The competitive outdoor season for regular league play begins in September. The preparation for the Fall season begins in August in the form of practices, nonleague play, and tournaments. Travel soccer teams have 2-3 training sessions per week, games on the weekend, and they also compete in three tournaments. Travel soccer is both a sport and a phenomenon. It is a sub-culture all unto itself.
Some people identify youth travel soccer with misconceived notions.
They think of unruly mobs of aggressive parents who have resigned themselves to a lifestyle of nomadic travel, driving hundreds of miles for their kids to play soccer. About half of the games are played at home with the other half being played on fields in communities about 25 miles away-communities such as Cumberland, Falmouth, Freeport, Brunswick, Topsham, and Bath. My experience with youth soccer has been nothing at all like this misconception. It's about everything else. In my experience, travel soccer has been about kids being involved in a fun activity, participating in physical fitness, interaction with kids their age, learning how to play a great sport and how to be a great sportsman, and developing things like self esteem, problem-solving skills, and the ability to work as a team.