Danvers Youth Soccer (DYS) is a volunteer run, coed youth sports program with approximately 700 participants annually. The league consists of boys and girls ranging in age from 3 to 18 years. Participation is evenly distributed between boys and girls.
A DYS season is Fall & Spring and the registration fee is a yearly fee (Fall/Spring) and the cost is the same whether a child plays Fall, Spring or both seasons. Again, players who are registered for the fall season are automatically registered for the spring at no additional cost. Players register for a season in April/July for 4U-14U and Spring to December specifically for our 16U and up players. Our registration fees are some of the lowest in town and include a family maximum charge for those larger families. Registration fees are adjusted periodically and are posted on the registration page of the website.
DYS has 40 in town intramural teams and approximately 25 travel teams (10U-18U) who play other teams within Essex County. The intramural and travel programs both play two eight-week schedules. Eight games in the fall and eight games in the spring. The number of teams in the spring program increases due to the participation of our current High School players. The DYS program has been the feeder program for Danvers High School, Bishop Fenwick, St. John’s Prep, and other local strong programs.
We have over 100 adult volunteers who are coaches, assistant coaches and volunteers who sit on the board of directors. DYS pays for licensed training courses for all of our coaches. The courses are run by the State (Mass Youth Soccer), and the coaches get their Grassroots (4v4, 7v7, 9v9, and 11v11) licensing, certified by Mass Youth Soccer. All of our volunteers devote many hours to the success of the organization. Our program requires a large open space area for our FUNdamentals, Intramural, Crosstown and Travel programs with 16 to 18 soccer fields each week maintained by DPW. Our current main locations for practices and games are the Thorpe Fields, John George Park and the High School. At current Gates fields are closed and resting and Smith School fields are closed until the school project is complete.
We have been successful in eliminating the need for our players to do any in-town fundraising by hosting a very successful Memorial Day tournament. Next year we look forward to hosting our 29th Danvers Invitational Tournament. This tournament funds the continued maintenance and development of our town soccer fields in conjunction with the parks dept., capital expenditures such as soccer goals, and annual high school scholarships. The funds have been used in the past several years on projects such Thorpe Soccer fields, Gates Soccer field and parking, Smith School fields, the YMCA field, the Connector Road, the Senior Center, Friends of Danvers Recreation, and the High School’s Project Graduation program. Our tournament does take a tremendous amount of effort and brings approximately 140 soccer teams to Danvers for the 3-day weekend. The tournament benefits the community by bringing business to local hotels, restaurants, stores, malls, and other establishments.
Our monthly meeting is the second Monday of the month and our annual general meeting is the third Thursday in November as stated in our by-laws. DYS welcomes all interested people to our meetings.
