Soccer calendars vary by state, primarily due to the local climate. Yet many soccer parents chuckle at the concept of ‘Spring’ soccer, because the weather can get pretty wild (and cold) some years. Still, the idea of ‘Spring’ soccer generally meant the bulk of the season was played in… the Spring. Here in North Carolina that meant travel matches would start in late February and end in late April. Not any more!
However, the sheer number of ‘cup’ events packed into May were stretching the state office staff too thin. So they needed to spread out into late April. Suddenly the end of the season was in mid April and you still had Easter weekend to contend with. Then add in the weather. April showers are common, and even here in NC we seem to get occasional winter weather (usually ice). In recent years, 3-5 washed out weekends were not uncommon, wreaking havoc on schedules. Teams were struggling to get all their matches in before the seeding deadlines. So what did we do? Start earlier.
This year the travel season starts this weekend on January 28th! Now, our travel teams self schedule, with all teams in a divison working out play dates with each other. Nobody says you HAVE to start January 28th, just that you can. You just have to make sure you’re done by the deadlines (mid April for 11v11 and mid May for 8v8). The problem is most teams are playing it safe and front loading their schedule in case we get a stretch of bad weather. How safe? My son’s U15 team will wrap up their season the last weekend of March. One of our U12 teams has their last regular season match scheduled before the start of Spring! Certainly some bad weather could push some matches into April. But you have to wonder… If we have dry weather, these teams could have 6-9 weeks of down time before the end of season tournaments!
I know, I know. Rescheduling matches is a royal pain. But is this the answer? Scheduling the bulk of your Spring regular season before Spring even starts? I guess we’ll setup a lot of friendlies if the weather behaves!
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January 23rd, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Out here, in our District of CT, travel and rec. soccer run from April 21 – June 17. State and CT cup run in approximately that same time frame. Teams playing the Cup and District leagues at the same time must juggle around the Cup competition, as it offers no leeway for makeups.
Interestingly enough, around here Fall is our main season. Spring is secondary. Both run about 8 weeks though, the difference being we have playoffs and champions in the fall. As a coach, I prefer spring only because daylight lasts longer and longer as the season goes on, whereas in the fall, about halfway through the season outdoor practices are done because daylight is gone by 5pm and parents and coaches are not home from their day jobs to taxi kids.
Furthermore, if you look at spring and fall, perhaps a team plays 7 league matches in each, perhaps a tournament of 3 matches in each, for a total of 20 matches spring and fall. However, our indoor season begins the first week in November and runs into March, and typically you see 7 games each, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, session, for a total of 21 league matches. So, by far, the indoor, winter, season is actually our most game-packed …. I suspect there’s more than a few coaches an parents who have not thought about that … oddity.
Cheers,
Sean
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:55 pm
It’s funny – Fall is nicer – better weather and greener grass. But the Spring season is more popular numbers wise. Club teams have little choice at U15 and above as they tag team the high school season so girls play club in the fall and boys in the Spring. We usually play 8-12 matches depending on the size of the division. Then pre and/or post season tournaments (another 3ish weeks) Indoor is great. Dec/Jan and you’re done! 8 game season (5-6 group play, 2-3 tournament)