COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL

MVLA San Jose teams are coached by licensed professional soccer coaches. MVLA San Jose’s success is directly attributable to its amazing coaches. These individuals not only have a love for the game, but they also have a passion for working with and developing youths. Our coaches encourage players to be their best, on the field, in the classroom, and more. The coach directs the team’s practice sessions and coaches at games and tournaments. The coach makes decisions regarding team rosters, playing time, tournaments, and leagues. The team coach communicates feedback about the player to the family. Families are asked to provide an evaluation of the coach at the end of the season.

The team manager is the liaison between the coach, the club and the parents. The team manager handles and oversees the team administration which includes communication, scheduling, registering for tournaments, ensuring players are eligible for games (player passes, rosters, forms, etc.), team finances, etc. Tasks can and should be delegated to other parents on the team. The team manager does NOT coach, sit on the players’ side, make decisions about rosters or playing time, and decide on tournaments.

If the team manager elects to have a treasurer, the team treasurer establishes the team budget and collects fees from the families for additional team expenses (non-MVLA San Jose registration fees) that the team incurs (tournament fees, coach’s travel expenses, referee fees for more than 6 home games, social events, coach gift, etc.).

If the team manager elects to have a scheduler, the team scheduler works with opposing teams to schedule the date, time, and field for all league games. The scheduler uses GotSoccer to communicate with the opposing teams and Byga to schedule home games.

All parents are expected to help out during the season. This includes coordinating social events and travel logistics or game-day help such as setting up and taking down goals for the home games. Parents can also help with carrying and setting up the team bench and team canopy. Our team managers are volunteers, so please offer to help your team as much as possible on game day and whenever there are other needs of the team.

Following US Soccer regulations, teams are divided by birth year (and not school grade). For example, a child born in 2009 is on an “09G” team. The G represents the girls team. The teams in a given age group have a name (e.g., “Venom”), followed by a color (e.g., Blue). The colors in order of level are Blue, White, Green, Black, Gold (This may change). Regardless of level, the team will be placed in the appropriate league division to maximize player development.

There can be player movement between teams up or down at any time. Generally, this will occur between seasons, and there will have been discussions with the coach. Also, although MVLA San Jose tries to minimize coach changes for a team, changes are sometimes unavoidable to balance the needs of the club, the team, and the individual coach.

Each player must have a laminated player pass with his/her photo and information. MVLA San Jose team managers or coaches carry the team’s set of player passes which must be presented at each game. Each league has different requirements for obtaining the player pass. The MVLA San Jose Ops Staff will generate the player pass for each registered player before the fall season. The player pass is valid for a full year, from August 1 to the following July 31. Any adults on the player side of the field must have staff passes. Staff passes are valid for two years. If a player guests with another MVLA San Jose team, he/she must have the appropriate pass for the league in which they are guesting.

Generally, current MVLA San Jose players do not need to tryout each year. There may be circumstances where an age group or a team will be asked to tryout.

We wish we were in a position to invite each child to join MVLA San Jose; however, due to the number of roster spots on each team, the number of players who attended tryouts, coupled with a very high level of play, we are unable to offer a spot to all players. We may refer a player to continue to develop at local recreational programs such as AYSO and to tryout again in the future.

The games are generally on the weekends, at home and away fields. They can be scheduled for any time on Saturday and Sunday.

The leagues issue a tentative schedule that indicates dates the two teams can play each other. However, the managers and coaches of the two teams work together to find a time that works for the coaches. The dates can change from the originally proposed date if the teams agree. Byga automatically obtains the game schedule from GotSoccer, so you may see some of these shifts during the season.

As managers of the opposing teams work together to find available field slots and times that work for both coaches, the schedule is populated. This can take a few weeks at the beginning of each season before all games are scheduled. And even after a season begins, games can continue to shift around if both teams agree.

Teams will play in at least one tournament per season.

Cal North (also called California Youth Soccer League or CCSL) and NorCal Premier League are separate organizations with different registration requirements and procedures. MVLA San Jose participates in both NorCal and Cal North. The leagues offer several competitive levels of play (premier, gold, silver, bronze, copper). The coaches along with the Directors of Coaching decide which league and level each team should participate into best support the development of the team.

There may be an occasion when a player is asked to guest with another MVLA team. The coaches of both teams must agree to the guesting opportunity. The player pass (for the appropriate league) must be presented at the game.

Byga is the online tool/app we leverage to communicate club-wide and manage registration.

Log into your Byga account (mvlasj.byga.net). If you are a new family, you were provided an invitation to set up a user account when you signed up for tryouts or when you registered.

Please use the “Forgot password” link in the login screen (mvlasj.byga.net) and follow the instructions to reset your password.

Yes. You can download the app from Apple's App Store or Google Play.

Sync your Byga calendar with your other calendars from either the mobile or web app (instructions here).

A parent/guardian with an account may invite another family member as an additional contact for their player. Add all relevant contacts for your player (instructions here).

Update your home address or email by going into Byga's dashboard, click on the dropdown arrow next to your name in the top right corner, and select My Account.

Go to an active invoice in Byga and change the credit card for the next payment. Please contact admin@mvlasj.org if you need assistance.

Refer to this Instruction Sheet if you’d like more detailed information. For Byga technical support, contact support@byga.net.

Club fees mainly cover membership, coaching, technical development, referees, fields, league fees, staff and player passes, etc. and varies for each team based on their competitive level and age group. For a complete list of what's included in MVLA San Jose club fees, please go to our Fees page.

Team expenses include tournament registration fees, coach travel expenses, and some additional expenses such as the team's end-of-season party, coach gift, first aid kit, team bench if needed, etc. Team fees are usually paid by team managers and everyone on the team is required to reimburse them in a timely manner.

MVLA Soccer Club provides a need-based financial aid program to help cover club registration fees. The program does not cover uniforms, tournaments, travel, lodging, apparel, or miscellaneous expenses. If you would like to apply for financial aid, please visit our Financial Assistance page page on our website. Returning Financial Aid recipients will need to complete a new application form annually and submit current paperwork. If your application is approved, we will make adjustments to your invoice. For questions about MVLA San Jose's Financial Aid Program, please contact admin@mvlasj.com.

You will still need to pay a deposit however, we can make adjustments to the amount. If you are a returning financial aid recipient or plan to apply for financial aid, please contact admin@mvlasj.com.

Registration occurs two times each year, in June/July for the fall season, and in December/January for the spring season. Each player is required to register with MVLA San Jose before the first practice of each season. You will receive an email specific to your player to register.

The non-refundable deposit is requested in January and May and secures a spot in the club, but not on a specific team. After tryouts, coaches finalize rosters and movements may occur. The deposit is applied towards your registration fees and will show as a credit on your invoice when you register and select a payment option.

Your deposit secures a spot for your player on the team indicated on the deposit email. However, player movement may be necessary after tryouts. If a change occurs and your player is not satisfied with the change, you may request a refund of your deposit.

Our refund policy is very strict as a player’s acceptance has the effect of denying another player an opportunity to play on an MVLA team. Additionally, MVLA incurs costs each time a player registers to play soccer (administrative, staff, insurance, etc.). These costs increase over time, so refunds will be reduced accordingly. The date of withdrawal notification to the club affects the refund amount that may be considered.

All requests for refunds must be sent via email to admin@mvlasj.com, indicating your intent to withdraw. The time and date of the email will be indicative of whether or not you are eligible for a refund.

If a player becomes seriously ill or injured and cannot participate for the remainder of the season, a partial refund minus the non-refundable deposit will be issued. Appropriate documentation must be provided. Please see our refund policy.

Since registration is annual and you have commited for the full year, if you decide to leave in the middle of the year and would like to request a refund, it will be decided on a case by case basis.

The club requires certain documents to be uploaded to your player’s Byga account in order to purchase player passes. These documents are required at the time of registration and should be uploaded to Byga: Birth certificate/passport Headshot photo Address For teams playing in NorCal league: R002 waiver must be filled out and uploaded to the Documents tab of Byga. Concussion form: MVLA San Jose requires our families to read and sign the Concussion Info Fact Sheet. Please read, sign, and upload to Byga under the Documents tab. When these documents are in place, the Ops Staff can request the player pass.

After you register, the Ops Staff will assign a jersey number to your player. We generally do not duplicate jersey numbers within an age group.

After you register, the Ops Staff will send you information for ordering a uniform. Each family is responsible for ordering and paying for uniforms for their own player. Practice jerseys are required for all training sessions.

Our uniforms generally change every two years.

Generally, MVLA San Jose teams will wear their blue jerseys and blue socks at home games and white jerseys and white socks at away games. Always bring both sets to all games. The home team is obligated to change if there is a conflict. Some tournaments are reverse (home team wears white, away team wears dark), so managers should always check the tournament rules.

Visit our MVLA Fan Store on the MVLA website under the Resources tab. You can also purchase items at any of our pop-up spirit wear events which are advertised to the club.

For all our teams, we won't know the exact days & times of practices until closer to the start of the fall or spring season, unfortunately. Many things need to be taken into consideration when scheduling all of our teams' practices, including the fields we have available to us (which many are managed and assigned to us by the city and school districts). After receiving our field allocations from the city, only then can we schedule MVLA San Jose practices which are based around the coaches’ schedules (such as their other teams’ practice schedule). Most practices are held in the San Jose area.

Practices are 2-3 times a week depending on age and level of the team. Additional technical sessions will be offered for players who want more.

We try hard to keep the teams on the same days, but sometimes a few teams will need to shift days. We try to avoid that, but depends on what fields we are assigned, which fields have lights for the later sessions, where the coaches need to be with which teams, etc. You can imagine how difficult it is to put this all in place for numerous teams.

For most teams, practice will start the week after 4th of July for the fall season and will end in early/mid December. New players who have registered for spring will train in the winter months in preparation for spring season end of February (or early March) and ending in early June. High school-aged teams follow a different schedule, based on when players participate on school teams.

Assuming MVLA San Jose can secure fields from the city and schools, MVLA San Jose's winter training occurs in Jan-Feb in preparation for the spring season.

(When we start our "in-house" program) Our youngest age group will be part of our "in-house" program which means two practices a week along with weekend in-house, small-sided games among our own players. There are no "teams" for the in-house program. The focus is on developing the individual skills of players at this young age group rather than on league games against other clubs. The small-sided games will allow players to have a high amount of touches on the ball, be able to be creative, and play without any pressure of winning.

Our competitive teams play in leagues and tournaments. The bulk of our teams compete in both NorCal and the CalNorth playing leagues.

Club soccer is more competitive and selective than recreational soccer. Club soccer offers professional coaching. The coaches are normally licensed and have played at a high level of soccer. With club soccer, tryouts are usually held to identify players. Club soccer requires a higher training commitment (at least two times per week, sometimes three) and a willingness to travel for games and tournaments. Most players in club soccer play both fall and spring seasons.

To enhance the experience for all members of the MVLA San Jose community (coaches, players, and parents), we believe it is important to have a clear set of expectations and a shared understanding for each of these key members of our community. Please see our Codes of Conduct, which you signed when you registered, for coaches, players, and parents.

If an issue has not been responded to and discussed with the parent or player making the inquiry within a week, the requestor should complete the club communication Escalation Form. Please see the Communication Protocol for more info.