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Palo Alto AYSO Winter/Spring Select Teams: Under-16 Girls

Tryouts for the 2009 U16G Select Team have been completed. "Thank you!" to all players who participated in the tryouts. Player selection has been completed and all players who attended a tryout have been contacted. Registration for the 2009 Fall season opens in early April, 2009. (Click the Home link at the top of this page in March for more information.)

Coach Lee Berg AYSO Advanced Coach

Assistant Coach Ray Wong AYSO Advanced Coach

For general information about the Spring Select program, visit the Spring Teams page of the Palo Alto AYSO website.

Team Objective
The objective of the 2009 U16G Spring Select Team is for players to have fun playing soccer at a higher level of competition than the fall season and to further develop each player's individual skills and understanding of team tactics and strategy.

Eligibility
To be eligible to play on the 2009 Palo Alto AYSO U16G Spring Select Team, a girl must meet three criteria. She must have:

(1) been born on, or after, August 1, 1992
(2) been on the roster of an AYSO team during the Fall 2008 season
(3) played in at least 50% of the games that her AYSO team played during the Fall 2008 season.

Players who played in the U16G division during the Fall 2008 season are also eligible to try out for the U19G Select Team.

 Team Formation
We will have one U16G team consisting of 16-18 players. It is likely that a few players who are not selected to the U16G Select Team will be invited to join the U19G Select Team.

The goal of the team formation process is to select players for each field position who, individually, have the requisite skills and competitive attitude to enjoy the stronger competition of the Spring season and have a strong interest in improving their soccer skills and, as a group, will enjoy practicing and playing together as a team. Players will be chosen for the team based on their play during the Fall 2008 season and their performance at the tryouts. Factors that play a part in player selection include skill, speed, effort, understanding of the game, sportsmanship, commitment to improving soccer skills and physical conditioning, practice habits, commitment to participating in two practices and one game per week and both May tournaments, the team's positional needs, team chemistry, family volunteer commitment, and the recommendations of Fall season coaches.

While the ability to attend every practice and game is not an absolute requirement for selection to the team, because space in the program is limited, all other things being equal, players who want to gain the full benefit of participating in all the available practices and games of the Spring Select season will be preferred over players who give higher priority to another after-school activity. If a player will be concurrently participating in another sport (e.g., track & field, softball, basketball, volleyball, swimming, lacrosse) or will be playing concurrently on another soccer team, her parents must contact the Select Team Head Coach prior to team selection to discuss her ability to fulfill the commitment requirements of the Select Team.

Participating in another sport or playing on another soccer team during the Spring Select season does not disqualify a player from playing with the Spring Select Team. Players who have a strong desire to play Spring Select soccer but are unsure what impact their other activites will have on their participation with the Select Team, should (1) fill out the Player/Parent Declaration (see bottom of this page) as accurately as possible and (2) attend the tryouts. After the tryouts have been completed, we will weigh all the factors, including each player's skill level and her other commitments, and will select the group of players that will allow us to field a competitive team during Spring League and at all the tournaments.

Unlike the Fall season, the Spring program is selective and not every player who is interested in playing is guaranteed a place on a team. Player selection is solely the responsibility of the coaches of each team. Selection decisions cannot be appealed. While some players who played on a Select team in a previous season may be chosen for a 2009 team, participation on an AYSO Select team in a previous year is no guarantee of selection to a 2009 Select team.

Tryouts

2009 U16G Select Team Tryouts
Date	Arrive By	Tryout Time	Location	Status
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008	12:55 PM	1:15-3 PM	Mayfield South	Completed
Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008	12:55 PM	1:15-3 PM	Mayfield North	Completed
No additional tryouts will be held.

Team Practices
The team will have informal practices (on Saturday or Sunday) in January. Regular, twice-a-week practices will begin in February and will continue through May. (Last spring, we had one weekday afternoon practice and one Saturday morning practice per week. In 2009, it might be possible to hold one or both practices in the evening at Mayfield.)

To play competitively against CYSA teams and other AYSO Select teams, physical conditioning must be higher than in the fall season. Team practices will be more rigorous than Fall season practices and players should expect some form of running to be a regular part of practices.

Select Team practices are expected to take precedence over team members' other non-academic activities. Except for brief periods and exceptional circumstances agreed upon ahead of time with the Head Coach, a player must be willing and able to attend both weekly practices on a regular basis.

Spring League and Tournaments
The team will play in the Pacific Coast Spring Soccer League, one Sunday game per week, March 1 through May 3. Games postponed due to weather or field conditions will be rescheduled, possibly to Saturdays or after May 3. Roughly half the games will be played in Palo Alto and the remainder will be played at other fields on the Peninsula (South San Jose to Daly City).

The team will participate in at least two out-of-town, weekend tournaments. Some families may choose to stay overnight in Concord during the Concord Cup (May 16-17, 2009) if the team has early morning games on Saturday or Sunday. The Davis World Cup (May 23-25, 2009) will require staying overnight in the Davis area over the Memorial Day weekend (2 to 3 nights, depending on morning game times). If feasible, the team will also play in a third tournament (likely to be the PHMSA Soccer Festival in the Concord/Pleasant Hill area, April 4-5, 2009). These tournaments feature multiple games per day against top-flight competition in a fun, exciting environment. Most players and parents remember the tournaments as major highlights of the Spring season.

Cost
The cost for each player (which covers the cost of home and away uniforms, registration fees for Spring League and the tournaments, and city field use fees) is expected to be about $350 plus the cost of transportation, meals, and accommodations for the tournaments. (Fees will be lower for returning players who do not need to purchase new uniforms.)

Parent Volunteers
Because Spring Select teams are self-supporting, providing a parent volunteer is a significant factor in player selection. A parent from each team member's family will be expected to perform some significant team support activity during the season. Click here to read descriptions of the most important volunteer positions. Although each family will usually be asked to perform only one volunteer function, when filling out the Player/Parent Declaration, please indicate all the positions for which a parent would be prepared to volunteer. Indicate any previous experience if you have a strong preference for a function that you have performed in the past.

Revised: 11/21/08