Font Size:
The Virginia Youth Soccer Association (VYSA) is a non-profit, charitable corporation devoted to promoting youth soccer in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia. The members of VYSA are organizations of teams having amateur players under 19 years of age prior to August 1 immediately before the start of the next seasonal year. (September 1 of one year through August 31 of the next year.)
VYSA has over 134,000 registered players and provides soccer programs and activities for its members. It also has opportunities to develop significant sponsorship and financial support for these programs and activities and those of its members, thus reducing the cost of its programs to its members.
Membership in VYSA also brings with it membership in the United States Youth Soccer Association (US Youth Soccer) and US Youth Soccers Region I (Virginia - Maine). US Youth Soccer develops and promotes youth soccer in 50 states and the District of Columbia. It currently has over 3,000,000 youth soccer players, with Region I having over 1,000,000 of those players. US Youth Soccer is a National Association member of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). USSF is the governing body of soccer in the United States, as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee, that develops soccer at all levels, youth and adult, amateur and professional.
VYSA currently identifies two types of organizations as members: recreational team organizations and travel team organizations.
A recreational team organization is primarily interested in competition within its own community, at a recreational level, where participation and learning the skills of soccer are stressed. Players on recreational teams are registered to US Youth Soccer through VYSA.
A travel team organization provides high level competition among teams from neighboring communities, other states, and other countries. Players on travel teams must be individually registered to US Youth Soccer by VYSA. This registration includes verification of date of birth, an assigned ID number and an ID photo.
The activities of VYSA are governed by a Board of Directors elected annually by its members. VYSA currently depends primarily on player registration fees to fund its programs and activities. Of each player�s registration fee, $2.00 is paid to USSF and US Youth Soccer to help meet the costs of national programs and activities. The remainder of the fee is used to fund VYSA programs and activities.
TOPSoccer
The US Youth Soccer TOPSoccer program (The Outreach Program for Soccer) is a community-based training and team placement program for young athletes with disabilities, organized by VYSA volunteers.
TOPSoccer is The Outreach Program under the auspices of United States Youth Soccer (USYS) and its 55 affiliated state soccer associations. TOPSoccer is designed to enrich the lives of children with mental and/or physical disabilities through the game of soccer. The Virginia Youth Soccer Association (an affiliate of USYS) is an active participant in this important and rewarding endeavor.
As the result of broad and effective outreach activities by VYSAs TOPSoccer Chairman and TOPSoccer Committee, and with the full backing and support of the VYSA President and Board of Directors and administrative staff, VYSA TOPSoccer has grown from 1 program to 16 programs in 15 VYSA-affiliated soccer clubs and associations since January 1, 2002. Six of these 16 programs are brand new and are currently registering players for the first time for the upcoming Spring season. The other 10 VYSA-affiliated TOPSoccer programs are already operational and growing and currently involve 195 children between the ages of 4 and 19 with a wide variety of mental and/or physical disabilities, more than 60 adult volunteers and over 260 youth volunteers (buddies). With the above overall mission and goal in mind, VYSA TOPSoccer hopes to have an additional 5-10 new TOPSoccer programs up and running by the end of 2004. Finally, VYSA TOPSoccer hopes to become one of the fastest, if not the fastest, growing TOPSoccer Programs in USYS in terms of the number of individual programs as well as strong growth within each of those programs (i.e., increased numbers of TOPSoccer athletes, youth buddies, and adult volunteers).
It is clear that we all recognize the global impact of soccer, the worlds most popular sport. It is also equally important that we recognize the rich tapestry of people who make up The Beautiful Game because soccer is clearly as diverse as the people who play, coach, manage, or simply love to watch and enjoy the game. Our TOPSoccer children are also a part of that very colorful fabric and by working with them, by playing with them, by coming to know them up close and personally, we are able to share in their excitement, their enthusiasm, their energy, their joy. Our involvement with TOPSoccer allows us to recognize and understand better the richness and strength of fiber that these wonderful children weave into our soccer tapestry � its something that just cant be appreciated from afar. In the end, we are indeed afforded a unique opportunity to enrich their lives, our lives and ultimately our game, which is, in its most simple and basic form, a child playing with a ball.
