What is EXTRA?
Extra is the name of the competitive soccer program offered by AYSO Region 1398. The program began over fifteen years ago as a part of an AYSO pilot program with the goal of creating a world class competitive youth soccer program that embraced AYSO’s core philosophies of Everyone Plays, Positive Coaching, Good Sportsmanship, and Player Development. The program has been hugely successful and is now offered nationwide.
Extra teams focus on fun, teamwork, and developing strong soccer skills in a competitive, but positive family like atmosphere. Teams play all year long and play more soccer together in the course of a year than any teams in our region.
What Makes EXTRA Different?
The Extra program is structured differently then other competitive soccer programs offered in our area. Traditionally, players looking for a more competitive experience have only had signature or club programs to choose from. Local club programs offer a very competitive program which are staffed with trained and certified coaches and trainers, but requires a family to make a sizable commitment in terms of both time and money; while there are no guarantees how much game time their child will get at any given match. Signature level programs are much more affordable than club programs and are designed to give players, which have developed a higher level of soccer skill, their first taste of competitive soccer. Although signature programs guarantee players at least 50% playing time at every match, with so many signature teams per age division, the overall skill level on a typical signature team is less advanced than a club team and coach training and certification requirements are far less stringent.
The Extra program was designed to bring together the best features of both traditional signature and club programs. These features include:
- Strict advanced coach training and certification requirements are designed to maintain the highest quality coaching levels.
- Coaches are not allowed to freeze any players at all. A unbiased player tryout process guarantees that only the most talented, experience and committed plays qualify to participate in the Extra program.
- A limit of only one Extra team per age division guarantees a team skill level comparable to traditional club teams.
- We believe that playing soccer is the best way to advance a player’s skills, so Extra teams play more soccer than any teams in our region and guarantees each player at least 50% playing time at ever match.
- Participate in AYSO’s Section 11 competitive “FLEX” program, teams play against some of the most competitive teams in Orange County in a gaming circuit that rival bronze, silver, and silver elite club level circuits.
- Extra player fees are only a fraction of the fees charged by typical club organizations.
Goals for the EXTRA Program
While the success of the Extra teams on the field in the past four years has been great, our real success has been in creating a unique and positive family like TEAM environment where the players are all great friends who really enjoy spending time together all year. This year we will play more soccer than ever before. So if your children love to play as much high level soccer as they can, Extra is the program for them! The players and coaches have made a complete commitment to their team.
Our coaches all share a passion for the game and for the overall goals for their teams:
- Assemble the best soccer players and families from our region with similar goals and develop one of the strongest competitive teams around.
- Providing a personal, positive, fun environment with lots of camaraderie and team chemistry both on and off the soccer field. We want this experience to be full of FUN, and good times that the players remember for a lifetime as they build long lasting friendships with their teammates.
- Teach the players life skills using soccer as a medium for personal growth and character development. We will work to develop qualities such as honor, teamsmanship, commitment, trust, caring, responsibility, respect, selflessness, leadership, and many others that positively affect their ability to achieve maximum success in the rest of their lives.
- Develop a passion for the game in each player that lasts a lifetime while building self esteem and self confidence critical to success in all areas of life. If we are successful, all of our players will be coaching and playing soccer as adults and passing on their love for the game to future generations.
2023/24 Season Activities
The specific activities of each team may very some, but the following is what we expect the 2023 season will include for a typical Extra team:
- Weekend Tournaments (3 to 4 games per tournament)
- Fall League Season (12-14 games)
- Fall EXTRA Sectional Tournament
- Team building activities thought the year
Interested in Coaching?
We are always looking for experienced coaches willing to help make our program the best it can be. Interested? Email Regional Commissioner, Carl Wabs at [email protected] or Cinnamon Earl at [email protected], EXTRA program coordinator for more info.
Questions?
If you have any questions at all, please email [email protected]