Challenge Soccer ( Division II )
What is Division II? Division II (D2) is the Intermediate Soccer Program of Mississippi Soccer Association (MSA), Under-10 through Under-19. D2 teams are coach-selected from the Division III (D3) recreational players in the age group. LJCSA is a participant in the MSA D2 Program. (For more information on D2, go to www.mississippisoccer.org , Click on D2-Intermediate)
Who should be interested? Recreation players who are seeking an opportunity to further develop as soccer players in a more competitive environment characterized by professional and higher-level coaching than is typical of recreation soccer. The D2 Program offers opportunities for a recreation player to challenge themselves at a level above their recreational team.
What about the team I’m already on? Players selected to participate in D2 continue to play with their recreational teams. Players are fully obligated to practice and game requirements of their recreation team. Recreational team schedules take precedent over D2 team schedules.
D2 Registration? Players selected to participate in D2 will secondary-register with MSA and pay an additional player registration fee $16 (may differ from year to year). D2 teams are subject to some of the same requirements as Division I (Select) teams. As such, D2 players will be issued a picture player pass ($5), and are responsible for their own uniforms and expenses.
When does D2 play and practice? Players selected for D2 play during the same season as the recreational teams. Thus, a D2 player is expected to participate in additional practices and games and/or tournaments. D2 practices will be scheduled to not require an unreasonable amount of a player’s time. There are no league games in D2. There are no playing-time requirements in D2.
LJCSA Division II Program. The MSA Division II program is designed to initiate after recreation teams are formed in September. The LJCSA D2 program will begin over the next several weeks. The LJCSA Director of Coaching (DOC) can provide expertise and direction. LJCSA is actively pursuing an effort to organize D2 programs in most of its age divisions in Under-10 and up after the Fall Recreation season.
D2 Developmental Player Pools: When D2 was formed several years ago, a new “team” concept was introduced, the Developmental Player Pool. Player pools were created to provide additional opportunities to train more players and to play more matches in the secondary-registered player environment. Pools offers two major advantages. First, the coaches can train an extended roster, e.g., one with a larger number of players than on a typical, single team. This gives a larger number of players the opportunity to participate in D2. Players who work hard will advance the most. Second, MSA provides a mechanism for an unlimited number of “event rosters,” from the pool for practice games or tournaments. These are temporary rosters for games. This provides players, in the pool game opportunities, who on a given day, do not have recreation team responsibilities.
Selection of Permanent Rosters. Permanent (final) team rosters must be submitted from the pools in April in order for the team to participate in President’s Cup, the D2 state tournament. Bottom line... the Developmental Player Pool provides for an extended tryout program for D2 players over the developmental period, from roster submission in the fall until the deadline for permanent rosters in April, during which they receive upper-level training in a more competitive environment.
How are D2 Pools formed? The coaching staff for the D2 program is selected by the LJCSA DOC typically from the current Rec coaching Staff.
Uniforms? Each LJCSA D2 team will be required to purchase an additional uniforms. The Uniforms colors should contain Royal Blue, and can contain Gold or White.
Costs? In addition to player secondary-registration costs, participants will share all costs including, but not limited to: referee fees for friendly matches, fees for all other tournaments, and a nominal fee for professional training. Some inter-state travel is possible for a DII player.
President’s Cup. The MSA state tournament for D2 is the President’s Cup in May.