Club Corner -

Achtung Baby!

It was a dark and stormy night... and the parking lot at the field was *chock-full* of kids and cars, coming and going from practice. As we "fall back" and it's extra dark in the evenings, please use extreme caution navigating the busy parking lots at practice fields. If your teens drive themselves to practice, make it a double dose of extreme caution for them, please! Thank you for helping keep everyone safe.

Age group changes coming next season

Reminder about age group changes coming next season, as John described in his Oct. 1 email, ECFC plans to form teams based on the Aug. 1–July 31 year for U8 to U14 teams. As always, there will be situations where a player may play up an age group if developmentally appropriate. For high-school-age players, U15 to U18, the Club plans to look closely with an eye toward keeping currently rostered teams together as much as possible, recognizing that teams have bonded and that adjusting rosters based on the new age group dates may be disruptive. Keep in the mind that tryouts change the landscape of most age groups. The Club is committed to analyzing rosters at tryouts and considering what's best for each age group as we make this change.

Bring a friend to practice! (Supplemetal Tryouts)

Supplemental tryouts: Do you know a player or family interested in Emerald City soccer? The Club plans to hold supplemental tryouts the first week of January 5-8 2026, to add players where needed to existing teams/age groups. Current players do not try out; this is for new interested players. Please alert your club-soccer-curious networks! More details to come.

High School Boys Washington Cup – Explained

High-school-age teams operate on a different schedule than U11–U14 teams, who play their state cup in April. High-school-age boys' teams, U14–U19, play their Washington Cup tournament over three weekends this month. The first two weekends feature group play, and the third weekend, Nov. 21–23 this year, is the championship round. Teams playing in the Gold division for each age group jump straight to the championship weekend, and Gold division winners advance directly to Nationals in July. (We'll cover state cup for high-school-age girls in a future issue.)