The Intramural Program is a recreational soccer program structured and organized by school grade. Teams are put together by board members assigned as age group coordinators. The age group coordinators strive for balanced teams within the respective age groups, so that program objectives may be fulfilled. The objective of the program is to provide a positive learning experience for all participants in which individual/team soccer skills can be developed in a recreational setting and to also provide players with more advanced skills preparation for the more competitive environment of the Travel Program. In each of the Fall and Spring there is an instructional programs for Kindergarten and 1st graders and a ten game program for 2nd through 6th graders. Both the fall and spring intramural programs also include grade level mini-tournaments. Our intramural program has moved away from the historical 9 v 9 or 11 v 11 format at the 5th and 6th grade level to a 6 v 6 small sided format being stressed by BAYS and MYSA (4 v 4 for 2nd Grade). BAYS and MYSA believe that more involvement (more ball touches on the ball) creates a better learning experience for players. The NGS policy is that each Intramural player is entitled to play a minimum of one-half of each game.

2. Travel Program

The Travel Program is a more competitive environment than our recreational Intramural program. Newton belongs to BAYS -- Boston Area Youth Soccer. BAYS is one of about 14 regional leagues affiliated with MYSA -- Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association (www.mayouthsoccer.org). BAYS is the largest league in Massachusetts, comprising nearly 50 towns located in and around Boston.

BAYS operates competitive programs between towns, starting at the U9 ("under" 9 years old) level. NGS believes it is best to start competitive play at the U10 level, and our travel program enters teams in each age bracket from U10 through U18. The High School U16 and U18 programs only run in the Spring, since the High School varsity teams play in the Fall. (For those not playing High School varsity, NGS runs an excellent High School "intramural" program in the Fall in conjunction with two or three neighboring towns.) Most girls in NGS start playing travel at the U10 level (i.e. when they are 9 years old and in the fourth grade), although players may elect to enter the travel program in later years.

Travel teams are organized according to ability. Players are placed based on their performance in their tryout, and on the the evalutaion of the players previous coach. Tryouts are generally held each Spring to determine placement for the following Fall season. It is presumed that nearly all players remain on the same team from the Fall and Spring seasons. The goal of the placement process is to form teams composed of players of similar abilities and skills. The team with the most skilled players in an age group is the #1 team, the team with the next most skilled set of players the #2 team, etc. Once the teams are formed, NGS presents the ordered list of teams to BAYS with our recommendations of how we feel the teams should be placed within the league. Typically the #1 team will be placed high in Division 1, the #2 team in high division 2, etc. Within each age group BAYS has up to four skill Division -- from 1 to 4, and sub-sections (A, B, C, D, etc..) within each division. The skill range from the top of Division 1 to the bottom of Division 4 is vast, but the skill differences between adjacent sections (e.g. Division 3 section G aka "3G" to Division 3 section H "3H") is often indiscernible. Ideally, if our teams have been formed correctly, and placed well, they will be evenly matched within their sections. The Fall results are used to re-position teams in the Spring. A team with a lopsided winning record might be moved up several sections.

The top two or three (occasionally more) NGS teams in each age group are usually placed in Divisions 1 and 2, the rest in Divisions 3 or 4. All the teams in an age group play the same number of games per season, use the same rules, etc. The primary difference between Division 1 and 2 teams and the rest is that only Division 1 and 2 teams are "MTOC" eligible. MTOC is the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions -- the annual state-wide tournament for all the participating regional leagues. So a team playing in Division 3A may be playing soccer at practically the same level as the "bottom" Division 2 team (in let's say 2H), but the team in 2H will be MTOC eligible, and the team in Division 3 won't be. Note that there are usually far more teams in Division 3 than in Divisions 1 and 2 combined. The primary reason for this is that there are a limited number of slots available at the MTOC tournament. That is what determines the total number of Division 1 and 2 sections in BAYS, and nothing else.

Coaches are selected from a pool of coaches who apply to coach a given age group. The selection criteria are based upon coaching background, level of coaching license courses successfully completed, experience in NGS, and most importantly a coach's ability to impact individual and team skills in a positive learning environment. The previous won-lost records are irrelevant to the selection process, and coaches who perceive winning above player development or building confidence/team spirit need not apply.

Because many coaches have been involved in an age group for many seasons, they are familiar with the players under consideration. Head coaches from the previous season in both the intramural and travel programs prepare player evaluation summaries for each of their players that are also distributed to the selecting travel coaches. NGS does not archive player evaluation or tryout data from previous years, to discourage the tracking of players. The travel teams are selected by the coaches under the supervision of the grade coordinator, based on a combination of tryout results and player evaluations. NGS realizes that evaluation of a player's abilities, especially in youth soccer is a subjective process. With the best of intentions, each person in the process will recognize different attributes in each player and could come to very different decisions based on the same statistical data. NGS has evolved and continues to enhance the tryout and placement process to fairly evaluate and place each player according to her abilities as accurately as possible. Coaches in the Travel Program are encouraged to let each player play a minimum of one-half of each game. This is a suggestion to our coaches and not a formal rule as in the Intramural program and leaves some flexibility in the coaches hands to deal with practice attendance issues or things of this nature.