Jan 10, 2009

Enrolling in organized sports

Around this time last year, I saw a notice at the park about soccer enrollment, and thought to myself that it was too bad Alex was too young to play, but that at least he'd be able to play next year. So earlier this week, I looked up our region on the AYSO web site, only to discover that "early registration" had ended on December 6, and that there would be only one day for "late registration." Keep in mind that the season apparently starts in August!

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I like being the organized mom who's on top of things, and I'm usually months early when it comes to preparing for things like this. So I was shocked that I'd missed the deadline by over a month! I even checked the region that's to our west, a little farther away, and it had the exact same "early registration" deadline.

We'll definitely make the "late registration" deadline, which is later this month. And I'm looking forward to becoming a "soccer mom" for the first time. (Ha! I hear "soccer" at this age is a swarm of kids surrounding the ball and moving up and down the field as a single mob.)

I have a question, though: Is this typical? Or is this one of those weird Los Angeles things?

5 comments:

Testing said...

Our AYSO sign-ups are in May in Hawaii. They don't start until August, so that is more than enough time to get teams together. Wonder why they do it so early?!

Anonymous said...

We're in Maryland and our sports registrations tend to be about 3 months before the start of the season. Maybe they want to register the kids as soon as the season ends and while they can still corral the coaches, but I think a 9 month lead time is ridiculous!

And yes, it's just a swarm of kids up and down the field. Enjoy anyway!

KDB said...

We are heavily involved in soccer here in Atlanta, in fact, three out of four of us still play! (yours truly included). My daughter is in the academy program and their first day of Spring practice is February 1st!

Unknown said...

are you sure you looking at Fall registration and not SPRING? Our spring season deadline was in mid December and it starts at the end of this month...Fall registration starts in march...You'll enjoy it!

Anonymous said...

As a former AYSO regional commissioner in NY, I know you need to start early. It takes a long time to create teams, get coaches, order uniforms and equipment, etc. If you don't encourage early registration, you are scrambling at the end. My region has a lower rate for early registration, which gradually increases as the season approaches. But we never turn any one away, no matter when they register, assuming we have room on a team. I would expect that your local region has similar policies.