Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer (TBAYS) is comprised of three different divisions.  Juniors (U4-U6), Youth (U7-U12) & North Storm (U9-U19). Juniors and Youth teams are formed randomly by Birth Years.  We try to group Youth players to create evenly skilled teams.

TBAYS Player Development Model

For more complete descriptions of each program:

• TBAYS Juniors – Ages 4-6
• TBAYS Youth – Ages 7-12
• TBAYS North Storm – Ages 9-19

Currently TBAYS has over 1500 families, and just over 2000 players. TBAYS began as a single team (the Hawks, U12B) in the spring of 1988. This team was organized by Fred Haines (TBAYS past President). The Hawks were the first Traverse City youth soccer team to participate in sanctioned down state tournaments, and met with surprising success.  TBAYS has grown dramatically since then, and has become the preferred soccer program for Traverse City youth.

TBAYS is a member league of the Michigan State Youth Soccer Association. MSYSA is a branch of the USYSA, which oversees much of the youth soccer in the United States (including Olympic Development programs). Membership in MSYSA allows TBAYS teams to compete in and to host sanctioned tournaments, provides training for coaches and referees, and gives insurance protection for coaches and players. TBAYS maintains firm standards of behavior and sportsmanship for its players and coaches, all of whom are governed by a strict code of conduct.

Keystone Soccer Complex:

A Huge thanks to the Myer Family Donation for starting Keystone Soccer complex!  A $1.2M Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) land acquisition grant made possible by the Meyer Family donation of over $800,000 to design and build 8 new soccer fields, entrance roads, parking facilities. 120 acres were sold to the state, with over 80 acres be dedicated to permanent conservation land through the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy. Thirty-eight acres were used to develop the new fields bringing the facility total to 16, large enough to host major tournaments on a single site.

Thank you to the Bay Area Contracting crew and Team Elmers for working hard and efficiently on the phase 1 of the North Lot Development.  They came in way ahead of the deadline and have been fantastic from the start to work with.  Thank you, TC Tourism and their Board of Directors, for assisting with the funding support of the new entrance and parking areas.

In 2020 TBAYS secured a lease with the Grand Traverse County Parks on the Brimley Property located just North of the current Keystone Soccer Complex.  Winter 2021, TBAYS broke ground in the development of the North End Property. In September 0f 2022, we officially opened a second entrance off Brimley and added more parking spots.  The second half of phase 1 is in the works (adding a well, irrigation system and additional fields.  Phase 2 is in the fundraising phase and will look to include 2 11v11 turf fields as well as several grass smaller fields.  If you are interested in helping with this development, please reach out to us at admin@tbays.org.