Where to start. Building a team

Hi, hope this is the correct place to post this question,

I was looking for some recommendations on where to start to build a new independent team to play in a soccer 02 league.

Yes, I'm one of those parents who played and breath/loved soccer all my life, volunteered in some US rec. leagues as coach, enjoyed the "all for fun" idea, and then found myself having my son registered in an academy with too much competitive mindset for a 10 years old boy, in my opinion. Nevertheless, that "it's all win" mentality sent my son and others to the bench or playing the 5' "garbage time", game after game.

Going to specifics, my questions are :

- What league would you recommend to try? I was told that a good idea would be to enroll in the qualifying tournament for the Classic CCSAI. To be clear, I'll build a team where all the players actually play, develop skills, have fun emulating Messi, or Martin Vazquez, or Butragueño, Hugo .. and are not yelled because they did not do it right. Yes, a it competitive, and looking always to push for a win, although none will go to the bench just because of a competitive mindset.

- Are there any tournaments you would recommend to enroll in the NW Dallas area? What's the process? Do I need to have a coach license for that? ( Got a "G" while back when volunteered)

- I'll probably check in my neighborhood, son's friends , etc. Any guidance on finding players, in addition to this great forum?

- What's the typical budget for one season ? Of course, coach is a free asset


Thanks in advance for the hints. I thought to start collecting the information before moving forward with the next steps. Feedback is appreciated as I may be off base here and some may think that this is too complex idea.

I have done this previously. The first thing I think you should consider is instead of going in as an independent, maybe look for a small local club in your area that will allow you to operate primarily as an independent, managing your own budget, that will allow you to waive your salary. Small clubs that are looking to grow will be flexible with you and, in all seriousness; there experience can provide a TON of value. This board is not the place to come for advice; a small club looking to grow and help their coaches excel is. They have the infrastructure that will help you get on your feet.

If you did come as an independent...

The first, and really only place, to start is with recruiting. No team takes the field without players. You really need to have AT LEAST 12 players to have a shot at making a team. You may have a solid core of 8 kids but 8 players aren't enough to even start a game. You will not be able to recruit new kids from the outside if they don't see enough families there when they first walk up. They will just turn around and walk back to the car. Recruiting is definitely the hardest part of going in as an independent.

Do not make the Qualifying Tournament your first tournament, you will get destroyed there. A bad QT can destroy a team that’s standing on shaky ground. You actually don't even need to do the QT if you don't want to. You can just register for the bottom league in Plano or Arlington to avoid that process. If you do decide to do the QT, I would start finding any games or scrimmages to play in ASAP. (Hell… Even if you don’t do QT, you need to start playing games right now or you’re screwed.)

Check with NTSSA first because it’s been a while since my first venture, but I think you must have at least “D” to coach select. You’ll be prompted on occasion for a copy of it. A “G” took you about 2 hours to get, and that is not the case with the “D”. The “D” is a serious commitment of your time (~2 weeks?) and it takes focus to pass. If you played college soccer then you can go straight to your “D”. If you didn’t play college soccer then you need to get an “E” as a prerequisite to your “D” first. Your “E” will take a full weekend.

This forum will not help you recruit players. Don’t count on it for help.

If you jump in with a small club, they can help you with budgeting. Some kindly manager might give you a template budget for the version they use. That’s how I got my first version and it saved me a ton of time and effort.

Good luck. If you follow through with this, especially on such a short timeline, then you’ve got a monumental task in front of you.

As bigtex has so tirelessly posted, it is expensive to play soccer here and there is a big under served market of players who cant or won't pay. Keep your team cheap and you may reel in some good players who have been looking to play but cant. Don't enter qt, you will just be destroyed and that will put a quick end to your hopes...

Where are you exactly located?

raul.alcala wrote:Hi, hope this is the correct place to post this question,

I was looking for some recommendations on where to start to build a new independent team to play in a soccer 02 league.

Yes, I'm one of those parents who played and breath/loved soccer all my life, volunteered in some US rec. leagues as coach, enjoyed the "all for fun" idea, and then found myself having my son registered in an academy with too much competitive mindset for a 10 years old boy, in my opinion. Nevertheless, that "it's all win" mentality sent my son and others to the bench or playing the 5' "garbage time", game after game.

Going to specifics, my questions are :

- What league would you recommend to try? I was told that a good idea would be to enroll in the qualifying tournament for the Classic CCSAI. To be clear, I'll build a team where all the players actually play, develop skills, have fun emulating Messi, or Martin Vazquez, or Butragueño, Hugo .. and are not yelled because they did not do it right. Yes, a it competitive, and looking always to push for a win, although none will go to the bench just because of a competitive mindset.

- Are there any tournaments you would recommend to enroll in the NW Dallas area? What's the process? Do I need to have a coach license for that? ( Got a "G" while back when volunteered)

- I'll probably check in my neighborhood, son's friends , etc. Any guidance on finding players, in addition to this great forum?

- What's the typical budget for one season ? Of course, coach is a free asset


Thanks in advance for the hints. I thought to start collecting the information before moving forward with the next steps. Feedback is appreciated as I may be off base here and some may think that this is too complex idea.

Something else I'd start looking for is available field space. I know in Plano, it can be sort of a hassle to reserve fields, so check with your local Parks & Rec department. Evening practices can be really difficult during the non-daylight-savings time period.

Also, I'd start looking into what local soccer association you want to register your team with. We live in Plano, which is PYSA (www.pysa.org), but our team is registered in Frisco (www.friscosoccer.org), which I think costs less.

The NTSSA website (www.ntxsoccer.org) is essential reading, especially useful for tournaments. U90 Challenge has a lot of friendlies.

As for the QT, that's really up to you... if you play and get killed, at least you know where you stand, but hopefully your boys don't get too discouraged. There are a lot of tournaments and if your boys are that good, they'll start making a name for themselves.

As for an annual budget... off the top of my head, if local tournaments average $500 and you want to play in 5 tournaments during the soccer year, that's $2500. Then consider uniforms, league fee, and an extra 10-15% baked-in just in case. If you can approach the parents and offer a good competitive soccer experience that includes Fall/Spring league and local tournaments for $1000 per year, give or take, with A LOT of work on your end, I'm sure you will attract quality players that can make you more selective.

Good luck!

A friend of mine has done this. Took his Rec team and started at the bottom of Plano Premier League and has progressed up nicely to upper end of D1 Plano.

I don't think you need a D license to be in Plano Premier but you do for CCSAI Classic League. You should forget about Classic League right now anyway. Walk before you run....

Not sure where you are but Rec leagues are a good way to get started. PSA still has Rec for 02s. You can use that as a way to get players. Contact PSA and offer to coach. They will likely send kids your way. Build a team in PSA and then you could take it into Plano Premier after a season or two.

You will attract players if you are a good coach and a cheap option. However, you may also lose your best players to other teams that are better & cheap or better and offer a scholarship.

raul.alcala wrote:Hi, hope this is the correct place to post this question,

I was looking for some recommendations on where to start to build a new independent team to play in a soccer 02 league.

Yes, I'm one of those parents who played and breath/loved soccer all my life, volunteered in some US rec. leagues as coach, enjoyed the "all for fun" idea, and then found myself having my son registered in an academy with too much competitive mindset for a 10 years old boy, in my opinion. Nevertheless, that "it's all win" mentality sent my son and others to the bench or playing the 5' "garbage time", game after game.

Going to specifics, my questions are :

- What league would you recommend to try? I was told that a good idea would be to enroll in the qualifying tournament for the Classic CCSAI. To be clear, I'll build a team where all the players actually play, develop skills, have fun emulating Messi, or Martin Vazquez, or Butragueño, Hugo .. and are not yelled because they did not do it right. Yes, a it competitive, and looking always to push for a win, although none will go to the bench just because of a competitive mindset.

- Are there any tournaments you would recommend to enroll in the NW Dallas area? What's the process? Do I need to have a coach license for that? ( Got a "G" while back when volunteered)

- I'll probably check in my neighborhood, son's friends , etc. Any guidance on finding players, in addition to this great forum?

- What's the typical budget for one season ? Of course, coach is a free asset


Thanks in advance for the hints. I thought to start collecting the information before moving forward with the next steps. Feedback is appreciated as I may be off base here and some may think that this is too complex idea.

I dont think they'd let you do the Classic League tourney this year unless you currently have a competitive team that is playing in a NTSSA competitive league somewhere this soccer season/year. Its an open tourney to competitive teams playing in competitive leagues right now. (Not teams that will be formed just for tournaments).

I don't think any NTSSA home organization would let you form a competitive team this late in the year - they will probably let you form a competitive tournament team (which is different than a straight competitive team playing in a league) and allow you to play in all the other various tournaments, but not a team that can compete for a Classic League spot in that particular tournament. . . could be wrong - but I'd call Classic League to confirm if you are really wanting to participate in that particular tourney.

I did it several times for Plano and Classic and from a budget perspective you can get away with $800 easily. It is a lot of work especially at the beginning and an experienced manager is worth a lot. You need the D-license for Classic which is a 2 weekend deal. You are not able to play in a tournament before July since every tournament only allows 5 guest players and you would have at least 12-15. Once they signed you could theoretically challenge for Classic but as other posters said it might not be wise to just go for Plano or Arlington whatever is closer.
Also the local rec association is a good recruiting ground just make sure that the parents are as important for the team, especially in your case, as the kids.

The German wrote:I did it several times for Plano and Classic and from a budget perspective you can get away with $800 easily. It is a lot of work especially at the beginning and an experienced manager is worth a lot. You need the D-license for Classic which is a 2 weekend deal. You are not able to play in a tournament before July since every tournament only allows 5 guest players and you would have at least 12-15. Once they signed you could theoretically challenge for Classic but as other posters said it might not be wise to just go for Plano or Arlington whatever is closer.
Also the local rec association is a good recruiting ground just make sure that the parents are as important for the team, especially in your case, as the kids.

I think some home associations will let you get a roster together for tournament purposes. But yea, after May 31, everyone is considered a "free agent" anyway, and some tournaments want to see your roster - which you won't be able to get a new one if everyone is supposed to be a free agent.

Classic league allows adds for their tourney up until April 15 - so I'm not sure if they just made up that deadline for the tourney, or if that is in the rules somewhere in NTSSA as far as adding new players. But if you are wanting to play tournaments, I'd get together with a home association ASAP and get a roster started, and hopefully have at least 11 players prior to April 15.

Instead though, rather than rushing around like that, you might want to just take your time, enter the kids into some futsal or indoor leagues where they don't care about rosters. After you get enough kids together, find a few "independent" tournaments that are outside NTSSA that don't care about rosters, and go that route so you don't sign on players (and parents) just to have a roster.

Just want to thank you for the excellent feedback. Thought it was easier, indeed. I think I have enough information to start. OK, I'll follow the recommendation of not even try the QT and start with the basis ( i.e. to form a team). If I don't find players, I'll look for some open spots with a coach that actually let the kids play and develop.

During the last 2 days, a friend of mine, who happen to be an ex-proffesional soccer player from Spain, told me that he is licensed so the license issue is solved.

Best regards and thanks again for the hints and information provided.

Hello Raul,

I was wondering if you are still looking for players to form a 02 team. I live in Flower Mound and have coached in the Glasa league for 5 years. I have had the same experience as you had with a couple academy teams and have a son, along with quite a few other good 02 players that might be interested in playing on your team. Please call me at 817-408-7404 if you are still interested in forming a team and looking for players. Thanks

Grant H.