  The season typically runs eight weeks.

In the Spring only U10 players play intramurals.  Our U14 and U12 programs play travel soccer in the Essex County League.  A few dozen U10 players who tried out the previous Fall are chosen to play spring U10 travel soccer.    Spring U10 intramurals typically involve players in grades 2 through 4.  Intramural Boys play on Sunday afternoons and Intramural Girls play on Saturday afternoons in the Spring season.  The season typically runs eight weeks.
 

We have a learn to play clinic in both the Spring and Fall seasons.  The season runs for six weeks with five weeks of instruction and small games and a closing “tournament” session where the players compete in a series of small games and celebrate with ribbons and a treat at the conclusion.  Parent volunteers are a key part of this program.  No coaching or soccer experience is necessary as we have professional instructors on hand to teach both the kids and the parents.  Sessions last about 1 ¼ hours each week and are held on Saturday mornings.

The Fall season includes three sessions – one for brand new players, one for returning players, and one for those that will “graduate” to U10 in the upcoming spring season.   This program is typically for 1st and 2nd graders.

The Spring season typically has two sessions – one for brand new players and one for returning players.  This program is usually filled with Kindergarten or 1st grade students.

Travel differs from Spring to Fall.  The Spring is our principal travel program.  Our teams ranging from U10 to U16 play in the Essex County Youth Soccer Association league (www.ecysa.org).    Usually half a team’s games are home games and the other half are played on the road throughout Essex County.  Tryouts are held each Fall for Spring Travel and teams are constructed based on tryouts and ratings from coaches on regular season play.  All U14 and U12 players are Travel teams in the Spring.  A small number (typically 36) of Boys and Girls play U10 Spring Travel.

Fall Travel is a very small program.  We typically only field two U14 teams and one U12 team in each gender.  Players who play Fall Travel must also play Fall Intramural.  Selections for this program are based upon coach recommendations and a tryout held in the Spring each year.

We use the age rules as set by the US Soccer Association and the Mass Youth Soccer Association.   Our program runs on a Fall to Spring year and age is determined based on a player’s age on August 1st of any given year.  So if someone is “under 10” on August 1st, they are a U10 through the following Spring season.  A player who is 13 on August 1st would be a U14, and a player who is 14 on August 1st would be too old for the U14 age group. Because we are part of a state and national program we cannot make exceptions to these age rules.  

The one area where there is latitude is in the situation where a player is in the grade ahead of their age group.   For those players who have birthdays between August 1st and December 31st and who are in a grade AHEAD of their age peers we can allow players to PLAY UP with their school peers. There are very few players who meet these criteria since they have to be among the youngest in their grade to qualify.

There is no such thing as PLAYING UP based on ability, and likewise, we cannot allow players to PLAY DOWN to a lower age group for any reason.  If you have any questions about this policy, please email marbleheadsoccer@gmail.com.