About
Mission
The East Bay Over Thirty Soccer league (EBOTS) is a coed adult recreational soccer league for men over 30 and women over 21. We are a league that prioritizes fun over competition. EBOTS started as a pick-up league in the summer of 2003. EBOTS incorporated at the end of 2003 in California, and this structure allows the league to legally get insurance and reserve fields. EBOTS is a unique league that combines the best elements of an organized sports league (insurance, guaranteed fields, etc.) and a pick-up game.
The idea behind the league was to create an atmosphere where players of all levels, from experienced players returning to the game to absolute beginners, could meet and have fun playing the great game of soccer.
From its inception, the league has strived to encourage friendship and camaraderie over competition, and the social aspects of the league are what build strong relationships and keep players engaged in the EBOTS community. Here are some of the things we do to ensure that the league maintains this spirit:
• We play every week, year round, and offer our members the opportunity to develop and maintain friendly relationships.
• We put personal safety above everything else.
• We divide our members into six teams and play for a few months; two or three times a year we shuffle the players, form new teams, and start over. This way we all get to know each other well, and we learn to keep things in perspective since this month’s “opponent” may well be next month’s “teammate.”
• We do not use referees; instead we call our own fouls. We have found that the presence of a referee at times polarizes people. The absence of referees promotes fair play and camaraderie. The system is not perfect and definitely not for everyone, but it works for us.
• We do not track scores or points. The final score is usually forgotten once the game is over.
• Players frequently cross team lines to help out the other team if it is short in players.
• We hold formal and informal clinics where more experienced players help others develop their skills.
• We keep the number of members relatively low (approximately 120), so we all get to know each other fairly well.
• After most games and practices, players from all the teams meet at a local pub to have a brew, eat some pizza, and talk about the day’s games.
• We hold social events several times a year.
• Last but certainly not least, we value the role of women in the league and encourage as many women as possible to participate.
About EBOTS
As we enter our 7th season, EBOTS has never been stronger. Membership is at an all-time high with new players signing up every week. Although we would love to allow everyone to play immediately, it’s not practical. We are limited by field access and we are conscious that our current members would like to maximize their playing time; hence we limit the numbers on each team. Thus, over the past 6 months we’ve seen the waitlist grow and lately we haven’t been able to add people as quickly as we’d like. We will endeavor to add members in-between seasons and if the occasion arises mid season.
We certainly entertained the idea of creating a 6th team for this season, but unfortunately getting additional field time during Spring Sport season is difficult, due to the huge amount of school and youth programs using the fields. If we added a sixth team, w/o adding time, it would force 2 teams (rather than 1) to have a bye every weekend, and it would simply give all members less playing time.
Further, we’ve explored other fields and we’ve evaluated them on different factors (cost, location, grass/turf, amicability, etc) and overall Piedmont gives us the best options. And, as our good relationship continues to grow, we’ll try to expand the timeslot in the spring (May 2005). If so, we’ll be able to add 1 or 2 new teams. Alternatively, we might attempt to get a Piedmont/Oakland Tech combination for each weekend and then we’ll have 2 games at Piedmont and 1 game at Oakland Tech.