Travel Team Information

Travel is our Travel Division.

A couple of years ago we started seeing our numbers for Travel drop off. When we started investigating we found that there was a common misconception with parents that the term 'travel' referred to distances like Ft. Wayne, Indianapolis, Northern IL, etc. Parents did not want to travel those types of distances.

As we started informing parents that our 'travel' was surrounding communities, the Travel numbers started picking up. We are now able to form multiple teams in the same age bracket but in different divisions (ie. Gold, Silver, Bronze, Red, White, etc). Half of our games are played at our home field at Rohrman Park and the other half are played at our opponents. While we play close communities like Munster and Dyer, there is the possibility of playing a game in Michigan City or DeMotte. It all depends on if they have a team in your player's division. But again, half of our games are at home so traveling is still at a minimum compared to the number of games. These are still considered local communities.

Our in-house Instructional League is meant to focus on individual players. Letting them play soccer in any of the positions they want and letting them each develop at their own pace. We take our time and try to teach each player the basic fundamentals of soccer. It is a non-compete league and no official score or standings are ketpHowever, for those players that are ready for a bit more of a challenge, why we also offer the Travel league.

While it is not always the case, Travel is typically for those players that excel in Instructional and either need or would like more of a challenge. While all of our coaches are volunteers, Travel coaches typically have more experience and SSC recommends that they be licensed through IYSA. SSC will even pay for the license fee. Travel is for players that like the challenge of playing head-to-head against their opponent. It is more team oriented League where coaches try to get the players to work together as a team and try to run certain plays and use a little more strategy and control as they move the ball up and down the field. Coaches will try and develop their skills even further. It is a competitive league so score and standings are kept.

Travel teams have a better possibility of staying together as a team throughout multiple seasons instead of having new teams each season. However, this placement can be affected by numerous factors:

a. In the Fall, which is the official start of our soccer year, teams are typically selected based on a combination of evaluation scores and coaches input at the Travel draft. Teams are selected from the top division down whether the top division is Gold, Silver, etc.
b. The age of a player as of August 1st of the Fall season year (ie. Fall of 2004 would use 8/1/04 and then so would the Spring season) decides which division (U10, U12, U14, U19) they have to play in.
c. The Spring season is a carryover of our Fall season. Existing teams generally stay together and openings are filled as needed at the next draft.
d. The upper division teams generally have the right to pull players up from the lower division teams to fill their rosters. These players are usually the more experienced players from the lower divisions that have earned a chance to play in the upper divisions and are recommended by their coach. Once again this helps to try and keep players of similar abilities playing in the same divisions.
e. And of course the number of sign-ups each season affects the formation of teams.

Our Travel Division plays in the NorthWest Indiana Soccer League (NWISL) which is affiliated with the Indiana Youth Soccer Association (IYSA). SSC must follow NWISL guidelines and policies in order to play. SSC has limited input when it comes to those policies.

Our goal is to still offer a fun season of soccer but in a compete type of environment.