It’s time to make plans for another great season of soccer! Here are some things to consider.
U5 “Soccer Scramble”: The U5 program is HGRA’s introduction to the game of soccer. To make things easier for players and parents alike, there are no assigned “teams” with designated “coaches” or practices. Instead, each group meets weekly for 1 hour. We start with a group activity and then break down into small teams to play small-sided games. Friends can play together on the same “team”. Our instructors will be players from local high-school teams who did such a good job last year. Each player gets a free ball of their own to keep!
U6, U7 and U8 Leagues: Coed leagues play 3v3 or 4v4 on a quarter- or half-fields using 4x8 foot portable goals, two of which are given to each team for the summer for practice and games. Small-sided games played without a goalkeeper provide more ball touches per player, allow more goal-scoring opportunities and make for easier to understand situations while reducing the “beehive” effect of larger teams.
U10, U12 and U14 Leagues: Same-gender teams will play 6v6, 7v7 or 8v8 on the 5 larger fields with 7x21 foot goals. Referees will call the games.
U18 League: Co-ed teams, longer games, league practices.
Premier League: Split between 18-35 years-old and 35 & older league. We provide a bit of an age overlap to let the graduating high schoolers opt to play another year in the U18 league if they wish.
Playing up or down: Children must be registered for their proper age group based on birthdate. Requests to "play up" a league are not allowed. HGRA does not have the capacity to evaluate players based on skill level, so we must follow the birthdates uniformly to be fair to all.
Playing "down" to a younger league is permitted only to accommodate a disability.