Message From The JLYSSL President     

Many of you know about your local youth soccer club, and have heard of the Jack London Youth Soccer Sports League, but may not know how it all fits together, or who is responsible for what.  Since the clubs recruit the coaches, register the players, form the teams, and provide the uniforms, many times you never even know there is a league and other organizations behind them.

JLYSSL comprises six city clubs -- Alameda, Oakland, Rockridge, Piedmont, Montclair, and Grass Valley -- and the competitive club Bay Oaks.  With nearly 7000 players, JLYSSL is the among the largest leagues in Northern California.  We have hundreds of teams, with thousands of games played in the Fall and Spring.  Not surprisingly, orchestrating this all requires a bit of money and a number of volunteers.

Of the $70 JLYSSL charges to register each player, the bulk of it is spent on fields -- renting, maintaining, and equipping them.  The league carries all the costs of some fields -- those used exclusively for games -- and shares the costs with the clubs for fields that are used for both practices and games.  Some fields come relatively cheaply, while other (such as the college turf fields) are much more expensive, but they are all needed to cover the demands of the games we host.  Finding and keeping adequate fields for the league is one its most challenging, costly, and time-consuming activities.

The JLYSSL budget also includes paying referees, paying fees for player registration and insurance, carrying out coach training sessions, as well as designating scholarship money for players who can less well afford to pay.

Behind the scenes JLYSSL is run by its volunteer board of directors.  In addition to the usual president, secretary, and treasurer the board includes special positions such as director of coaching, referee coordinator, and field coordinator.  Finally, each member club has a representative on the board.

JLYSSL affiliates with a number of umbrella soccer organizations, which provide for insurance, registration, coach and referee training and certification, and playing leagues for greater competition.  Our U6-U8 programs affiliate through SAY (Soccer Association for Youth), a recreational soccer organization based in Ohio.  The older ages, U10 through U19, affiliate through CYSA (California Youth Soccer Association), which covers all of Northern California and has both recreational and competitive programs.  CYSA itself is part of USYSA, a national organization.  Finally, the Bay Oaks club also affiliates with US Club Soccer, a national, competitive soccer organization.  SAY, USYSA, and US Club Soccer are all in turn affiliated with USSF, the governing body of soccer in the United States.

As players get older, they compete in playing leagues against teams from farther away. U6-U8 teams only play other teams in their clubs.  U10-U14 will also play teams from other Jack London clubs.  U16-U19, as well as competitive teams, will play against other teams in CYSA's District IV, which spans from Hayward to Antioch.  Through affiliation with CYSA and US Club Soccer, teams can also participate in tournaments all over California and the country.

With this newsletter, we hope to be raising awareness of the role that the Jack London League plays in the development of youth soccer in the East Bay.

Christopher Seiwald - JLYSSL President