Recreational vs Competitive: Which should I choose for my player?

• Price – While recreational soccer usually remains very affordable, most competitive programs do require higher fees. The additional fees are usually to cover coaching fees, fees that the league may charge to enter into higher levels of competition, higher referee costs, higher administrative costs, and other costs associated with playing at a higher level. Youth Recreational generally plays on Saturdays whereas Arsenal Competitive may play Saturday, Sunday, or weeknights.
  
• Time Commitment – Many recreational teams have lower expectations for player attendance and have fewer or shorter practices. Most competitive players will run into major issues if they miss practice or games and will be expected to put more time into practicing. For recreational, CSA attempts to make sure that all players get to play at least half a game. For competitive, your playing time is earned. Recreational coaches are volunteers. Arsenal coaches and trainers are generally players and coaches that have been involved in the game for a long time at either the playing or instruction level.
  
• Travel – Very few rec teams will venture to out of state tournaments and games and typically will stay close to home. Many competitive teams are expected to attend multiple tournaments, some of which may be out of state.
• Developmental Approach – For the most part rec teams focus on players having fun and playing with friends before looking to develop players. Competitive programs will either have goals related to development of players and/or related to winning games and tournaments.

Click on Programs to find more information about our current recreational and competitive offerings.

How are division ages determined?

We follow the US Youth Soccer Birth Matrix, the link to which is on the homepage. Soccer seasons start in the fall and end in the spring. For instance, a 2006 birth year player in the 2022-2023 season would be a U17 (2006-2023=U17).