The information below is provided to give prospective families an idea of how a typical season has worked in the past. There may be slight differences from one year to the next, with game schedules and practice arrangements.

The main program for U8 and above is participation in the fall league of the River City Youth Soccer League (RCYSL). The rules and format of the fall league soccer season are determined and set by RCYSL.

Below is general information. For the upcoming season important dates, see our Program page

New 2024 Coach-Ref Guidelines: U8 ONLY

To address several longstanding and league-wide issues, RCYSL will be switching to a coach management system for our U8 program in lieu of using certified referees. The primary goals of this change are to alleviate the referee shortage and to reduce the high volume of referee abuse incidents that have occurred in our U8 age group. Ultimately, the primary goals of youth soccer are player safety, player enjoyment, and player development. RCYSL believes these goals can all be achieved just as effectively using coaches to monitor and manage our U8 games as they were with certified referees.

U8 Coaches: Read the new Coach-Ref Guidelines

Practice Schedule

Practices are determined by each team and coach based on their availability, and field availability. Teams will practice twice a week for 1 hour, at Del Dayo or Ashton Park, on either a Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday schedule, between 3 – 6pm. Practice schedules are sent out to team families usually in early August.

Game schedule

Games are played on Saturdays, usually between 8am and 1pm. Teams typically have 5 home games (e.g. at Del Dayo or Ashton Park), and 5 away games at a neighboring club’s fields (e.g. Sierra Oaks, Arden Park, Rosemont, etc..)

Typical Season Timeline

  • April – May: Fall season Registration open
  • Late July/Early August: Teams are formed, families get notice of team assignment, rosters and practice times
  • Early August: Practices start
  • 3rd week of August: Opening day. Team pictures, pancake breakfast.
  • Late Aug/Early Sept: League seeding Tournament. Teams play 4 mini games on Saturday to determine league division.
  • Early Sept: First half of season starts. Teams play 5 games over the next 5 consecutive Saturdays.
  • Mid October: Mid-season break. One weekend break with no games. Teams may be re-seeded into different league divisions.
  • Oct – Mid Nov. : Second half of season. Teams play 5 remaining games over next 5 consecutive Saturdays.
  • Mid Nov.: Fall Season concludes.
  • Mid. Nov – Early Dec.: Optionally, teams participate in end-of season tournaments

Starting in August, Del Dayo teams U8 through U12 generally practice with their teams at Del Dayo Elementary school twice a week for 1 hour, either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday, between 3pm and 7pm. The practice schedule is mainly determined by each team’s coach availability and is sent out by coaches to their player families near the end of July, or early August.

U14 and above practice at Ashton park, typically on a similar schedule as the other age groups.

The first games of the season are during the RCYSL seeding tournament at the very start of the season, where each team plays a series of up to 4 mini-games against other RCYSL participating teams. The purpose of the seeding tournament is to gauge ability level and competitiveness of each team, so that they can be placed into a league division with similar ability-level teams.

The regular season follows the seeding tournament and is 10 games, broken into two season halves of 5 games. Games are on Saturdays against other RCYSL participating clubs in the same age group and division. After the first half of the season (first 5 games), there is a one-week mid-season break where there are no games. During the break, RCYSL looks at the win/loss record of teams during the first half of the season and may re-seed teams into new divisions where warranted. The objective again is to place teams into similar ability-level divisions.

Following the mid-season break, teams play the remaining 5 games of the season, which typically concludes in early November.

Team schedules typically include 5 ‘home’ games (played at their home field, either Del Dayo or Ashton), and 5 away games (played at the other team’s home field, which is usually a neighboring school or park, such as La Sierra, Cresta, Sierra Oaks, etc…). Older teams, U14 and above can expect to travel farther for games, as the league includes a broader geographic reach for the older age groups.

After the RCYSL fall season, some teams select to participate in the district cup or Soccer Fest tournaments.