This page contains information on the NYSL Season, registration, the various divisions and practices and games.

We hope that those new to the NYSL will find this information helpful. If you still have questions, feel free to send us mail by clicking on the Contact link in the menu bar on the left side of this page.

About The Season...

The full NYSL season is made up of 2 parts, Fall of one year and the Spring of the following year. It's much like the school year. In fact, the NYSL age requirements are directly in line with the Nashua school system's age requirements. This was done in part for simplicity and in part to help keep children in the same age bracket as their classmates.

In fact, the Instructional division (U-6, U-7 and U-8) teams are generally made up of children from the same school.

Both the Fall and Spring seasons are conprised of 8 weeks worth of games, with one open holiday weekend in the middle (there are no NYSL games on Columbus Day weekend in the Fall or on Memorial Day weekend in the Spring).

The Fall season generally begins the first Saturday after Labor Day in September and finishes up about the first weekend in November. It can get a little chilly in late October and early November, so remember to dress warm for those early morning games!

The Spring season generally begins in early April and finishes up before school ends in June.

NYSL games are played at Greeley Park, Main Dunstable fields and Mine Falls Park fields. Maps to the fields are available from the Maps link in the menu bar on the left side of this page.

NYSL registration can be accomplished in 2 ways; by picking up an application (available in various locations) or by filling in the registration form available on the NYSL web site, printing it out and mailing it to the address on the form.

Children can sign up for both Fall and Spring at the same time or they may sign up for only Fall or Spring. The registration deadline for signing up is usually about 2 months prior to the start of the season. This allows the NYSL board time to put together teams, find coaches, create the schedule and allocate practice fields.

If a child signed up for both the Fall and Spring seasons at the same time, no additional registration is needed before the Spring season. As with the Fall season, your child's coach will contact you about a week before the Spring season begins. You will not otherwise hear from the NYSL between the Fall and Spring seasons.

If a child is not old enough to participate in the Fall season, they must wait until the next Fall before playing.

The uniform fee is separate from the registration fee. An NYSL uniform consists of a heavyweight, reversible shirt (one side green the other side yellow) and soccer socks.

There are 7 different divisions of the NYSL. U-6, U-7 and U-8 are Instructional divisions where children are generally receiving their first introduction to soccer. The U stands for under. So the U-6 division is for children under 6 years old. Since these are 1-year age groups, U-6 is made up of 5-year old children. The same concept is true for U-7 (6-year olds) and U-8 (7 year olds).

The U-10, U-12 and U-14 divisions are 2-year divisions. For example, the U-12 division is for children who are 10 and 11 years old.

The U-19 division has the broadest age range; 14-18 years old. The main reason for the broad age range is the small number of children in this division.

Parents are advised to review the NYSL age chart for the specific age cutoffs for each division.

Additionally, the Divisions page of the NYSL web site contains information specific to each division.

During each week of the season, a team will play a different team in their division.

All NYSL games for all divisions take place on Saturday mornings (8:00am is the earliest game time) and are complete by 1:00pm. Coaches and players are encouraged to arrive about 1/2 hour before game time.

The instructional divisions (U-6, U-7 and U-8) meet once per week (Saturday's) during the season. They play for 1 1/2 hours of which 45 minutes is practice and 45 minutes is a scrimmage with another team in the same division. The time breakdown can vary from time to time.

The U-10 through U-19 divisions generally meet once or twice a week for practice with games being played on Saturday mornings. Practices are held at various fields throughout Nashua.

The U-6, U-7, U-8 and U-10 divisions are non-results oriented divisions. As such, no emphasis is placed on the score and there are no playoff games. The U-12, U-14 and U-19 divisions, while not competitive to the degree of travel soccer, are results oriented. These divisions will keep score of their games, have standings posted on the web site and usually have playoff games at the end of the season.

By the time the season starts, the schedules and coach lists are available on the Divisions page of the NYSL web site.