How are practice schedule created?
Our objective is to create an optimal practice environment, considering numerous variables that affect development and a family’s experience. We aim to select days and times that run parallel to the age group’s fall soccer training structure. Variables considered:

• Academy Fall soccer practice schedules
• Cohesion with teams sharing a court
• Age appropriate start and end times
• General family logistics and constraints

Where will teams practice?
Teams will be assigned to one or two facilities consistently throughout the season.

Projected facilities include: Athletic Republic (8 indoor courts), Browne Academy (1 indoor court), Phillips School (1 indoor court), St Katherine’s Church (1 indoor court), and Brenman Park (4 outdoor courts).

Generally, teams should expect one practice indoors and one practice outdoors.

We aim to keep the day and time of futsal training consistent with teams’ fall soccer schedules—though this is not always possible due to the constraints of available futsal courts.

The projected practice dates and times for each team will be communicated by October 4th.

ASA has adjusted the tryout structure and process to create more consistency with soccer teammates throughout the year, to maintain team cohesion as much as possible and avoid unnecessary tryout confusion and stress, and to limit the logistical challenges for families. Academy soccer and futsal coaches begin observing and evaluating ASA players and interested external players during regular soccer training and games throughout the fall season. Players who have signed up for the Player Placement Process will be considered for an Academy Futsal roster spot and will be asked to register for the Academy Futsal program once they are invited to a team.

We focus on creating an experience for each player that coincides, compliments, and supports the annual experiences of soccer and futsal. We aim to create more consistency throughout the year, maintain team cohesion and appropriately place players to optimize their individual development in both soccer and futsal.

While there are differences between soccer and futsal—our coaching methodology, principles and concepts are universally taught in both sports to create a well rounded player. With this in mind, an Academy Soccer player can generally expect to be placed with their peers from soccer.

Depending on how many participants are interested in any given age group, we may make two or more teams.

The Alexandria Futsal program is one of the largest futsal programs in the country! Since its inception in 2015, the program has grown (1,150%) from 6 teams to 75 teams—supporting over 3,000 hours of active play during the winter months. In order to support the growing number of futsal players and remain consistent with our mission as a club, we have continued to explore extensive and creative options for increasing facility and practice space.

Due to the lack of indoor space ASA has access to in Alexandria City we have secured several gyms outside of the City (Browne Academy, The Phillips School, Franconia Rec, George Mason University, St. Katherine’s Orthodox Church, Athletic Republic).

Athletic Republic is unique in that it offers eight high quality courts for teams to practice and play simultaneously. The energetic community feel and tournament-like atmosphere at the facility is both fun and helps prepare teams for tournament and game play throughout the season. We fully understand the challenge the commute can pose and will continue to work on both short term solutions to alleviate stress and long-term solutions to offer options closer to home. We will need your help to advocate for this type of facility to be a priority for our kids. In the short term, we know several age groups setup up successful carpools that eased the travel responsibilities for all families.