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2025 International Opportunities – Now OPEN for Registration!

Winter and Spring Trip opportunities are confirmed! Elite & Competitive Program Players and Families can now register for trips in the 2013, 2011, 2010, and 2009 age groups. Keep reading for more information on these international soccer immersion opportunities.

Since the creation of the CRYSC International Program in 2022, over 600 CRYSC players, families, and staff have joined us to experience trips of a lifetime! Travelers have walked in the footsteps of world-renown footballers at Old Trafford, cheered alongside passionate Athletico Madrid supporters at a Champions League match in Madrid, served local communities in Costa Rica, and immersed themselves in the history, culture, and landscape of countries around the world. To continue providing those opportunities for our membership, we are pleased to announce the first trip destinations and details for 2025. See below for information about those trips and the following steps!

COSTA RICA

The 2010 & 2009 (current 15U & 16U) Boys & Girls are headed to COSTA RICA for an 8-day tour over MLK Holiday week, from January 17-24, 2025, filled with training, cultural immersion, and natural wonder! Travelers will participate in a trip starting in San Jose, Costa Rica, and then move to the Coastal Puntarenas area to experience the lush jungle/rainforest and the Western coast beaches. This trip will focus on individual/small group skill-building and conditioning as our players prepare for Spring Club or HS season. Included in the soccer content of this trip will be at least four professional clinics with guest coaches, two training sessions facilitated by CRYSC Staff, a tour of Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, a service learning opportunity with Costa Rican children, and professional Costa Rican soccer match (teams TBD). Additionally, we want players & families to enjoy the country’s unique landscape by taking in a guided San Jose city tour, a hike up the Irazu Volcano, a Crocodile Jungle Safari boat tour, and a Zipline excursion.

• Space on this tour is limited to the first 12 Boys & 12 Girls players who register to ensure a quality experience on and off the field.
• Follow this LINK for registration information and instructions, including payment plans.

SPAIN

Our 2011 (current 14U) Boys & Girls and their families have the opportunity to travel to SPAIN for a 9-day tour, from March 7-15, 2025 (boys) / March 14-22, 2025 (girls), to immerse themselves in fútbol history, culture, and tradition. While visiting the two Spanish cities of Barcelona and Madrid, participants will attend a professional match, tour Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (home of Real Madrid), play international friendly matches against local teams, train in CRYSC-led training sessions, and have one professional training clinic with a guest coach from a professional Spanish club academy! Travelers will also take guided Barcelona & Madrid city tours to visit La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, and Las Ramblas and spend some free time exploring areas of interest!

• Space on this tour is limited to the first 36 Boys & 36 Girls players who register to ensure a quality experience on and off the field.
• Follow this LINK for registration information and instructions, including payment plans.

ENGLAND

Lastly, the 2013 (current 12U) Boys & Girls and their families have the opportunity to travel to ENGLAND for a 9-day tour, from March 7-15, 2025 (boys) / March 14-22, 2025 (girls), to take in the birthplace of football (soccer) and all the passion, history, and drama that comes with it! On the trip, travelers will have the chance to explore Manchester, Liverpool, and Royal London, attend a professional match in England with thousands of singing fans, visit the National Football Museum, tour EPL Stadiums, play international friendly matches against local teams, have CRYSC lead training sessions and have a professional training clinic with a guest coach from a professional English club academy! Travelers will also take a London City tour, visit the Tower of London, spend some free time in London, and take an excursion to Liverpool.

• Space on this tour is limited to the first 30 Boys & 30 Girls players who register to ensure a quality experience on and off the field.
• Follow this LINK for registration information and instructions, including payment plans.

2025 TRIP SLATE (CURRENT)

Click on the provided links for your respective trip to access the sample itinerary, cost, and information on how to register.

In addition to these club-wide age-group trips, CRYSC International can also facilitate custom team trips that cater to a team’s schedule and interests. This could include an international tournament, a new destination, an international coach’s “hometown” tour, or any other trip that blends soccer and cultural immersion. Should you be interested, there is still time to plan something for Summer or Fall 2025!

Hana plays goalkeeper for our Rapids 10GB NPL team and is considered by her coaches and teammates to be a great team player, always motivating the team with her commitment to her role and her kindness. While being responsible for the energy of the team, Hana prides herself on leading her team, always congratulating her teammates on success as well as giving them constructive feedback after tough matches or losses. Off the field, Hana volunteers at church in the nursery, mountain bikes, and plays basketball. At school, Hana serves as Historian of the National Junior Honor Society, is on the gifted and talented curriculum, and takes stats for basketball games throughout the season.

This September, Hana will be presented with a plaque and a gift card to acknowledge her achievements. We spoke with Hana to learn a bit more about her. Check out the full interview below!

The summer months can typically be an off-season for players, but for coaches, we use this time to continue to learn and grow in our own craft. CRYSC used the summer months of June and July to connect with full-time staff and part-time/volunteer coaches through both formal educational licensing through U.S. Soccer and in-house coach development.

CRYSC believes in providing educational experiences and opportunities for coaches and has built a pool of educators and coach developers that can help deliver on our coaches’ needs. Our club has the most licensed U.S. Soccer Coach Educators of any club in the country and can serve coaches interested in obtaining formal licensing through U.S. Soccer Grassroots, D, C, and B courses. In June and July, over 60 coaches obtained various Grassroots licenses in courses led by CRYSC Next Wave Director Kathryn Balogun and South Region RTD Miguel Rodrigues. CRYSC has two more Grassroots courses on the schedule for August in Castle Rock led by RTD Joe McNabb. Coaches who have earned their Grassroots licenses may be eligible for the upcoming D Course (focused on coaching 8U-12U players) that starts in late August (space still available).

While formal licensing is just one avenue for development, there are other opportunities for coaches to engage in learning through club-hosted events. During the week of July 15-19, we hosted a Summer Symposium Series featuring some pilot tests of workshops featuring newly created club belief structures like the Stages of Development, the Key Qualities of a Self-Regulating player, and our club’s updated Style of Play (or Game Model). External experts Dr. Sara Campbell (Professor of Kinesiology and Sports Studies at the DU Graduate School of Sport Psychology) and Dr. Colin Barnes (Associate Head Coach at the University of North Carolina Wilmington) helped facilitate learning for our directors and coaches on several topics in both the classroom and on the field to observe players in action. Dr. Campbell helped lead sessions with North RTD Michael Balogun on the Key Qualities of a Self-Regulating Player, which coaches will use to help identify and develop players. Players will use them to self-reflect and identify personal goals. Dr. Barnes facilitated workshops alongside Chief Technical Director Zac Crawford on our CRYSC Attacking Game Model with a specific focus on observing principles during live play to begin the process of performance analysis. During these workshops, full-time staff was able to learn alongside some of our recreational and volunteer coaches as we were able to collect feedback on the experiences so that these workshops could be delivered to our regions this fall.

CRYSC will take the learnings from this summer and will be providing regional workshops on the various topics mentioned above so please be on the lookout for opportunities to engage with your directors of coaching. Additionally, CRYSC will host a club-wide coach development session focusing on the role of the goalkeeper in today’s game. The modern goalkeeper is required to do more than just stopping shots and making saves. The modern goalkeeper is also expected to organize and communicate, as well as initiate the attack. Our Goalkeeping Symposium will feature Colorado Rapids 1st Team Assistant Coach and CRYSC Goalkeeping Director Chris Sharpe and the CRYSC Goalkeeping Directors.

During this workshop, Chris Sharpe will offer an overview of our goalkeeping program and services; coaches will be able to interact and ask questions to create a deeper understanding of one of the country’s most unique goalkeeping programs for club soccer. During the on-field portion, our GK Directors will provide three different sessions:

• The Basics: an overview of the basic technical skills and movements of the GK, including footwork and basic handling (this is a great one for all coaches to understand some foundational concepts)
• Goalkeeper Training: an insight into what our GK staff does when training a pool of GKs
• Goalkeeper Coaching: a look at coaching the GK with the team setting

The workshop will be hosted in September (dates TBD), led by the CRYSC GK Directors, and will start in the classroom before heading to the fields to observe players, identify our main principles, and discuss how they can be used to create ONE CLUB/ONE COMMUNITY.

Peter plays central attacking midfield for our Rapids 13B Central Select I and considers soccer a part of his core identity. His coaches and teammates know him to be extremely dedicated to the game, defining his success by his team’s success. While being one of the top goalscorers on his team, Peter prides himself on leading his team in assists, adapting his play based on how his team is performing in front of goal. Off the field, Peter plays violin and was accepted to the Denver School of Arts for his talents. In addition, he plays at the Suzuki Strings of Denver, a group that performs in the community and nursing homes. He is also a mathlete, competing in the Math Olympiad.

This August, Peter will be presented with a plaque and a gift card to acknowledge his achievements. We spoke with Peter and his family to learn a bit more about him. Check out the full interview below!

This spring season, Rapids Youth Soccer registered a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 27, which is an 8-point increase from the fall and our highest score since fall 2022!

Club Net Promoter Score | Spring 2024

How likely is it that you would recommend Rapids Youth Soccer Club to a friend or colleague? (0-10) The club’s continued mission is to offer a terrific soccer experience where “The Heart Behind the Crest” can be felt beating in all that we do. This single question encapsulates the CRYSC experience and is assigned a -100 through +100 score, with -100 to 0 indicating a need for improvement, 0 to 30 being good, 30 to 70 being great, and 70 to 100 being exemplary.

Coach Net Promoter Score | Spring 2024

How likely is it that you would recommend your child’s coach to a friend or colleague? (0-10) The club uses analytics to identify coaches and staff members doing great work so their success can be acknowledged, their approaches studied, and learnings shared with other staff that might benefit. The score is calculated in the same way that the club NPS score is, with a single number from -100 to 100 being assigned to the combined results. NEW!

A NOTE ON COACH EDUCATION FROM CHIEF TECHNICAL DIRECTOR ZAC CRAWFORD

Since my arrival from U.S. Soccer in January, I have been serving as the Chief Technical Director charged with developing both our technical belief system that will help us create better player-centered environments as well as the educational system to help spread those beliefs across the entire club ecosystem of roughly 12,000 players and 2,000 coaches.

After several months of collecting data through observing, discussing, assessing, and hosting staff workshops, we have begun the steps of co-creating key aspects of our technical identity with various staff across different club programs. I now have a better understanding of our players’ and coaches’ needs and we have formulated a plan for some exciting coach development opportunities this summer. I am thrilled to apply the skills and thought systems I’ve developed throughout my time at U.S. Soccer and as the Alabama state technical director to help achieve our club’s purpose of the “Heart Behind the Crest” and our niche to “Develop Remarkable Coaches.”

I love to learn and help others learn. I am an educator and have been for over 20 years, with my main experiences coming in soccer coach education for players from 3 years old to national team players. I have also taught high school and college students at various points in my career, and I have also been a snowboard instructor and a yoga teacher. I believe that teaching is learning twice! It’s my desire to create environments and provide support to help others maximize their own potential so they can be the best for their players. Just as players go to practice to learn, coaches must also seek development opportunities.

In learning and development, self-regulation can be described as the extent to which individuals are proactive participants in their learning process by determining goals and taking action to move toward them. This includes regulating both thoughts and emotions during the self-regulated learning process: to self-assess, create goals and a plan, implement the plan, self-monitor it, and then reflect and assess the implementation of the plan. Reflecting on one’s learning process is a critical ability in practicing self-regulation. With time and effort, one can use a cyclical process to plan a task, monitor performance, and reflect on the outcome to create more autonomous learning. Consistent practice of reflective skills will lead to consistent learning.

This summer we will offer opportunities for coaches to have experiences they can reflect on to turn into learning. We believe in the power of a shared learning experience. We are in this together, and it truly takes a village to raise our children! I hope that you will be able to join us for the different offerings that we have prepared for you this summer, including both in-house workshops featuring Colorado Rapids First Team coaching staff as well as formal licensing through U.S. Soccer. Registration will be limited for some events, but we hope to provide several opportunities this summer that will meet the needs of the coaches who serve players all across our club. These summer offerings are just the beginning as we look to host more in-region workshops and courses later in the fall and winter.

IN-HOUSE EDUCATION

Coach Development Summer Series

• July 16-20 at Regis University
  • CRYSC Technical Plan Workshops: Game Model development, CRYSC Player Key Qualities, session planning, match analysis, etc.
    • July 16 Times TBD (morning session and evening session)
    • July 17 Times TBD (morning session and evening session)
    • July 18 Times TBD (morning session and evening session)
    • Registration coming soon
  • Colorado Rapids Coaching Staff Workshops:
    • July 19 from 5:00-8:00 PM: Possession to Advance (Building With a Purpose) led by Colorado Rapids Assistant Coach Chris Little
      • Registration coming soon
    • July 20 at 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Goalkeeping Symposium led by first-team GK coach Chris Sharpe and the CRYSC goalkeeping staff
      • Registration coming soon

FORMAL EDUCATION – U.S. SOCCER COURSES

• 11v11 – June 24 & 25
  • Virtual Meeting: Monday, June 24, 6:00-8:00 PM MT
  • In-person Field Session: Tuesday June 25, 6:00-8:00 PM MT
  • Lowry Sports Complex 8200 East Sports Blvd, Denver, CO, 80230 US
  • CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
  • Cost: $85
  • Course Description: The 11v11 In-Person Course is a four-hour course that builds on the principles covered in U.S. Soccer’s Introduction to Grassroots Coaching Module. Specifically, coaches will learn more about U.S. Soccer’s Grassroots Coaching Education Philosophy, Play-Practice-Play Methodology, the Six Tasks of a Coach, and the characteristics of players aged 13-19. The course will also ask each coach to reflect on their experiences to develop action steps for personal growth in the Six Tasks (Coaching Games, Coaching Training Sessions, Leading the Team, Leading the Player, Managing the Performance Environment, and Leadership).​ Coaches will be asked to participate in discussions so each person should have access to a web-camera/live video capabilities. Coaches may be asked to participate in the field component as either coaches or players, so please come prepared to actively learn.

• 7v7 – July 11 & 13
  • Virtual Classroom: Thursday, July 11, 7:00-9:00 PM MT
  • In-Person On-Field: Saturday, July 13, 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM MT
  • Gates South Fields – 15099 East Fremont Drive, Aurora, CO, 80016 US
  • CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
  • Cost $85
  • Course Description: The 7v7 In-Person Course is a four-hour course that builds on the principles covered in U.S. Soccer’s Introduction to Grassroots Coaching Module. Specifically, coaches will learn more about U.S. Soccer’s Grassroots Coaching Education Philosophy, Play-Practice-Play Methodology, the Six Tasks of a Coach, and the characteristics of players aged 9-10. The course will also ask each coach to reflect on their experiences to develop action steps for personal growth in the Six Tasks (Coaching Games, Coaching Training Sessions, Leading the Team, Leading the Player, Managing the Performance Environment, and Leadership).​ Coaches will be asked to participate in discussions so each person should have access to a web-camera/live video capabilities. Coaches may be asked to participate in the field component as either coaches or players, so please come prepared to actively learn.

• 11v11 – July 12 & 13
  • Virtual Meeting: Friday, July 12, 6:00-8:00 PM MT
  • In-person Field Session: Saturday, July 13, 1:00-3:00 PM MT
  • Gates South Fields – 15099 East Fremont Drive, Aurora, CO, 80016 US
  • CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
  • Cost $85
  • Course Description: The 11v11 In-Person Course is a four-hour course that builds on the principles covered in U.S. Soccer’s Introduction to Grassroots Coaching Module. Specifically, coaches will learn more about U.S. Soccer’s Grassroots Coaching Education Philosophy, Play-Practice-Play Methodology, the Six Tasks of a Coach, and the characteristics of players aged 13-19. The course will also ask each coach to reflect on their experiences to develop action steps for personal growth in the Six Tasks (Coaching Games, Coaching Training Sessions, Leading the Team, Leading the Player, Managing the Performance Environment, and Leadership).​ Coaches will be asked to participate in discussions so each person should have access to a web-camera/live video capabilities. Coaches may be asked to participate in the field component as either coaches or players, so please come prepared to actively learn.

• 9v9 – July 21
  • Sunday, July 21, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM MT
  • The Eddy – 111 Havana St., Havana St., CO, 80010 US
  • CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
  • Cost $85
  • Course Description: The 9v9 In-Person Course is a four-hour course that builds on the principles covered in U.S. Soccer’s Introduction to Grassroots Coaching Module. Specifically, coaches will learn more about U.S. Soccer’s Grassroots Coaching Education Philosophy, Play-Practice-Play Methodology, the Six Tasks of a Coach, and the characteristics of players aged 11-12. The course will also ask each coach to reflect on their experiences to develop action steps for personal growth in the Six Tasks (Coaching Games, Coaching Training Sessions, Leading the Team, Leading the Player, Managing the Performance Environment, and Leadership).​ Coaches will be asked to participate in discussions so each person should have access to a web-camera/live video capabilities. Coaches may be asked to participate in the field component as either coaches or players, so please come prepared to actively learn.

• D Course – September & October
  • Sunday, July 21, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM MT
  • Nine (9) weeks of virtual learning (Mondays September 9, 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28) with four (4) in-person days (October 5, 6, 26, 27 from 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM).
  • Cost $450
  • Registration coming soon
  • Course Experience: Coaches who register for this course can expect weekly learning opportunities that will feature a mixture of independent learning using online modules, live virtual meetings, and a 4- day in-person meeting led by a licensed U.S. Soccer Educator. Coaches will be asked 2 to participate in discussions so each person should have access to the internet and a laptop/device with web-camera/live video capabilities. The virtual meetings will take place on agreed-upon days and times (see below). Coaches may be asked to participate in the in-person field component as either coaches or players, so please come prepared to actively learn.
  • Eligibility Requirements: To register for the U.S. Soccer D course, all candidates must meet the following prerequisites:
    • • At least 18 years of age
      • Completed Introduction to Grassroots Coaching module
      • Completed Two (2) Grassroots In-Person (4v4, 7v7, 9v9 or11v11)
      • Completed One (1) Grassroots Online (4v4, 7v7, 9v9, or11v11)
    • OR
      • Completed Introduction to Grassroots Coaching
      • Previously Earned U.S. Soccer E License or
      • Completed Introduction to Grassroots Coaching
      • Previously Earned U.S. Soccer F License
      • Completed Two (2) Grassroots In-Person (4v4, 7v7, 9v9 or11v11)
    • AND
      • Student Coaches must have access to a team (U7-U12)for the duration of the course