Playing fields throughout Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow will be filled on weekends in a few weeks with more than 600 youth between the ages of four and 18 as a new season of AYSO soccer kicks off.

The AYSO program, which boasts approximately 600,000 players nationwide, has been a staple in the area since 1979, teaching youngsters about sportsmanship, teamwork and the importance of being physically fit.

“It’s an entirely volunteer run organization. It has a real community feel,” said John Maltby, the current commissioner who also has coached in the league for 12 years. “We insist that every child that wants to play gets to play. It’s not based on tryouts.”

AYSO relies heavily on its 120 adult volunteers to successfully carry out its split fall/spring seasons, which consists of 16 games and 16 practices for a fee of only $85 per player. The league has teams that play in-house and others that travel to compete against club teams in other municipalities.

This summer, AYSO had an under-14 girls team that traveled to West Palm Beach, Florida to compete in the National AYSO tournament against squads from California, Michigan, Chicago and Florida.

“We did pretty well,” Maltby said. “It was a lot of fun.”

AYSO also runs a program for children with special needs and added an adult program, which has about 25 participants.

While AYSO utilizes nine fields in the area, Maltby said the lack of playing fields in the two villages has been an issue. However, AYSO is still looking to grow by reaching out to minorities.

“We do not have as much representation from the newly arrived population that we would like,” Maltby said. “Part of our goal is to get kids to play. We have players from most countries in Latin America and Europe.”

Anyone interested in joining AYSO should visit its web site www.aysotarrytown.com.