Registration for the summer travel league will open in late February, and will remain open for approximately one month.

Important Information and FAQs

League Info
This is a travel league. After practicing over 3-6 weeks, each team nominally plays 10 games, over approximately 5 weeks between mid-June and end-July. Half of the games are home and half are away. The away games involve between 20-45 minutes of travel time each way.
Pricing
Cost per player is $85 (discounts may be available). If this cost is an obstacle to your child participating, the club offers financial assistance where needed. Please contact the Club President (palmacsoccer@gmail.com) to discuss.
Uniforms
We use uniforms for TWO years. This is year one of the cycle, so every player needs a new uniform kit The cost is $35 (the same as in recent years), and includes a numbered soccer jersey, shorts, and socks). In addition, players must have shin guards and soccer shoes for all practices and games. Younger players may find sneakers suitable, others may want rubber-cleated shoes.
Age Brackets
Our teams are divided by "soccer age," not by grade. See FAQs below for a definition of "soccer age." We use age brackets U11, U13, U15, and U18, where the number represents the oldest "soccer age" for that bracket. Note that each registered player will automatically be assigned to an age bracket according to his/her birth year. You can use the comment field to request a different assignment. All decisions regarding final assignment are made by the coaching staff and the Club President.
Eligibility
Players from Pal-Mac school district, or who have registered with us in prior years, or with permission from the Club president. If you don't yet meet one of these requirements, please register without paying until we determine eligibility, at which time we can settle payment.
Proof of Birth Date
You must enter the player's date of birth. If we have already seen proof of that birthdate in the past, you're all set. If we haven't, we will follow up with you and request a digital photo of a birth certificate or other official document.
Roster Size
Team rosters are limited in size. If registrations exceed roster limits, tryouts and/or cuts may be needed, but that is a rare occurrence.
Playing Time
This is a travel league, so playing time is determined by the coach as a function of skill, effort, attitude, and game situations. That said, at the U11 level, we do try to get all players a reasonable amount of playing time.
Payment Methods
We welcome full payment via Paypal, during registration. If you cannot pay at this time, please register anyway, and read the instructions on the final screen. No player is considered fully registered until payment is settled.
Club Players
Players with Empire, RFC, and the like can still play in this league as long as they are a member of only one other team. By custom, such players will be primary to their club team, and secondary players to Pal-Mac.
Refunds
Refunds are available under most circumstances if the player withdraws early enough. The refunded amount does not include the small processing fee that was deducted by Paypal. Any other costs already borne by the club in the processing of a registration, (state registration fees, player pass fees, etc.) are not refundable, but these fees are incurred as late as possible.

Answers to frequently-asked questions:

  1. What is my child's "soccer age?"
    Soccer age, as a worldwide standard, is defined as the current year MINUS the birth year.
    This means that someone born in January is the same soccer age as someone born in December of the same year.
    This is the source of many complaints, because of the age variability within a bracket, but our league is sanctioned by US Youth Soccer and we must adhere to this rule.
  2. What does U11, U13, etc. mean?
    U11 means a max soccer age of 11. For 2023, this means born 2012 or later.
    U13 means a max soccer age of 13. For 2023, this means born 2010 or later.
    U15 means a max soccer age of 15. For 2023, this means born 2008 or later.
    U18 means a max soccer age of 18. For 2023, this means born 2005 or later.
     •  Furthermore, U18 players must still be eligible to play for their school team in the coming fall season.
  3. How young can players register for the U11 teams?
    Preference is given to players who will be at least 10 years old by the end of summer. If your child is younger than that, please sign up but hold off on making payment until a decision is made. If there is room on the team, and the child is ready to contribute, we can arrange to finish the payment process separately. If the signup form prevents your child due to age, please reach out to palmacsoccer@gmail.com
  4. What does 'playing up' mean?
    Playing up means being rostered on a team that is older than a player's soccer age would dictate. For example, a 12 or 13 year old would naturally be on a U13 team, but can request to be on the U15 team instead.
    Note: "playing down" is not permitted.
  5. What does 'double-carding' mean?
    Double-carding means having a player card for two teams in this club at the same time, for example, when a 15-year old would like to play for both the U15 and the U18 teams.
  6. What is 'guest play'?
    WFLYSL allows for players to "guest" up to an older team on a game-by-game basis. The player remains rostered only on the younger team, but can bring their player pass to a game involving the older team, and be granted temporary playing privileges for that game. This is to help with teams that find themselves short-handed due to vacations, absences, etc. In any one game, no more than four guest players are allowed.
  7. How often are games? practices?
    Games are twice a week for 5 weeks between mid-June and end of July.
    Practices: Typically, there are about 5-10 pre-season practices, beginning in May.
  8. Which nights are games played?
    The league schedule is nominally set as defined here. But lots of things (field availability, team conflicts, holidays, etc. can cause games to occur on nights different from this guidance.
  9. What are some of the travel locations?
    You can see all the clubs (and therefore locations) of all clubs who have been in this league for the past few years, by looking at the league website. Then you can browse recent years.
  10. How long are uniforms used?
    We have a two-year uniform cycle.
  11. What does my registration payment go toward?