So my boy (now 10) just started playing soccer this year, and absoutly loves it! So now I'm trying to understand the game (rules & such), and now he want to go to a 'real' game.
I can't seem to find info on soccer in OKC. Looks like OU only has women's soccer in the fall. I searched and found 2 old posts about some leagues comming to OKC, like NPSL, and someone else, MSL, I don't even know what these leagues are.
From what I can gather Dallas & KC have Pro teams (=NFL/NBA/etc), what's the next step down ie semi-pro? And where/when can I take my boy to seem some good soccer?

Thanks for any info, tips, advise, other sites, etc.
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum

Bryan

So my boy (now 10) just started playing soccer this year, and absoutly loves it! So now I'm trying to understand the game (rules & such), and now he want to go to a 'real' game.
I can't seem to find info on soccer in OKC. Looks like OU only has women's soccer in the fall. I searched and found 2 old posts about some leagues comming to OKC, like NPSL, and someone else, MSL, I don't even know what these leagues are.
From what I can gather Dallas & KC have Pro teams (=NFL/NBA/etc), what's the next step down ie semi-pro? And where/when can I take my boy to seem some good soccer?

Thanks for any info, tips, advise, other sites, etc.
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum

Bryan

There's several quality leagues that play youth soccer in OKC. S. Lakes Soccer Club has an excellent program with beginner and very competitive leagues, they have a very nice complex at SW 119th and Meridian, you might check them out sometime.
South Lakes Soccer Club (http://www.southlakessoccer.com)

Thanks, that's actually where he plays, guess we should vist the other fields after his games.

It seems the ability of some of the other teams he plays varies greatly. Some seem similar to his (get to practice 1hr twice a week for like 4 weeks before the games started) while others seem like they practice all the time.

Anywhere to get the rules of the game?

Edmond Soccer Club (Edmond Soccer Club :: Youth Soccer :: Recreational :: Competitive (http://www.edmondsoccer.com)) and North OKC (Welcome to the North OKC Soccer Club (http://www.nokcsoccer.com)) both have great Academy programs for beginning soccer players. These two clubs have actually merged to form OFC, Oklahoma Football Club. Edmond was actually ranked in the top 20 soccer clubs in the U.S. You can play anything from recreational to very competitive. The competive teams usually start around 5th grade and the try-outs are in the summer. Check the websites for dates and camp dates. South Lakes has a competitive league too. It all depends on how much you want to drive, how much talent your child has and how much money you want to spend as to which club to play for. All the high schools are getting ready to go into playoffs and those are great games to watch. Check your high school website for dates. Edmond High Schools will have some great boy games and Bishop is having a great year on the girls side. My daughter has been playing since she was 3 (now 15) and loves every second of it. It can get expensive and we travel alot but we enjoy it.

Also might try one of UCO's soccer games.

It would be nice if the league that the Austin Aztex (http://www.austinaztex.com/home/) are would get some more teams in the region. They are in the USSF D-2 Pro League (http://www.ussoccer.com/USSF-D2-Pro-League/USSF-D2-Pro-League/Clubs/2010-Clubs.aspx) and the closest team is St. Louis. They play in one of the Austin ISD high school stadiums near downtown and seem to get some pretty decent crowds. Those that I have known who have gone to games said the level of competition is pretty good especially compared to how much a Houston Dynamo or FC Dallas game costs.

Anywhere to get the rules of the game?Oklahoma Soccer Association governs soccer in the State of Oklahoma. OSA is directly affiliated with USYSA. Search down here (http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/aboutus/DownloadCenter.asp) for "Policy on Players and Playing Rules." Of course, FIFA (http://www.soccerhelp.com/Soccer_Rules_Rules_Of_Soccer.shtml) rules apply to the game itself.

Most of the local small colleges(UCO, OCU, etc.) have both mens and womens programs. Oklahoma City University is usually pretty good. The large colleges only offer womens around here. Those would be good for a young person to see.

As asta2 said, the local high schools are starting playoffs next week so check to see what games are in the area. When they get to the semis the level of play is pretty good
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You could talk to the competetive director at SLSC and find out who their better competetive teams are and when they play.

If you want to make a weekend of it or even just drive down and back, Dallas has a pro team he could go watch.

It's coming up on World Cup time and usually most of those games are televised. My kids DVR the USA games so they can watch them.

Edmond Soccer Club (Edmond Soccer Club :: Youth Soccer :: Recreational :: Competitive (http://www.edmondsoccer.com)) and North OKC (Welcome to the North OKC Soccer Club (http://www.nokcsoccer.com)) both have great Academy programs for beginning soccer players. These two clubs have actually merged to form OFC, Oklahoma Football Club. Edmond was actually ranked in the top 20 soccer clubs in the U.S. You can play anything from recreational to very competitive. The competive teams usually start around 5th grade and the try-outs are in the summer. Check the websites for dates and camp dates. South Lakes has a competitive league too. It all depends on how much you want to drive, how much talent your child has and how much money you want to spend as to which club to play for. All the high schools are getting ready to go into playoffs and those are great games to watch. Check your high school website for dates. Edmond High Schools will have some great boy games and Bishop is having a great year on the girls side. My daughter has been playing since she was 3 (now 15) and loves every second of it. It can get expensive and we travel alot but we enjoy it.

Thanks for the HS tip, I'm between Mustang & West Moore, looks like from what little websearch info I can find they're both in the Distric playoff's.

How do I find when/where some of these games will be played?

This is the official website for the OSSAA OK RANKINGS (http://okrankings.com/)

Go to this website and look in the spring sports section. As of now they still have the 2009 playoff brackets up but no info on the 2010 brackets. I know both of my older kids first round of playoff games are this Tues. so hopefully they will get that info up soon.

TU is always ranked in men's soccer and made the elite eight this year, but the season is over.

This is the official website for the OSSAA OK RANKINGS (http://okrankings.com/)

Go to this website and look in the spring sports section. As of now they still have the 2009 playoff brackets up but no info on the 2010 brackets. I know both of my older kids first round of playoff games are this Tues. so hopefully they will get that info up soon.

The 2010 brackets are up.

Cool, thanks for the update, I did find okrankings with google, it just looked pretty empty the other day. Now the brackets are up I can see who's playing where. There's Mustan, Yukon, Westmore are all pretty close to me, I assume all schools are playing the same date on that bracket, ie 6A 1st round is 5/4, 2nd round 5/7 like it says. Too bad it's Tue that's soccer practice night.

I also found this site OU MensSoccerClub: Schedules (http://www.eteamz.com/OUMensSoccerClub/schedules/index.cfm?iRowShowOverride=20&season=524836&division=4814651&cat=1037671&show=full) It looks like it is an OU boys team, just not a school/Ncaa official team, just guys that play togather and compete with other college level teams in the area. Just missed their last spring game it looks like, but shows a TBA for 5/1. If the timing is right we can see that game, but he has 2 SLSC games that day, a makeup from the rain out 2 weeks ago.

Again thanks for the info

We didn't make the OU game :( It overlapped our 2nd game.
But we did watch the first 1/2 of Mustang v Edmond N 1st round of the finals. Wow that's some good soccer outta 'kids'! Man. lots of head balls, amazing distance on throw-ins and kicks! Some cool slide steals too.

Now my boy seems real excited about a soccer future, playing HS, advanced leagues at SLSC, and possibly college!

What is offsides? That's an easy one in football, but don't get it in soccer.

Oh, in a resturant today I picked up a free paper talking about Moore & Soccer. Pretty good read. At the end it had quotes from players at SLSC, one said now that we have a Pro team.... But didn't elobrate. Does anyone know who they were talking about?

What is offsides? That's an easy one in football, but don't get it in soccer.


There has to be at least one defender (other than the goal keeper) between the ball and the goal when the ball is played forward. Its kind of like the blue line in hockey, except the blue line is defined by the last defender rather than a line on the field. Keeps players from camping out around the goal.

For offsides you have to have two players on the other team between you and the goal before the ball is played to you. The goal keeper is usually the last defender but if for some reason he is on the other side of the field you have to have two other players between you and the goal. If a player has the ball between the goalie and the last defender than the ball is the offsides line. So a player can play the ball to someone behind him and they cant be offsides (you also can not be offsides on your defensive half of the field)

There are regularly MLS games here in OKC for preseason friendlies so you gotta keep an eye out for that.