Club's Level Structure / Player Development

The Club offers recreational and travel soccer programs. It also offers camps, clinics, and private classes to improve individual skills and build a solid understanding of soccer to ensure all players get the opportunity to advance through the different levels within the club. 

There are primarily two types of teams within the Club: Recreational and Travel teams.

Cosmo Stars Soccer Club’s youth developmental soccer organization is a pyramid structure consisting of three (3) levels: Apollo 1, 2, and 3. These levels represent our three (3) season-based youth soccer programs to develop and advance through each level of the club. Our top tier represents the highest level of competition with our developmental teams, as well as our amateur, semi-pro and potentially our professional teams.

Apollo 1 is mainly our introductory soccer program for kids of 4-15 years of age. Recreational soccer is made of grassroots, community, and camp programs. This level serves as the introduction to the basic skills necessary to becoming a competitive soccer player, and a great place for players to grow in confidence, acquire the basic skill, and gain game experience. Players who signed up for Rec+ will have the opportunity to participate in local recreational leagues with games on weekends.

Apollo 2 is the first step to competitive soccer level for ages 8-18 (U8-U18). This is an accelerated soccer training program prioritizing skill development in a challenging age-appropriate competitive environment. This category will focus on local and regional leagues and tournament participations. Apollo 2 includes Futures and Juniors Teams for age groups U8-U10. These teams will mainly participate in the EDP Futures SoccerPlex MD and EDP Central Maryland Short Sided League (CMSSL), as well as local tournaments of the same age and skill levels. Teams U11-U18 will play mainly in the EDP league (local/state), USYS South Atlantic Conference (Region), EDP League Cup, Presidents Cup, and State Cup, in addition to other local tournaments depending on the level of competition.

Apollo 3 is the top competition level for ages 13+ (U13-18).  It is made of academy level teams to play in National championships, National Leagues, Presidents Cup, or National showcases. These teams will be the foundation for our future top-level tier to participate in higher youth developmental and professional soccer competitions, e.g. USL, MLS Next (boys) and Girls Academy League (GAL), NAL, NPL, ECNL, etc.

TEAM SIZE

Apollo 1 Recreational teams will be grouped by age, grade bracket, and approximate skill level. Teams may be coed or gender specific. Special requests will be allowed by parents to have friends, family members, and/or classmates in the same group. Each recreational team will consist of a maximum of 15 players.

The size of the Apollo 2 and 3 Travel teams will have the maximum number roster size for their age group per the MSYSA/USYS guidelines, as follow:

• U8-U10, the team size will be 12 players,
• U11-U12, the team size will be 16 players,
• U13+, the team size will be 22 players.