It is 9:15 on a Tuesday and you are in the East Meadow Public Library parking lot, because that is where the wifi is. The registration email is still open on your phone and the number at the bottom is more than a month of groceries. Your kid has asked about tryouts four times this week and you have said “we’ll see” four times. You have already decided not to ask the club for help, because asking feels like telling a stranger you failed. Here is what is behind that door: which Nassau County clubs put money aside in writing, what they ask you to hand over, and an email you can copy tonight.
Written by Fernando, founder of Tiempo Soccer Academy (Rockville Centre, NY). Last reviewed: September 2026.
The short answer, and the number that should stop you feeling strange about asking
Most Nassau County clubs have money set aside for families who cannot pay the fee, and almost none of them put it where you would find it. In a sweep of 14 Nassau club websites in September 2026, three publish an application you can actually fill out, two more put a promise in writing with no form attached, one names the money only on the page aimed at sponsors, and the rest publish nothing. Nothing published is not the same as nothing available. It means the money moves by email, and the email has to come from you.
Here is why you are not an outlier. Across the New York and New Jersey region, roughly 250,000 kids play youth soccer and about 150,000 more want to and cannot, with 32% of families naming fees as the main barrier (Aspen Institute Project Play, 2026). Nationally, the average family spent $1,016 on one child’s primary sport in 2024, up 46% in five years, with soccer families up 69% (Aspen Institute Project Play, 2025). One in three families in this region is having your 9:15 conversation. If rec, InterLeague, travel and academy are still doing strange things in your head, start with the Long Island youth soccer development guide, then read the rest of this as a money document.
The Nassau clubs that put aid in writing, verified live in September 2026
Every row below was read off the club’s own live page this month. I name only clubs whose page I could load and quote, and I publish no award amounts, because no Nassau club publishes them and a made-up number would cost you more than it helped.
| Club | What it publishes | How you start |
|---|---|---|
| East Meadow SC | A full financial aid page: deadline, documents, committee, conditions | Register first, then email the application plus tax documents to financialaid@eastmeadowsc.com |
| Lynbrook/East Rockaway SC | A “Financial Hardship Application” as its own menu item, in English and Spanish | Fill out the linked form, one per child. Questions to intramuralslersc@gmail.com |
| Massapequa SC | A named Player Assistance Fund with published eligibility rules | Apply through the PAF page if you live in 11758 or 11762, or have two full soccer years in the club |
| Great Neck SC | A written promise: no child refused entry to travel for reasons of need | Email info@gnsoccer.com and ask for the payment schedule and the support |
| Port Washington SC | A written statement that the club provides scholarships for families who cannot pay in full | Email the Director of Coaching at jigs@portsoccerclub.com |
| Plainview-Old Bethpage SC | Need-based aid named on the sponsorship page, not the parent page | Email the club board and ask for it using the words on that page |
East Meadow SC has the most detailed aid page in the county, and reading it is the fastest education you can get on how this works anywhere. The aid is need-based, awarded annually, funds are described as very limited, and it offsets club fees only. Uniform, coaching and team fees stay yours. The deadline is hard: complete documentation before September 15 of the season you are applying for, and you must already be registered before you submit. A board committee decides, the decision is final, and it comes by the end of the calendar year.
Lynbrook/East Rockaway SC gets the human part right. Its menu carries three items side by side: Financial Aid, Senior Scholarships, Sponsorship Program. Three pots, three pages, no confusion. The aid page holds a Financial Hardship Application with a line worth reading twice: all information is kept strictly confidential and reviewed only by members of the Financial Assistance Committee. One application per child. And it is the only club in this sweep that publishes the form in Spanish as well as English. The East Rockaway program guide maps the rest of what that club runs.
Massapequa SC calls its money the Player Assistance Fund and is blunt about it: the PAF “is not a vehicle to consistently offset training fees, but rather to be used as a lifeline for families in hardship who need temporary assistance.” It is also the only Nassau aid page with an eligibility rule you can check yourself before you write, and the fees it sits beside are in the Wantagh, Seaford and Massapequa guide.
On the North Shore, Great Neck SC states that “no child will be refused entry to the Club’s Travel Program for reasons of need.” Port Washington SC writes that it “endeavors to provide scholarships for players that are unable to afford the entire cost of travel soccer.” Neither publishes a form. Both publish a sentence, and a sentence on a club’s own site is something you can quote back at them. The Great Neck and Port Washington cost breakdown has the fees those sentences sit beside.
Plainview-Old Bethpage SC says the most about how this county works. The need-based money is real and described in the club’s own words, on the sponsorship page: support lets the club “provide scholarships for those children who need financial assistance, offer several scholarships to graduating seniors as well as help offset the cost of participation.” That page exists to ask local businesses for money. The parent-facing pages say nothing. The aid is announced to the donors and not to the families it was raised for. Not malice. Just a volunteer board writing to whoever was in front of them that day.
“Scholarship” is the most misleading word on a Nassau soccer website
This is the trap that eats the most parent hours in this county. On most Nassau club sites, the page titled Scholarships has nothing to do with your registration fee. It is a college award for a graduating high school senior.
Oceanside United SC gives its scholarships to graduating seniors “to defray the costs of a post-high school education,” more than $350,000 to over 200 seniors in twenty years. Garden City Centennials advertise almost $25,000 to high school seniors over three years. Levittown SC’s Pelini Fund traces to the Luigi Pelini Memorial Scholarship Program from 1999. Massapequa’s senior award asks for a recommendation form, a college acceptance letter and two typed essays, mailed to arrive by May 1.
All four are good programs. None will pay for your nine-year-old’s fall season. The tells are “senior,” “graduating,” and a May deadline. If the page mentions a college acceptance letter, close it and go find a different one. Clubs that separate the two cleanly, like Lynbrook/East Rockaway and Massapequa, use different menu items and different names: hardship or player assistance for the fee, scholarship for the senior. When a club uses one word for both, ask which one you are being pointed at.
What clubs actually ask for, in the order they ask for it
Composited from the published requirements at East Meadow, Lynbrook/East Rockaway and Massapequa. Have these six answers ready and you will not lose a season to a missing document.
1. “Are you registered with the club yet?”
East Meadow puts it in capitals: the player must be registered for the season before the application goes in. This trips up careful parents, because the instinct is to settle the money before committing. The club’s instinct is the reverse. Register, then apply. If registering means a deposit you cannot make, say so in the email.
2. “Are you current on what you already owe?”
East Meadow disqualifies applicants who fall behind on club and team payments while the application is pending. Read that as a rule about timing, not character. Ask before the balance goes late. If you are already behind, put the number in your first email. Registrars handle arrears every season and can only work with a figure they have been given.
3. “Can we see your 1040 and your W2s?”
East Meadow asks for the most recent federal return, pages 1 and 2 of form 1040, plus all recent W2s or other yearly income statements, emailed with the player’s name and date of birth in the subject line. This is the most common reason an application stalls. Find those two pages this week. If your income does not arrive on a W2, or you file with an ITIN, send what you do have and say plainly what it is. A committee can work with an unusual answer. It cannot work with silence. And send one per kid: Lynbrook/East Rockaway states that a separate application must be submitted for each child requesting assistance.
4. “Do you live here, or have you been here a while?”
Massapequa’s fund requires the 11758 or 11762 zip codes or two full soccer years in the club. Most clubs do not publish this and apply some version of it anyway, because the money was raised locally. If you are new, say how long you have been in the district and which school your kid attends.
5. “Will you work the winter tournament?”
East Meadow requires approved recipients to volunteer about 10 hours at one of the club’s winter indoor tournaments. I like that rule, and you should offer it even where it is not written. Offering hours before anyone asks changes the shape of the conversation. You are not asking for charity. You are proposing a trade, and the club is short of volunteers every season.
6. “What did the coach say?”
For returning players, East Meadow asks the coach three things: was attendance regular and punctual, do the parents volunteer, is the family in good standing with the team fund. The same club promises that nothing about your application reaches your head coach or team manager. Both are true. The coach is asked about the player and told nothing about the money.
Most training builds technique. Tiempo builds skill.
The email. Copy it, change five things, send it tonight.
Send it to the registrar, and to the general club address too, because volunteer inboxes go quiet. Send it before tryouts, not after the invoice. Use the words “financial assistance” and “hardship,” because those are the words on the club’s own paperwork and the person reading knows which folder to open.
English version
Subject: Financial assistance request, MARIA GARCIA, U11 girls
Hello,
My daughter MARIA GARCIA, born March 2015, plans to register for the 2026-27 season. I am writing to ask whether the club has a financial assistance or hardship fund, and what the process is to be considered.
I can provide our most recent federal tax return and W2s, and I can complete whatever application form the club uses. If there is a deadline, please tell me the date so I do not miss it.
If assistance is not available, I would still like to know two things: whether the fee can be split into payments, and whether there is a lower-cost program inside the club my daughter can play in this year instead.
I am also happy to volunteer hours at a club tournament or event.
Thank you for your time.
YOUR NAME, YOUR PHONE, YOUR EMAIL
Spanish version, same email
Asunto: Solicitud de ayuda economica, MARIA GARCIA, U11 femenino
Buenas tardes,
Mi hija MARIA GARCIA, nacida en marzo de 2015, quiere inscribirse para la temporada 2026-27. Le escribo para preguntar si el club tiene un fondo de ayuda economica o de dificultad financiera, y cual es el proceso para que la consideren.
Puedo enviar nuestra declaracion de impuestos federal mas reciente y los W2, y puedo llenar el formulario que el club utilice. Si hay una fecha limite, por favor digame cual es para no perderla.
Si no hay ayuda disponible, me gustaria saber dos cosas: si la cuota se puede dividir en pagos, y si dentro del club hay un programa de menor costo donde mi hija pueda jugar este ano.
Tambien puedo ofrecer horas de voluntariado en un torneo o evento del club.
Gracias por su tiempo.
SU NOMBRE, SU TELEFONO, SU CORREO
Three things that email deliberately does not do. It does not explain your family’s finances, because no Nassau club asks for a story and none should. It does not apologize. And it does not accept the first no, because it asks a second question, the payment plan, and a third, the cheaper program in the same club. Usually one of those three is a yes. For when to send it, the Nassau registration timing guide has the windows.
What to do when your club publishes nothing at all
My own village’s club is in that group. Rockville Centre SC runs intramurals, InterLeague, travel and TOPSoccer and publishes no aid page. Baldwin, Syosset and Garden City published nothing I could find either. Ask anyway. A club with no page is not a club with no fund. It is a club whose fund lives in a board member’s head. Then work down this list.
The Every Kid Sports Pass. Up to $150 toward registration fees, with four published conditions: your child is on Medicaid, SNAP or WIC with at least one active when you apply, your child is 4 to 18, the sport is recreational rather than elite or travel, and the season runs at least four weeks (Every Kid Sports, 2026). Read the third one twice. Community leagues, parks and rec, and school teams qualify. Select and elite travel teams do not. The money loads onto a virtual card you use to pay the league with, and out-of-pocket payments cannot be reimbursed, so do not pay first. The Winter 2026 round opens October 27 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific, 1:00 p.m. here. Put it in your phone.
Municipal programs. The Town of Hempstead runs a youth soccer clinic at Oceanside Park for $20, one Saturday morning, registration opening Tuesday September 8, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. (Town of Hempstead, 2026). Three hours, not a season. Also $20, and for a six-year-old who has never touched a ball it is the right first purchase.
The Economic Opportunity Commission of Nassau County runs a youth soccer program in Hempstead for low-income kids ages 6 to 19, at 134 Jackson Street, (516) 292-9710, covered in the Hempstead and Uniondale guide. Equipment is a separate problem: Good Sports donates new gear, but it grants to youth programs, not families. That one is not an email you send. It is a link you forward to your club’s board with one line: has anyone applied to this?
Where Tiempo fits, and the part where I tell you not to pay us
We are not a club. We do not run LIJSL travel teams and we do not compete in tournaments. We are the structured individual development layer that sits next to your kid’s club or school program, and we charge for it. So, the honest version.
If money is tight enough that you are reading this page, private training is the wrong purchase this year, and that includes ours. Fix the season first. Get the kid registered somewhere, at rec price if that is what fits. A kid in a $200 InterLeague program who plays every week beats a kid with eight private sessions and no team, every time. LIJSL runs about 60,000 players across 97 member clubs and more than 3,500 teams (NY Red Bulls / LIJSL, 2026). There is a door at your price. It may not be the door with the nicest uniform.
The filter is structural, not personal: roughly 70% of families in pay-to-play youth sports earn over $50,000 a year and about a third earn over $100,000 (SFIA, State of the Industry, 2018). That was built by the price, not by your kid. What I will do free, in English or Spanish, is read a club’s fee page with you and say whether what they charge matches what they deliver. The Nassau County cost breakdown has the published numbers club by club.
Frequently asked questions
Will asking for financial aid hurt my kid’s chances at tryouts?
At the clubs that publish a policy, no, and they say so in writing. East Meadow states that a board committee reviews applications, that information is confidential, and that nothing is shared with your head coach or team manager. Lynbrook/East Rockaway says the same. At a club that publishes nothing, ask it out loud in your first email. Does the coach see this? A serious club answers without getting uncomfortable.
What if I do not have a tax return, or I am paid in cash?
Send what you do have and name it: pay stubs, a benefits letter, a SNAP or Medicaid notice, an ITIN filing. East Meadow’s published requirement is the most recent federal return plus W2s or “any other yearly personal/family income statements,” and that last phrase is the door. A financial aid committee is three volunteers being fair with a small pot. They have seen unusual paperwork. What they cannot process is a blank where the income should be.
How much do these funds actually cover?
No Nassau club publishes an award amount, so anyone quoting you one is guessing. What clubs publish is the shape of the money. East Meadow says funds are very limited, that the amount depends on what is available that year, and that aid offsets club fees only, leaving uniform, coaching and team fees with you. Massapequa calls its fund a temporary lifeline, not an ongoing discount. Plan on a partial award, ask for a payment plan on the rest.
Do I have to ask again next year?
Yes. East Meadow’s aid is annual with a September 15 documentation deadline, so the calendar resets every season. Put a reminder in your phone for the first week of August with the registrar’s address already in it. And if travel only works with aid you have to win again every August, that is worth knowing now. The travel readiness guide covers when that jump is worth the annual pressure and when it is not.
Is any of this available in Spanish?
One club in this sweep publishes its application in Spanish: Lynbrook/East Rockaway SC posts a Solicitud por dificultades financieras beside the English form. Everywhere else, write in the language you think in and send both versions of the email above in one message. Nobody has ever been denied a soccer fund over a grammar mistake. The guide for Spanish-first families covers the rest of the system, and the bilingual coach page explains why sideline language is not a side issue.
Sources
- Club pages, accessed September 2026: East Meadow SC financial aid, Lynbrook/East Rockaway SC financial aid, Massapequa SC Player Assistance Fund, Great Neck SC travel, Port Washington SC travel, Plainview-Old Bethpage SC sponsorship.
- Senior scholarships, September 2026: Oceanside United SC, Garden City Centennials, Levittown SC Pelini Fund, Massapequa SC.
- Outside the clubs: Every Kid Sports Pass, 2026, Town of Hempstead, 2026, EOC of Nassau County, Good Sports.
- League and research: NY Red Bulls / LIJSL, 2026, LIJSL, Aspen Institute Project Play, State of Soccer NYC/NJ, 2026, Aspen Institute Project Play family spending, 2025, SFIA, 2018.
Aid policies, deadlines and contact emails change every season, and these funds are run by volunteers with day jobs. The club’s registrar is the source of truth. This page is the shortcut to knowing what to ask them and when.
¿Prefiere leer en español? Lea esta guía en español: quién da ayuda económica en Nassau County y cómo pedirla.
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