Ages:   Mint Hill offers fun and competitive soccer for children from ages 3  to 18.

Age Level Play:    Our Micro Program is for ages 3-4 where they are introduced to the game with training and in house scrimmages.  Our 6U Program is for 4 1/2-5 year olds and features more team based development with games played against other MHAA teams.  Our Recreational program is for ages 6-18 featuring competitive games played against other organizations in Union and Mecklenburg Counties.  

Locations:     Practices for 6U-12U teams will typically take place at the Mint Hill Athletic Sports Complex soccer fields located on Brief Road. Soccer practices for 13U-18U teams will take place at the Mint Hill Veteran's Park located on Highway 218 near Interstate 485.  All 6U games will take place at the Brief Road soccer fields. All 7U -12U teams will have both home games at Brief Rd and away games at other league member locations. 13U-18U will have home games at Mint Hill Veteran's Park and away games at other league member locations. Directions to all of the fields can be found on our web site under the Soccer / Directions tab.

Games:      All teams will typically have a minimum of 8 scheduled games during the Fall & Spring seasons.  Normally there will be an End of Season Tournament for all 7U and up teams in the Fall. Game schedules will be provided to the coaches of each team typically the week of the opening weekend.  Parents should note your team's opening weekend and be prepared to play a game that Saturday or Sunday or both.  Some teams may choose to play in additional tournaments or events during the season at an extra cost.

Practices:  All 6U teams practice one to two nights per week. All 7U-18U teams will conduct two practices per week. Practice nights for the team is based on the Volunteer Coach's availability.  Players cannot be dropped off at the fields unsupervised. If you cannot stay with your child, please be sure you make arrangements with another adult to supervise your son or daughter while you are away.  This is not the coach's responsibility.

Equipment:  Each player must have the following equipment in order to compete during games and to participate in practices:  shin guards and soccer cleats with non-metal spikes (Soccer cleats are different than other sports so be sure to use true Soccer Cleats-no toe spike). It is also recommended that each player has their own soccer ball.  Micro-8U players will use a Size 3 ball, 9U-12U players will use a Size 4 ball and 14U-18U players will use a Size 5 ball.  Each player should also bring along water or sports drink to every practice and game.  Player name should be written on their soccer ball and any non-disposable water bottle.

Uniforms:  Each player will order a uniform kit at the time of initial registration.  The uniform kits are designed to last multiple seasons and include: a Home and Away jersey shirt, green athletic shorts, and green soccer socks.  You will need to order a new uniform kit if your kit no longer fits or has become too worn out for use.  It is highly recommended that each player also has additional shorts, shirts and socks to utilize for practices.

Order your uniform kit here. 

Age Brackets:  Each age bracket is broken down into divisions based on the player's birth year. The "U" in each age bracket stands for "Under"; for example:  "8U" means "8 and Under".  Each child will be placed into the appropriate age bracket based on their birth year and will practice and compete against kids of the same birth year, or years if in a combined bracket.  A player may participate in a higher age bracket if appropriate but players cannot "play down" in a younger bracket.

Coed and Non-Coed teams:  All 6U and 7U teams are coed, there is no separation between boys and girls in these two age brackets.  Beginning at the 8U level, teams will be divided into Girl's teams and into Boys teams if registration numbers allow it.  Boys may not play on an all girl's team but girls cannot be denied playing on a boy's team.  If we do not have enough girls to form an ALL girls team in an age division, a player may play up a level if space is available OR be combined with the boys division to form a Coed team.

Cost:  The cost for a single player is determined by division.  Micro is $90 per player.  6U Soccer is $160 per player.  7U-8U is $180 per player.  9U-12U is $190. 14U-18U costs $215.  If you have another child playing Rec soccer within MHAA during the same season, the higher of the individual registration fees will apply for the first player and then the fee for each additional player will be reduced by $50 except for our Micro Soccer program which already discounted.  The discount will only be applied if registering players during the same online session.  The $50 discount does not apply to other sports in MHAA.  The cost of the program covers the following:  NCYSA (North Carolina Youth Soccer Association) or US Club Soccer fees, facility fees, officiating fees, equipment expenses, League Team and Player registration fees and end of Season tournament fees if applicable.   50% of your fees go to the MHAA General Fund for mortgage expense, insurance, complex maintenance, electricity, septic services, trash and other general fund expenses

Seasons:  Soccer is technically a year round sport, running from July 1st to June 30th.  For Rec soccer, the year is split into two sessions - Fall & Spring.  The Fall session will begin before school starts back, normally mid to late August and games will begin the 1st weekend after Labor Day.  The Fall season typically runs thru November, ending before Thanksgiving.
The Spring session begins late February to early March, normally right around when Daylight Savings time changes.  The older kids will normally start a week or so earlier with 6U and Micro starting mid March.  The season will run thru late May, normally ending before Memorial Day weekend, but can run into the first two weekends of June if the Spring Season experiences a lot of rain or teams choose to play in external tournaments.

Commissioner's Note:
The Mint Hill Soccer program offers an excellent opportunity for new and skilled players to develop their soccer abilities.

We are a volunteer association, no member of the MHAA board of directors nor any of the sports commissioners receive payment for their time and efforts.  In fact, we pay the same fees as everybody else to register our children in the programs provided!

Because of this, it is imperative that parents step forward to offer their time and volunteer to coach, assistant coach, be team parents and fill assistant soccer commissioner roles.  Volunteers have made Mint Hill Soccer successful.  However, we are always in need of more volunteers.  If you are interested in volunteering your time for one of the roles listed below, please let me know by sending an email to:  soccer@mhaa.us

Please do not think that because you have never played the game of soccer you will be unable to help; this is certainly not a problem!  We will provide you with coach training and mentoring plus coaching manuals and dvd's, that will help you to be successful in your volunteer role. 

Thank you for your interest in our program and I look forward to seeing you and your player(s) on the field!

Volunteer Roles Needing to be filled each season:
Coaches: One coach is needed for each team.  Each coach will be responsible for their team throughout the entire season.  This includes scheduling and conducting practices as well as coaching during games.  All U6 coaches will also officiate during their games.  These are the youngest players and experience has shown us that it's easier for the coaches to ref the games as they can help position their players as well as coach them while on the field.  

If you have never coached nor played soccer before, do not let this keep you from volunteering to coach your child's team.  We will have a coach's meeting to go over everything that you need to know in order to coach.  Also, we will conduct a coach's clinic prior to the season beginning; this will allow new coaches to ask as many questions as they need to while also showing them numerous drills and ideas on how to conduct a practice. 

Assistant Coaches: Though an assistant coach is not necessary for a team it is highly recommended.  The assistant coach will have the same responsibilities as the head coach and will often be asked to fill in for a coach during a practice or a game during the course of a season.  This is a great opportunity for a parent to learn about the wonderful game of soccer

Team Parent:   This is a very important role for each team.  The team parent is in charge of creating the all important "Snack Schedule" for each game.  In addition to the snack schedule, team parents are also responsible for planning the end of season party and acquiring trophies if the team has decided to purchase them for their players.