Season Considerations and Dates
Spring 2025 will be a regular 10-game season with tiered divisions and sections of registered teams.
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Towns provide placement inputs for teams: Division requested (1-4), Hi-Med-Lo evaluated skill, Ordinal Rank, Comments. https://bays.org/content/registrar-team-inputs-explained
- Please take extra time to consider relevent playing records, swap history, and team composition changes when requesting team placements.
- Consider the potential for frequent player conflicts when deciding on how many players should be rostered on teams.
- Confirm player availability to avoid the potential for dropping a team after team placement has occurred.
- Multi-grade teams are possible to help with low numbers in a specific grade.
- BAYS relies on these town placement inputs and prior team records to decide section compositions.
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Geographic considerations will be taken into consideration, particularly in Divisions 3 and 4.
- Swaps will be allowed in non-MTOC eligible sections.
- Swaps are generally not made in MTOC eligible sections, as that could invalidate MTOC eligibility.
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For MTOC-eligible teams, player passcards or team photo ID sheet(s) are required for all teams participating in the BAYS Playoffs. See Match Rule 5.
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No passcards or team photo ID sheet(s) need to be shown for ANY teams during the BAYS regular spring season.
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Games will be scheduled on the the holiday weekend (5/24) for Youth teams in grades 3-8
High School Notes:
- BAYS offers Grade 10 and Grade 12 brackets for High School Division 1 and 2 teams and combined Grade 9-12 teams for Division 3 Recreational play. https://bays.org/content/grade-age-groupings-current-soccer-year
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Effective this Spring 2025, on 11v11 Grade 12/PG teams, there is a roster limit of 4 players who are post High School.
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- Adult athletes (any player 18 or older or turning 18 prior to June 30) playing on a team with athletes younger than 18 have to complete SafeSport training per the Mass Youth Adult Athlete policy PRIOR to being listed on a roster.
- Click here and then scroll down to Adult Athlete SafeSport Information: https://mayouthsoccer.org/risk-manager-information/
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Note that the HS schedule planning is compressed to allow more time for towns to finalize HS team rosters. There have been issues when teams are placed based on preliminary player data or guesses. We want to improve placements by seeking better information about real team roster composition. Please take this into account when planning your HS teams.
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Games will not be scheduled for High School teams on Memorial Day weekend (5/25)
Key Dates - Spring 2025 - Youth Teams Grades 3-8
| Team Registration Grades 3-8 - CLOSES @ Noon on 2/11 | 1/28-2/11 |
| Placement Committee 3-8 | 2/11 |
| Initial BOD placement meeting 3-8 | 2/12 |
| Initial Placements posted 3-8 | 2/19 |
| Placement Changes 3-8 Closes @ Noon on 3/5 | 2/19-3/5 |
| Mass Youth Player Affiliation Initial Filing Due | 2/21 |
| Placement Committee - Revised Placements | 3/6 |
| General Placement Meeting/Spring Invoice Payments Due | 3/12 |
| Field Sharing - Grade 3-8 Closes @ Noon on 3/18 | 3/6-3/18 |
| Final Placements Posted | 3/18 |
| Spring Schedule Posted Grade 3-8 | 3/27 |
| Division Directors Assigned - Roster Dashboard Open | 3/28 |
| Start of Spring 2025 for Grades 3-8 | 4/12 |
| Team Registration Open - Presidents' Cup | 4/22-4/30 |
| Placement Committee - PCup Placements | 4/30 |
| Presidents' Cup Brackets Posted | 5/2 |
| Referee Appreciation Weekend | 5/3-5/4 |
| Seatbelt Saturday/Sunday | 5/10-5/11 |
| BAYS MTOC Roster Freeze Date | 5/12 |
| Mass Youth Player Affiliation Final Filings Due | 5/16 |
| BAYS Games HELD on Holiday Weekend for Grades 3-8 | 5/24 |
| End of Spring 2025 for Grades 3-8 | 6/14 |
| BAYS Playoffs Spring 2025 Grades 6-8 | 6/15-6/21 |
| BAYS Playoffs and Presidents' Cup Finals | 6/21 |
| MTOC Tournament | 6/27-6/29 |
Key Dates - Spring 2025 - HS Teams Grades 9-12
| Team Registration Open for HS - Closes @ Noon on 4/2 | 3/19-4/2 |
| Placement Committee - HS Placements | 4/2 |
| Initial Placements Posted for HS | 4/3 |
| Placement Changes - HS - Closes @ Noon on 4/10 | 4/3-4/10 |
| Field Sharing - HS | 4/3-4/10 |
| Final Placements Posted for HS | 4/11 |
| Division Directors Assigned - Roster Dashboard Open | 4/17 |
| Spring Schedule Posted - HS | 4/17 |
| Start of Spring 2025 HS teams | 4/27 |
| Referee Appreciation Weekend | 5/3-5/4 |
| Seatbelt Saturday/Sunday | 5/10-5/11 |
| BAYS MTOC Roster Freeze Date | 5/12 |
| BAYS Games NOT held on Holiday Weekend for HS | 5/25 |
| End of Spring 2025 HS teams | 6/15 |
| BAYS Playoffs | 6/15-6/21 |
| MTOC Tournament | 6/27-6/29 |