Danvers Youth Soccer (DYS) is a coed youth sports program with approximately 800 to 900 participants annually. The league consists of boys and girls ranging in age from 5 to 18 years. Participation is evenly distributed between boys and girls.

We have two registration periods each year; June for all age groups and December specifically for our U16 and up players. Our registration fees are some of the lowest in town and include a family maximum charge for those larger families. Players who are registered for the fall season are registered for the spring at no additional cost. Registration fees are adjusted periodically and are posted on the registration page of the website.

The number of teams we annually form varies depending on the participation in the program, but typically we have 40 in town intramural teams and approximately 25 travel teams (U12 – U18) 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 in the U16 and U18 divisions. 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 120 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 (MYSA), and the coaches get their license (G, F, E, etc), certified by the MYSA. All of our volunteers devote many hours to the success of the organization. Our program requires a large open space area for our U6 program and 16 to 18 soccer fields each week for all our other teams (U7 – U18) to play. Our current main locations for practices and games are the High School, Gates Field, John George Park, Smith School, Essex Aggie, Plains Park and the YMCA.

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 17th 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, four annual high school scholarships. The funds have been used in the past several years on projects such Gates Soccer field and parking, Smith School fields, the YMCA field, Essex Aggie fields, 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 200 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 first Wednesday 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.