GREATER GRAND FORKS RECREATIONAL SOCCER

Welcome to the Greater Grand Forks Soccer Club (GGFSC) Recreational Soccer program. This program is for boys and girls in preschool through 6th grade and takes place in both the spring and fall. Games are at Bringewatt Park and practices take place at various parks throughout the city. Hundreds of athletes take advantage of this fast-paced, fun activity and many go on to join our competitive and winter indoor programs. The rec program goals are to have fun and promote good sportsmanship, fair play, and love for the game. As such, we do not emphasize the results of the game, but prioritize fun and the development of skills and abilities.

The Spring Rec Season generally opens for registration in late February. The season runs from mid to late April thru late May/early June, depending on holiday/school dates. The beginning of the season is also highly dependent on snowmelt and field conditions. Occasionally we might delay the full season opener, but do limited practices on a turf or indoor field if available.

The Fall Rec season generally opens for registration in late July. The season runs from late August thru early October, depending on holiday/school dates. The end of the season is occasionally impacted by early snowfall and is subject to change.

This page will be populated with season info, including dates, deadlines, and costs as details are finalized and registration opens. Once opened, registration may be made either from here or your "my account" page.

2026 Spring Recreational Soccer Program

SEASON DATES: April 13, 2026 - May 30, 2026 (No Games or Practice on Saturday May 23rd or Monday May 25th, 2026)

• Register by Monday, March 23, 2026 at 11:59pm

• Late registrations after March 23rd will incur a $30 late charge and no guarantee of placement. 

  • Team formation begins immediately following the closing of registration. Due to the large amount of re-work required for late adds, late registrations will be handled on a case-by-case basis depending on available space in the age group. No team requests will be accepted for late registrations.  

NEW THIS YEAR:

• Preschool Age Group.  We will be adding 2 Saturday Games to each team. Within the 6 week season you will continue to practice and play games on Monday evenings (No Monday, May 25th) and then 2 Saturdays they will have games. 

REGISTRATION:

• Read through this entire information page first

• Registration is open to those who will be 4 years of age by April 1, 2026 through those players currently in 6th grade.

• Make sure you have a GGFSC account (register by clicking the register button above)

• Find your player's division in the registration links at the bottom of the page, and fill out the online registration.

  • Divisions are by the player's current grade level. Do not register outside your grade level or you may end up losing your roster spot. 

  • Park and school questions in the registration process help us form teams where numbers are uneven or there are multiple teams.

  • Payment needs to be made by credit card at the end of the registration process. 

  • NOTE: Sports Connect has a mandatory $3 service charge on each transaction. This is in addition to the GGFSC program registration fee and is non-refundable.

  • Players must have reached their 4th birthday prior to April 1, 2026. Rec program divisions follow standard GF school-age cutoff dates.

    • NOTE: If you do not see the proper grade-level registration link below, it is usually because your player falls outside of the standard age range for the division (we can fix this if you notify us by email at [email protected]). It might also be because the registration period has ended.

• Scholarship/hardship applications and instructions for submittal can be found by clicking this link

  • Scholarship recipients will be required to complete the volunteer hours as stated in the application.  One hour of volunteering per $20 awarded.

• Registration deadline: Monday, March 23, 2026 at 11:59pm (Please try to not wait until the last minute to register as you may run into problems with your account or the registration process).  Late registration incurs a $30 late fee and no guarantee of placement.  Registration is first-come, first-serve, so don’t wait until the last minute!

Rosters Announced: By Sunday, April 5th. Change requests after rosters are announced will not be honored.  

Practices: Team practices begin the week of April 13th, weather permitting.
For planning purposes, expect your practices to be on the days listed in the grid below.  Specific practice times and locations will be announced when rosters are announced. We aim for 5:30 start times, however, due to program numbers and field availability, start times are usually staggered when daylight is available.   

Games: 
Games Schedule Announced: By Friday, April 10th. 
First Games: Week of April 20th (weather and field permitting).  We try to get, at minimum, one practice before the first game.
Makeup Games: We expect some weather cancellations and generally there are no makeup games unless there is an extremely extenuating situation.  If circumstances dictate, we may choose to hold makeups on Saturday, May 23rd and/or Monday, May 25th.  Makeups are at the sole discretion of GGFSC.  No makeups will be held without an announcement from the club. 

 
Age-specific programming grid

Required Player Equipment:

• MANDATORY - Shin guards covered by soccer socks

• Tennis Shoes (Soccer Shoes/Cleats) are recommended - be sure that the cleats are made specifically for soccer and are not of the baseball or football type, or you will be asked to remove them.

• Soccer Ball - please bring a soccer ball to each practice as coaches will not have enough for every player (see sizes in the table above).

•  MANDATORY FOR GAMES - GGFSC Reversible Rec Jersey - They are available at Scheels. Jersey numbers are optional and available at Scheels for an additional charge. 

Coach General Information:

• Recreational soccer teams are coached by parent volunteers, which is standard practice for the vast majority of clubs throughout the country. We do our best to help develop volunteer coaches, including providing coaching resources, training seminars, and even certification. However, if your player is interested in receiving training from our certified staff coaches, we have many other programs available for them to develop their skills.
• We try to distribute the coaches who express interest during the registration process, but not all teams will be filled at the beginning of the season and we will seek volunteers.
• After the first week of practice (grace period), teams cannot take the practice or game field without a coach
• Any parent may be asked to volunteer if your team does not have a coach. However, GGFSC can not be ultimately responsible for finding your team's coach, so please consider stepping up! The less delay, the better it is for the kids.

• All coaches (head and assistant) must register through GGFSC. Use the volunteer tab in your "My Account"
• All coaches must complete a background check and a SafeSport module through GotSoccer. Details on this process will be emailed as coaches are registered.
• After the end of the season, each volunteer rec coach will receive a registration fee reimbursement check for one GGFSC Recreational athlete per session, per team coached. This will be prorated depending on coach participation, details in the coach registration form. 
  
  

Coach Training

• Our goal is to educate and empower our volunteer coaches and having all coaches under our roof allows us to develop a pathway for coaching development.
• We strongly encourage all coaches to take a short, free Introduction to Grassroots Coaching Module from US Soccer.
  
• We will hold one coach training session sometime within the week prior to the beginning of the season, and, depending on demand, at least one or more sessions during the first week of the season. Details will be emailed as we firm up the plan.

Coach Equipment

• Bags with several balls, cones, and pinnies (for some) will be distributed to coaches prior to the first practice. A date for this distribution will be announced via email prior to the beginning of the season. 
• We recommend that coaches provide their own additional own cones and balls, if desired.
• For 2nd grade and up: Goalkeeper gear (sweater and gloves) is not mandatory, but if you choose to use them, they must be provided by coaches or players. A pinnie or sweater may serve to identify the goalkeeper, however it must be a color that uniquely differentiates the goalkeeper from the other players.

Rules of the game summary (for more info, see the GGFSC Rec Rules and Guidelines Page)

• GGFSC generally follows US Youth Soccer modified rules for age groups as listed in the table above
• Specific position play may be introduced at U10 (2nd grade and up). If position play is used, all athletes should get a chance to rotate through all positions.
• All athletes must play approximately equal playing time.
• Deliberate play from the head (headers) is not allowed in any age level of GGFSC rec soccer. Deliberate headers should be called as a free, indirect kick for the opposing team
• For 2nd thru 4th grade games, the US Soccer Build-Out Line rules will be in effect. To foster development of play out of the back field, punts and drop kicks are not allowed for 2nd thru 4th grade goalkeepers. Goalkeepers will serve the ball out by throwing or rolling.
• Penalty kicks will not be awarded at any time for grades 4 and under (direct/indirect kicks may be awarded). Penalty kicks may be awarded as necessary for grades 5 and up.
• Kick-in restarts should be used in lieu of throw-ins for preschool and kindergarten divisions. Out of bounds on the sideline (touchline) should restart on the sideline. Out of bounds on the goal line should be awarded a goal kick by the defending team (if the attacking team kicked it out), or a corner kick by the attacking team (if the defending team kicked it out)
• If there are not enough players on one team to field the number of players for that division (see table), then the opposing coach should lend enough players to the team in need using pinnies or reversing the jersey, as appropriate. Players can be rotated in this manner, and can be sent back to their original team if more players show up. Alternatively, both coaches can agree to play up to one player short from the number of field players for that division, however a game cannot begin with more than two field players short on either side. If this is a recurring issue for a team, please contact GGFSC.