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 Fields link in the menu bar on the left side of this page.
 

About The Divisions...

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.

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

About Practices and Games...

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 and U-8 divisions are non-results oriented divisions. As such, no emphasis is placed on the score and there are no playoff games. The U-10, U-12, U-14 and U-19 divisions are results oriented. These divisions will keep score of their games, have standings posted on the website 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 NYSL web site.


Need More Information?  See the NYSL Brochure.