Tryouts take place in the Spring for the following Fall and Spring seasons.  In 2025, tryouts are being held April 22n-24th.

• USYS, US Club Soccer, and AYSO will adopt a September 1 – August 31 age group cycle starting in the 2026-27 season, aligning club soccer with school-year calendars to allow players to compete with classmates. 
• To ease the transition, Hotspurs will hold tryouts this year (2025) following current school year grades.  All players are asked to register for and participate in the tryout of their CURRENT GRADE (2024-2025 school year).  If you are a player currently “playing up” with an older birth year team, you are instructed to try out with your CURRENT GRADE.  
• Hotspurs FC will review the transition on a team by team basis for the 2025-2026 season.
• Hotspurs may consider requests for a child to play in an older grade / age group on a case-by-case basis. If interested, email hotspur.fc.nj@gmail.com and have your child attend both their grade-appropriate tryout and the older grade’s tryout, though approval is not guaranteed.

Different age levels have different-sized teams.  The U9 and U10 age group plays 7 vs. 7 and teams typically have 10-11 players on the roster.  U11 and U12 play 9 vs. 9 and typically have 12-13 players on the roster.  U13 and up plays full-sided 11 vs 11 and teams typically have 15-18 on the roster.

Hotspurs play in the Northern Counties league which generally includes teams from Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Union, and Morris counties in NJ, along with Rockland and Orange counties in NY and even some teams from Staten Island NY.  Generally, most games should be within about an hour's drive from Ramsey.  In 2021, Northern Counties teams in the A flight, have started playing teams from Southern NJ as well, which means they have a bit more travel required.

The registration fee for the 2024-2025 Hotspurs season is 675 dollars for the year, plus the cost of the uniform which is approximately 100 dollars. Some coaches may sign teams up for winter or summer local tournaments or schedule off season training sessions, which has an extra fee for participation.  Some of these events (e.g. off season training) may be optional.  Note that the 25 dollar fee from tryouts is applied towards your registration fee.

Teams typically have 2 practices per week, with at least one of those led by a professional trainer and one game on the weekend.  Occasionally, it may be necessary to schedule a make-up game during the week or to have a 2nd game on the weekend.  Players are expected to attend practices and games, however, we understand that sometimes conflicts arise that prevent kids from attending a practice or game.  Please keep your coach updated on your availability for each practice or game.

Generally, one or two team parents coach most of the teams, however, all Hotspurs teams also have a professional trainer assigned.  The trainers have a varying level of involvement with each team, depending on the availability and experience of parent coaches.  At a minimum, each team's trainer will run 1 of the weekly practices.  Some teams will have 2 trainer-led practices per week and others will also have the trainer take the head coaching role during games.  

All of this information is available on the Northern Counties website:  https://www.ncsanj.com

Northern Counties abides by the NCSA rules of the game.  These rules can be found at https://www.ncsanj.com/formsView.cfm?form_id=224

Coaches use TeamsSnap to communicate with parents and provide the game and practice schedule. You can download TeamSnap to your mobile device from the Apple or Google Play Store.  You can also access TeamSnap on the web at www.teamsnap.com

Northern Counties Soccer in the U9 and U10 age groups plays with an extra rule to help teach the kids to play the ball out of the backfield following a goalie save or on a goal kick.  In these cases, the opposing team must back up, behind a line that crosses the field at approximately the midfield circle.  Players cannot cross this line until the ball is played, giving the players a little time to play the ball out of the back field.  

For player safety, kids are not allowed to head the ball until U12.  Before that, an intentional header results in an indirect free kick.

Hotspurs currently works with trainers from Total Soccer Development (TSD).

Hotspur uniforms, along with other team gear and general soccer equipment can be purchased at The Soccer Post in Franklin Lakes.  A link is also available under the Purchase Uniform link at the top of our home page.