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Friendship Teams

MTsc Friendship Team Formation

MTsc is the originator and home of the Friendship Team in Oklahoma.

The following is intended to help you understand MTsc Friendship Teams; what they are, how they are created, how you add players, and the rules you must follow to form one. To aid in this, please print the Friendship Team Form located below by clicking on the PDF. Follow the below, complete the form entirely and deliver it to the MTsc office during office hours M-F 11am-2pm, if you have questions (otherwise drop it off in the 24-hr secure drop box or scan and email it to MTscDocuments@att.net).

Background and Definition

MTsc had long recognized that kids like to play soccer with their friends and that Oklahoma soccer had lost players to other sports when that privilege was systematically and repeatedly denied; no longer. Consistent with being a pioneer in soccer programming in Oklahoma, in 2004 MTsc originated and implemented the Friendship Team program with the goal of permitting friends to form teams around those friendships. Friendship Teams are designed to be exactly that; soccer teams made up of players that are friends from school, church, scouts, neighborhoods, etc. as intended.

How to Form an Initial Friendship Team

The intent of this MTsc  approach to soccer is to allow friends to play together. The logistics of doing so can be tremendous and therefore parent support, patience and timely assistance with the requirements below is absolutely necessary.

The process is relatively straightforward provided the following steps are closely followed:

  • The most important step is for you to turn in your Friendship Team Form on time with the minimum number of players for your age group. If you do that, the rest is easy. It’s when you are late or don’t have enough players that you start having problems. 
  • A parent or coach adds each player to the form with their full name and date of birth.
  • The deadline for all Friendship Team forms is mid January (for spring) and mid July (for fall). See the MTsc website Calendar of Events for exact dates.  The FT Form must be submitted to the MTsc office prior to the deadlines published on the website Calendar of Events each season. There are two deadlines associated with Friendship Teams, as follows:                                                               
    • Unrestricted Deadline – Before this date, an FT form may be submitted regardless of the registration status of the players.
    • Restricted Deadline – As of this date, new Friendship Teams may be accepted and must have all non-registered players (registration of players must occur after acceptance of the new Friendship Team).

Therefore, prior to the Unrestricted Deadline, a FT form may include players that have already registered. As of the Restricted Deadline, a new FT form submitted, must consist of only players that have not yet registered or been placed on another team (e.g., via another FT form, random draw process, etc.); once players are assigned to teams, they may not be removed. Therefore, it is imperative that all additions to an existing FT be submitted to the MTsc office (via email mtscdocuments@att.net) before the added player registers.

  • All players on the requested Friendship Team must ultimately completely register or be registered online under RECREATIONAL PROGRAM meaning pay all registration/uniform/late fees as applicable by the deadline (birth certificates may be required as your MTsc registration receipt will specify).
  • Friendship Teams have guidelines for a minimum number of players and a maximum number allowed. That minimum number is the age group format (i.e. 3v3, 4v4, 7v7, 9v9, 11v11) plus 2 for U4-U10 or plus 3 for U11-U14. Thus, the minimum/maximum number of players are:
  1. U4 – 6 min. / 8 max.
  2. U5-U8 – 6 min. / 8 max.
  3. U9-U10 – 9 min. / 12 max.
  4. U11/U12 – 12 min. / 16 max.
  5. U14 – 14 min. / 18 max.
  • Players may NEVER play down in age.  See below for Play-Up details.
  • All MTsc teams are pure gender meaning no coed teams are allowed.

Playing Up on a Friendship Team

Any player may play up two age brackets to an older age bracket with a parent or guardian approval by checking the box next to their child's name on the friendship team form.  When registering your child on-line you must say "yes" to the question "Is your player playing up to an older age group". Also you will need to select the play up age in the drop down box.

IF Player is on a Friendship Team

  1. Every player on a Friendship Team that plays up must be clearly identified on the Friendship Team Form. 
  2. Any Player on a Friendship Team may play-up to two (2) age brackets provided however, such Friendship Team is limited to 30% of its players playing up two age groups (i.e. a U10 playing up to U12 is 2 age groups as is a U8 playing up to U10).  MTsc reserves the right to expressly waive this limitation ONLY in the event the team’s prior season’s performance results demonstrated that they relatively generally dominated their age bracket and in such case MTsc may request that team to play up to the next age bracket for the benefit of all relative to competition, development and fun regardless of the resulting play-up age group difference.  In such instance, the team’s parents through their coach as the team representative must consent to do so which is at their sole discretion.      

IF Entire Friendship Team Playing Up - An entire Friendship Team may play up one age bracket if all of the parents so desire and signify such by signing on the Friendship Team form. For clarity this means that by the team playing up it cannot result in anymore than 30% of the team’s players playing up 2 age groups.  MTsc expects parents to keep the players’ best interests in mind when making this selection. 

Adding Players to a Friendship Team

Players may be added to an existing Friendship Team up until the Additions Deadline (see above). To add a player, you must do these steps:

Procedure to add players to a Friendship Team:

  1. Before the player being added registers, the Friendship Team Coach must send an email to mtscdocuments@att.net providing notification of the requested addition including team name, team age group, new player’s full name and birth date.
  2. The player should register online, pay all fees, and submit a copy of the player’s birth certificate as required AFTER the office notifies you via email that your request has been approved.

These steps above must be completed before Registration is closed (as posted on the MTsc  website Calendar of Events).

Leaguing Friendship Teams

MTsc  reserves the right to schedule non-pure age groups together, as needed. For example, U9 and U10 teams may be combined into one schedule, if needed. MTsc  also reserves the right to schedule Friendship Teams against Random Draw Teams in any combination to achieve an optimal level of fun for all parties in the league.