This policy has been set in place to ensure that players attend and take advantage of practices will be play in their games. Practices are a very important part of any sport and the Gurnee Youth Athletics Department feels very strongly about this. This is to help prevent players from just showing up to play games and having unexcused absences from practices.

“All children must attend each week’s practice in order to participate fully in the following game with the exception of illness, family emergency or any event that may cause the child to be out of town. In the event a child cannot attend practice, the coach must be notified prior to the practice. The first unexcused absence will result in the child only playing ¼ of the following game. Any unexcused absence after this will result in the child sitting out the next game.”

It is easy to get signed up to volunteer coach! Please call 847-599- 3752 to sign up or to receive information regarding coaching. We are always looking for coaches and have many spots available.

Yes, even with no prior soccer experience your child will be able to play in Gurnee Park District’s Youth Soccer League. Our league is based on learning the game and teaching players all the basic skills necessary to succeed and have fun in soccer. In this league, there are no stats, wins or losses kept, there are no all-stars and no playoffs or champions awarded. This allows for the players and coaches to focus on learning, having fun and being active.

For your child to participate in Gurnee Park District’s Soccer League, he or she will need a Gurnee Park District jersey, soccer cleats and a pair of shin guards.

No, if your child is required to wear a medical bracelet or necklace, they can wear them. However, in following with the IHSA soccer rules, we do require that the necklace and/or bracelet be taped down and secured. This ensures the safety of the player wearing the item and the other players on the field.

We do ask that your child removes his/her earrings prior to participating in games. However, if they have recently been pierced, we do allow the child to keep them in if they are the small, starter earring studs. We ask that your child covers the studs with a piece of athletic tape prior to starting the game. This allows the child and the other players on the field a certain level of safety. We do not allow any hoops or earrings that hang or dangle from the ear for safety reasons and the referee will ask the child to remove them.

We take a variety of factors into consideration when deciding to cancel Saturday games. We are in direct contact with our parks team on the condition of the fields daily to ensure the safety of players. We also look at how long and hard it has been raining, if there has been lightning sighted as well as how much water is on the fields. There will be times where it will be perfectly sunny out and yet games will be cancelled because of standing water on the fields from a week of raining and the fields not having time to drain. We will make our decision by 8:00 am on Saturday mornings and will post it on the Sports Hotline and GurneeParkDistrict.com.

The sound is our lightening prediction system (Thor-Guard) which is located at both parks. When lightening is predicted, there will be a 15 second warning horn and a strobe light will flash until the threat of lightening is reduced. If you hear the horn, we ask that you leave the fields and seek shelter until the all clear signal is heard. When the lightning risk is reduced, Thor-Guard will sound three short blasts at which point you can leave shelter and resume activity.

Gurnee Park District’s Youth Soccer League will play in rain as long as no lightening has been spotted and Thor-Guard has not gone off. If you wake up and the weather does not look the best, please visit GurneeParkDistrict.com or call the Youth Sports Hotline to check if games are cancelled. If games will be played, please dress your child appropriately for the current weather.

Unfortunately, Gurnee Park District’s Youth Athletics Department is not able to offer any guarantee that you will be on the same team as another family or families you plan on carpooling with. We ask that you register your child on the practice night that best fits your family’s schedule. You can coordinate with other families in your carpool to register for the same practice night and location, but there is no guarantee that every child will be on that team.

Unfortunately, we are not able to guarantee when your child is put on the waitlist that a spot will open up in the program. On many occasions, it does work out that a spot becomes available on the team you registered for, but it is not guaranteed. We encourage you to put down your second choice for a team when you register to help ensure that your child will get into the program. The Youth Athletics Department is also very diligent at keeping track of open spots in the program and presenting different opportunities to waitlisted families.