April 21, 2008 Washington Post Article extract:

The three Carroll brothers Brian age 26, Jeff age 24, and Pat age 22 played at West Springfield High School and for Division I programs before making it to MLS.

SYC will field 2-3 new boys U-9 travel developmental teams and 2-3 new girls U-9 travel developmental teams for tryouts in June. If you are interested in being considered for one of these challenging head coach positions, please send an email highlighting your soccer qualifications to the SYC Travel Commissioner.  The SYC Soccer Committee will be setting up interview dates with all interested candidates during March and April. The coaches will be selected no later than May.  

VYSA State Cup Champions crowned in Williamsburg, VA ,  

The U-17 Boys SYC Jr. Royals capped an impressive 2007 with a 3:2 win over the VLSC Wizards.  The team now moves on to represent Virginia in the Region 1 National Championship Series tournament to be held in Maine during the last week of June 2008.  The VYSA State Cup Championship is the second major achievement for the Jr. Royals this year, as they also qualified for the Super Y League North American Finals to be held in Tampa, FL , November 15-20, 2007.  The Jr. Royals qualified for the prestigious North American Finals by winning first place in the South Atlantic Region of the U16 Super Y League this past summer.    

 Ex-SYC Player Marika Gray Reaching New Soccer Heights in both College and National Levels

17 Jan, 2008 Virginia Tech Hokie Freshman Marika Gray invited to U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Soccer Team annual training camp.

Spring  SYC Travel Soccer Fee is $80 per player, collected by the team manager and a team check brought to SYC office NLT April 2 which includes $80 per player and your WAGS, NCSL or ODSL fee for the Spring season below.  The SYC office will accept one team check for both.

The SYC office will need a final copy of your approved roster for verification of your team size to compare against the on-line registrations provided by your individual travel families, they should match.

Open January 2008, On-line travel player soccer registration fees via credit card $5.50 county fee, plus either:  New to SYC fee $40. Non-Volunteer Fee $50. One time Annual Renewal fee $20. Late fee of $25 will be collected in April 1 and beyond..

Team Fees for ODSL Spring 2008:  Team Manager provides team check to SYC by April 2.

U9 teams $410
U10 teams $480
U11-U19 teams $625

Team Fees for WAGS Spring 2008: Team Manager provides team check to SYC by April 2.

U9 & U10 & U11 teams $538
U12 & U13 teams $788
U14 teams $855
U15 & U16 teams $933
U17 teams $1014 & U18  teams $790                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Team Fees for NCSL Spring 2008: Team Manager provides team check to SYC by April 2.

U9 & U10 & U11 teams $345
U12 & U13 & U14 teams $625
U15 & U16 teams $675
U17 teams $735 & U19 teams $580

The 1968 Springfield Boys’ Club Football and Soccer Combined Yearbook has a letter from Soccer Commissioner John Park: "The 1968 season was the first year of organized soccer for the Springfield Boys’ Club.  In 1967 the pilot program started with about 45 boys.  This year the program attracted 86 boys who were divided into five teams."

In the 1969 Springfield Boys’ Club Football and Soccer Combined Yearbook, Soccer Commissioner John Park indicated: "This was the second full season of soccer and it was a good season.  With the addition of the team from Braddock Road Boys Club to our 100 boys we were able to have a six-team league and a ten game season." (Note:  While this league had both SBC and BRBC teams, it was a recreation level team - not travel.) 

In the 1970 Springfield Boys’ Club Football and Soccer Combined Yearbook, Soccer Commissioner John Park stated: "The Springfield Boys Club soccer program had an encouraging growth this past year from 101 to 135 players.  This permitted us to form leagues divided according to ages.  We had two teams of 8-9 year olds in a league of four with Braddock Road Boys Club and five teams of 10-13 year olds plus one team from Braddock Road to form the intermediate league age.  We also had a team of older boys (Senior Darts) who were unaffiliated in a league though they were able to find plenty of competition."

Fall of 1970 newspaper clippings regarding games that the Senior Darts played against teams from Braddock Road, Lee-Mt. Vernon, and Hayfield. Spring of 1970 newspaper articles reference another team called the Springfield Boys Club Rangers. The best article is a Springfield Independent (the local newspaper dated April 23, 1970 - entitled: "Boys Club Soccer": "The Springfield Boys Club soccer team, the Springfield Rangers, defeated the Braddock Road Boys Club 3-0 on Sunday in their first game of the spring season.  The Rangers are entered in the Juvenile Division (ages 12-14) of the National Soccer League of Washington, along with teams from Braddock Road, Annandale , Hyattsville, and D.C."

So that puts the origin of Springfield Travel Soccer back to 1970 and House Soccer to 1967-1968.

Reminder, for KIDSAFE purposes, no names embroidered on uniforms, warm-ups, team sweatshirts, or backpacks. For backpacks only, initials are ok or small hanging tags are ok for players to identify their own bag quickly.

SYC Soccer is continuing the highly successful “Bridge” Soccer program for the 2008 season.  The program seeks to identify Under-8 boys and girls that have genuine interest/enthusiasm for the game, have acquired/developed a very basic soccer aptitude faster than many of their teammates, classmates and neighbors and would like to play with children of similar outlook on the game. For more information on the “Bridge” program contact:

U8 Boys