Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do you have youth leagues or camps?
A: No
Q: Do you rent out gym space or equipment?
A: No. We don't own our facilities and don't rent out our equipment
Q: Do you run "drop in" or "pick up" events?
A: At this time we only run soccer in this format. See our soccer page for more info
Q: When can I sign up for [insert sport here]?
A: In general, registration opens as follows:
- Spring sports (football, kickball, softball): Late February to early March, depending on when the city provides field assignments
- Summer sports (kickball, softall, volleyball): Right after spring sports actually start (typically late April). We usually do not post any earlier than this to avoid people signing up for the wrong season
- Fall outdoor sports (football, kickball, softball): Right after summer sports actually start (late June to early July)
- Fall indoor sports (broomball, dodgeball, volleyball): Usually late August to middle of September, depending on when the school district provides us with gym assignments
- Winter sports (broomball, dodgeball, volleyball): Early-to-mid November, again depending on when the school district provides us with gym assignments
Please note that the above timeframes are general guidelines only, and can vary from year to year depending on when we get rental confirmations and when leagues start and end.
Q: Is there a maximum number of players on a team?
A: No.
Q: Is there a minimum number of males on a co-ed team?
A: No. You can have a team of all females in a co-ed league if you want (And yes, it's been done before)
Q: I signed up as as an Individual/Free Agent. When will I be assigned to a team?
A: In general, no sooner than the registration deadline. We wait for all registrations to come in before we know how many Free Agents we have and how many teams are looking for additional players. Please note that it is difficult to place males in most of our co-ed leagues.
Q: I'm a Free Agent and am availalble multiple days. How should I register?
A: That depends on how many days you want to play. If you're willing and able to play all of them, you should register for each one individually. If you’re available multiple days, but only want to play one day a week, you should register for your preferred day and select other days you’re available to play in the appropriate field during registration.
Q: How do Free Agents get put on a team?
A: There are generally two ways:
- Registered teams pick up extra players. This is a team captain picking up one or two free agents to fill out their roster
- We form “free agent” teams. These are teams composed of people who all registered as individuals. There are two main hurdles to forming these teams:
- The league sells out with registered teams. Many of our leagues sell out. We have limited space for almost all leagues. If the league sells out with registered teams we unfortunately have no room for free agent teams
- Not enough free agents sign up or there is mismatch of skill levels. Some leagues have low numbers of free agent signups. We also try to match skill levels as best we can
Q: How can I improve my chances of getting on a team as a Free Agent?
A: There are several ways:
- Be flexible on when and where you can play. You stand a much better chance of getting on a team the more days you’re available. We have a field during registration where you can indicate all the days you’re available. Obviously if a night doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but the more you’re available the better your chances
- Sign up early. We generally place free agents in the order they register
- Recruit others to play. You can register a team of a few people and request to have the rest of it filled with free agents. We'll fill up the rest of the team if we have enough people available
- Don’t give up. We don’t charge free agents unless they’re placed on a team, so it doesn’t hurt to sign up. Our need for free agents varies greatly from season to season, so keep registering and you may get placed on a team next season
Q: When will the schedule be posted?
A: Schedules are generally posted a few days after registration closes for any given league. The date that registration closes can be seen by clicking the "League Details" button on the basic info banner for any sport.
Q: How do rainouts impact scheduling?
A: Games that are rained out are moved to the end of the regular season. Rained out playoff games are moved to the next week. Rainouts may push back the start date of the next season. Starting in Spring 2025 we will be changing our policies regarding the number of times we will reschedule rainouts. We will reschedule up to two regular season games for the Spring season and one for the Summer season. Any rainouts above that number will not be made up. Instead teams will be refunded for the missed game(s).
Q: Can my team only have games at x time?
A: No. Time slots are generally distributed in a roughly equal manner amongst all teams. Chances are most other teams don't like that time slot you don't like either, so everyone gets a roughly equal number of games at each time slot. The one exception is "early" games for weekday leagues. If your team prefers 6:15 or 6:30 games, we can generally give you a lot of them unless there are a lot of teams who also prefer that time slot.
Q: The website says League X is sold out? Can I still get a team in?
A: Sold out means sold out. We have limited field/court space and a limited number of hours per day we can run most leagues and we use all of it. If it says "sold out," the league is full. We do accept a few waitlist teams for all leagues and will contact the waitlisted teams in the order they registered if a team drops out. Registration is open for most leagues for several months, so do not wait to sign up if you want to play.
Q: I have a sponsor for my team. How can they pay for the team? How do I get their logo on our shirts?
A: MSSC does not encourage or do much to accomodate outside sponsorships. Most of our leagues have a sponsor bar where teams get free beer and/or food, which in all reality is what those sponsorship dollars are usually going. If you insist on having someone sponsor your team, make arrangements for the sponsor to pay you directly, as we prefer not to handle checks for team registrations. MSSC supplies shirts for all leagues, and there are no outside sponsor logos or bar names allowed as team names. If your sponsor is interested in sponsoring the entire league, please contact MSSC, but we are not going to be free advertising for anyone.
Q: A friend and I would like to play in a league. How can we be on the same team?
A: When you submit your Individual registration, put your friend's name down in the Teammate field.
Q: I have some friends who want to play, but we don't have enough for a full team. Is there anything we can do?
A: Absolutely. We typically have Free Agents register for every sport. Just register your team and note in the comments that you are looking for more players to complete your team. We'll hook you up if we can! Taking free agents also reduces your team registration fee by the amount the Free Agents have paid MSSC. And since it generally costs more for a Free Agent to register, you and your friends end up paying less per person than most participants.
Q: Why do we play on Mother's Day/Father's Day/Valentine's Day?
A: MSSC generally does not take off for Hallmark holidays. We usually need every date available to get our leagues in due to weather issues. If someone is important to you, he or she should be important to you everyday, and not just the day the retail industry tells you they should be important. Father's Day might be skipped if we have few or no rainouts during the Spring season.
Q: When will we get our shirts?
A: Shirts are generally available for the second or third game of the season in most sports, but this is dependent on a number of factors. We have to place the order for the shirts for the entire league at once, and we will not do this until we have every team's shirt request. We are also at the mercy of the printer's schedule and they may have a lot of orders at certain times of the year.
Q: Can we order white shirts and tie dye them?
A: Yes
Q: Where are the rules for [insert sport here]?
A: All of our rules are available in the grey menu bar at the top of each sport's page when the leagues are active.
Q: Why does my team need a certain number of players to avoid a forfeit?
A: Every sport we offer is designed to be played with a certain number of players, so we want to ensure you can field a team that follows the generally accepted rules for that sport. In a sport like Kickball, seven really good players will beat a team of ten average players almost every time. Those three players that your seven person team is missing may be liabilities at the plate or in the field, which evens out the skill level of the teams. The ten person team that you're playing against probably has a few liabilities on their team, so it isn't fair to them if you're hiding liabilities by only brining seven to the field.
Q: Where did you find these refs? They're terrible!
A: Refs are extremely difficult to find in some sports. We have to take what we can get. Our refs are also human, just like you. They're not perfect and will not see everything on the field. There is also no such thing as a professional ref; they all have day jobs too. Give them a break, as they're trying their best. We're pretty sure you've dropped a pass in a football game or been thrown out in kickball once or twice in your life.
Q: So can I be a ref?
A: Sure, especially if you think you're better than the ones we have. Chances are you will find out it's not as easy as you think and you'll come away with a newfound respect for what they do. If you would like to ref for us, please click the "Jobs" link at the top of our home page.
Q: I’m not much of an athlete. Can I still join the club and participate in leagues?
A: Of course! We've had teams go an entire season without winning a game, so chances are there are other people on your skill level. Sports are about more than winning and losing. Our philosophy is that they should be about having fun, so feel free to join even if you weren't offered a scholorship to play for the Badgers out of high school.
Q: What happens if there is bad weather on the day a league is scheduled?
A: If games are cancelled, we will communicate it with a banner on the top of this website. We also e-mail all registered participants for any given league. Weekday cancellations are generally announced by 4:00 pm. Weekend cancellations are generally announced two hours before the first game. Obviously the weather does not allow us to always abide by these general guidelines.
Q: How much stuff are you going to make me fill out to play in your leagues?
A: Not much. You will just have to register online and agree to a waiver (also online). It's pretty painless.
Q: Are you going to sell my e-mail address?
A: No. We never have and never will sell member lists or any of your personal information.
Q: Is there an age requirement to join the club?
A: In most cases, if you can vote, you can play! Members must be at least 18, but other than that, we don't set too many age restrictions. Some leagues may require participants to be 21 if held at a bar or sponsored by a beer or liquor company.
Q: Where does all the money I'm paying you go?
A: At least 60% of any league's registration fees go to pay for things you can actually see: shirts, equipment, referees (no, they don't work for free), field and facility reservations, lights (where applicable) and prizes. That 60% figure is higher for some sports. Fees also cover things you don't necessarily see or think about: staff, website costs, credit card processing fees, insurance, fees to register with the state, industry association membership fees, administration, etc.
Q: Can I use PayPal to pay for events or league registration fees?
A: No. You can use TeamPayer or pay the entire fee yourself and then collect from your teammates via PayPal or Venmo if you want to with the electronic payment route.
Q: So what's TeamPayer?
A: TeamPayer is the easiest and fairest way to pay the registration fees for your team. In a nutshell, we inform the team captain of the entire amount owed for the league. The captain then divides this amount up and an e-mail is sent to each player with the amount he or she owes. Every player pays online, the captain is happy because he or she doesn't have to hunt you down for a check, and we don't have to kick you out of the league for non-payment.
Q: Why do I have to pay a $2.00 fee to use TeamPayer?
A: It's a credit card processing and convenience fee. Anytime any credit card is used for payment anywhere, you pay a fee, whether you see it or not. If you don't see the fee listed, the merchant has built it into the cost of the item or service. When there are, say, ten payments instead of one, it costs more to process the entire team registration fee. We also think Team Payer is much easier on the captains when compared to collecting checks or cash from all the members of their team.
Q: Is there a way I can pay other than online?
A: Generally not. We have moved to an entirely online payment system for most sports to make things easier on us and the captains, who many times need to try to collect 15 different checks or $20 bills from team members. See the TeamPayer explanation above. If you do not have a credit or debit card, contact us and we will try to make arrangements for you.
Q: Is my online payment secure?
A: Yes. We are an Authorize.net Verified Merchant, which means your transactions are processed according to the highest security standards.
