Tryouts for the U8-U14 age groups will occur May 4-16. Tryouts for the U15-U19 age groups will occur the week of May 18-22.

We understand that the time commitment, financial commitment, and engagement level required for competitive soccer can be a transition for players coming from a recreation program. Given this - we are invested in providing you with all information necessary to help make the right decision for your player, and family, so that we increase the likelihood of a good match, rather than missed expectations later in the process. This is important for you, as well as team continuity and dynamics of all of our players.

We highly encourage players to attend as many tryout sessions as possible. This gives our coaches the best opportunity to evaluate each of them and place them accordingly to be set up for success. Attending all tryouts is not mandatory, but players must participate in at least one to be considered for placement. If your child is injured, they should still attend tryouts and speak with the coach to relay their interest in the club.

Each player needs appropriate soccer gear including shin guards, cleats, a soccer ball, and water. We ask that you not wear any club-logo uniforms.

Please arrive 15 minutes before the tryout, especially on the first day of tryouts. Each player will be required to sign in and will be handed a numbered pinnie that they will be required to wear during the tryout. This number will allow the players to be identified by our coaches during the tryout sessions.

Tryouts will take place either at the Tom Bates “Gilman” Sport Complex in Berkeley or El Cerrito High School.

The club will send an email informing all participants of their status in two blocks.

• The first set of invitations will be sent out after the first week of tryouts.

• The second set of invitations will be sent after the second week of tryouts.

For those that are offered a spot, we ask that you please respond with an acceptance (or no thank you) within 48 hours in order to save your spot on the team.

Players born in 2017-2016 will be offered an age group placement, and team selection dates will take place at our post-tryout training starting May 19th.

For all other ages, the offer letter will include the team age group and the level, which is determined according to our color ranking:

• Navy is our 1st team in an age group

• Orange is our 2nd team in an age group

• Red is our 3rd team in an age group

• Purple is our 4th team in an age group

• Grey is our 5th team in an age group

We expect there to be waiting lists for all age groups and if your child elects to decline our offer, we will move immediately to the next player on our waiting list. This is critical for the players, as they may need to evaluate different options (all clubs have tryouts around the same time, with the same kinds of deadlines) and we want to help every player make the best decision for them, and their family, based on all of the information.

The official club offer will be sent via a Playmetrics email and will include all registration and payment details. Upon accepting your position on a team, each player will be required to pay a non-refundable $300 deposit to secure their spot. This deposit will be deducted from your annual fee. Reminder that when you accept a position on a team, it is for the year (fall + spring season) - it is imperative you let us know if you have a prohibitive conflict for any season, as we are not able to easily fill vacant roster spots outside of the open tryouts period/between seasons.

Every player that attends an Eastshore Alliance Futbol Club tryout will be sent a final decision email on placement to a team within 14 days of the last tryout.

If a player is not selected to join our Competitive Program, we will send an offer letter to join our Grassroots Soccer Program (formerly known as our Recreation Program).

Yes! If you are in need of financial assistance, you must complete the financial aid application that will be available as part of the registration process in Playmetrics. We have a fixed amount of financial aid available, and as such, the club will do its best to work with you to structure a payment plan that supports your needs. Please review our Financial Aid webpage for more information.

Post tryouts, players and teams begin their summer schedule. Please review the Competitive Soccer 2026 Summer Schedule. We will be using Playmetrics for team communications, creating rosters as we begin to onboard all players to our new club with uniform orders and NorCal registration/US Club soccer player cards.

We understand that many of our players are multi-sport athletes (or have other non-athletic activities), so we work to communicate our weekly practice schedule as soon as possible. We will have this posted in your team’s new Playmetrics site by 7/31, and hope this facilitates your ability to plan other activities as you gear up for the Fall season.