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2017-2018 Season

What is the NPL? National Premier League is a CLUB BASED league platform that is sanctioned and administered by US Club Soccer which is comprised of multiple geographically organized and regionalized leagues. The champion crowned for each of the regionalized NPLs advance to a national championship. The term “CLUB BASED” means that NPL division membership is extended to whole club organizations, not individual teams. US Club Soccer is a separate national soccer organization from US Youth Soccer Respect for Diversity: Diverse styles, systems and structure. Unified philosophy Opportunity: A path to college, a path to career, a path to fulfillment Development: Coaches development, club development, player development, referee development Excellence: Fields and everything around the game

What is US Club Soccer? US Club Soccer is a separate national youth soccer organization from US Youth Soccer. They have separate player carding (which is a little more flexible). They have separate top level leagues (ECNL and NPL vs MRL) They have separate elite player ID systems. (id2 & PDP vs ODP) PDP: Regional ID training program which is conducted within the id2 program Id2 Program: The id2 Program is an Olympic Development Program (ODP) approved by the United States Olympic Committee and the U.S. Soccer Federation. Respect for Diversity: Diverse styles, systems and structure. Unified philosophy Opportunity: A path to college, a path to career, a path to fulfillment Development: Coaches development, club development, player development, referee development Excellence: Fields and everything around the game 4

Benefits of NPL? NPLs are independent leagues, unified under one national competition platform, and based on a common technical framework designed to improve long-term player development. The NPL provides a platform: Focused on long-term player development; For the country’s top soccer clubs, allowing consistent, meaningful high-level games appropriately scheduled with higher training-to-game ratios; That allows players to be scouted and evaluated by U.S. Soccer National Staff and Technical Advisors; That is designed and structured by the clubs, based on the needs of the clubs; and  That provides an avenue for qualification for the NPL Finals. Respect for Diversity: Diverse styles, systems and structure. Unified philosophy Opportunity: A path to college, a path to career, a path to fulfillment Development: Coaches development, club development, player development, referee development Excellence: Fields and everything around the game 5

Why are we playing in the NPL NPL will offer the highest level of league soccer play and the strongest competitive environment offered by any club in the Dayton area Better training environment for the players Better game environment for players  More meaningful games More flexibility in player movement Closer connection with the Columbus Crew Development Academy More exposure for our players (College, DA, ID2 Programs and PDP) No scheduling conflicts for coaches

Who will be playing in the NPL The NPL is a club based league ran through US Club Soccer. The goal is to put all U13-U18/U19 Boys and Girls first teams in this league. 1st year a minimum of 6 teams 2nd year a minimum of 8 teams 3rd year a minimum of 10 teams 4th year all U13-U18/19 first teams (12) 2017-2018 Season: 2005-1999 Birth years 2018-2019 Season: 2006-2000 Birth years 2019-2020 Season: 2007-2001 Birth years 2020-2021 Season: 2008-2002 Birth years

When will the NPL season be played Season U13’s & U14’s will play 15 NPL league games over the full year Fall: August – October/ Mid-November Spring: March – May U15’s through U19’s play 11 NPL league games in the November to May period Post Season June – July (Conference Finals + Nationals) Training Fall/Spring: 3-4 times per week depending on number of games per weekend Winter: 1-2 times per week Facilities Forest Field, Oak Grove, Magsig, CHS, Prodigy and South Metro Sports

Where will the NPL games be played Ohio Conference (8 teams)  Majority of the games will be played in Columbus West PA/NY Conference (8 teams) NPL will schedule two play weekends in the Fall and two play weekends in the Spring. These weekends we will be playing crossover games with the other conference and can be played in: Cleveland Buffalo Pittsburgh Columbus Or other places in Ohio/West PA/ West NY For longer trips we will look into the possibility of doing bus trips for our players. We will ask for two chaperones per team to come with us on the trip. The goal is to have all teams in the same hotel. These hotel assignments will be made by the club.

Other NPL team events Each NPL team will play in a minimum of 6 team “events” per year. Four of these “events” will be tournaments or college showcase events (one of those will be State Cup). Two of these “events” will be league participation. Additional leagues All NPL teams will also be playing in a US Youth Soccer/Ohio South league (Buckeye, OSSL, or other) so they will qualify for Ohio South State Cup.

NPL Rosters Roster sizes US Club Soccer allows 26 players on a roster. We want to build rosters of 18-22 players. 18 Players are allowed to be on the game day roster. Player rotation Players that don’t make the NPL roster for a particular weekend will be automatically playing in the Buckeye games in the following weekend. This way we make sure that players still play the amount of games recommended by US Soccer.

NPL Player Expectations NPL teams will have the highest licensed/most experienced coaches in the Club NPL teams will practice slightly more than other CUSA teams (approx. an additional 15/20 practices per year) NPL players will be carded with both US Club Soccer and US Youth Soccer. NPL players will have more travel opportunities, but will also have some scheduling flexibility because roster size means not every player will go every time. NPL team players will pay an incremental $175 in player fees per year.

NPL Combines The NPL combines are meant to identify what the interest level is for various age levels on both genders. Dates: April 28th, 2017 May 12th, 2017 May 19th, 2017 (Rainout date) Location: Oak Grove

NPL Q&A