Challenge Division

Loudoun Soccer is offering enrollment in a Challenge division for U8, U9, U10, U11 and U12 players. The Challenge division is a recreational program. The Challenge league is intended for those children more seriously focused on soccer, and for players (and parents) who are willing to make a stronger commitment to prioritizing development above the social aspects of youth soccer. This program is not recommended for the new soccer player.

Each new player must attend one evaluation per year in order to be placed on a Challenge division team. There will be various evaluation dates that you can choose from. Dates and times for Spring are listed in the registration system. You will be prompted to select a date and time if your child did not play challenge in the fall. The purpose of the evaluation session is to assess player abilities so that balanced teams can be formed. The Challenge division will only be an option for players who register by the deadline because the evaluation sessions start very soon after that date. The Recreation division will still be available for players who sign up after that date (until all teams are full).

Challenge League Commitment/Requirements: Please take note when registering for our Challenge league, the registered player will be REQUIRED to undergo a skills evaluation once a year. The information obtained at this evaluation will be used to place players equally among the teams. As such, No Special Requests will be honored. Switching among teams, once placed, will NOT be accommodated. Players who register for the Challenge League, but cannot attend at least one scheduled practice each week on their assigned Challenge team (due to a conflict) will NOT be re-assigned to another Challenge team. Instead, that player will be re-assigned to a Recreational level team.

All players who register for the Challenge division will be placed on teams assuming there are enough other players in their town/region to form optimally sized teams. It is expected that teams will be formed in Ashburn, Leesburg, South Riding and Purcellville. If teams are full in the local town of play the player may be placed on a team outside of the requested town of play.  Teams will be scheduled to play inter-regional games, though travel distances will be minimized as much as possible.

The U8, U9, U10, U11 and U12  format will be the same for Challenge Division players as it is for recreation division players. The U11 and U12 challenge teams will play in the Suburban Friendship League. (see SFL tab for more details) The U8 Development training program covers both divisions as well. The primary differences between the Recreation and Challenge divisions are the level of play and the distances to travel for away games.