GA to Adopt Seasonal-Year Age Group Formation

[Anonymous]

https://girlsacademyleague.com/2025/09/girls-academy-to-adopt-seasonal-year-age-group-formation-beginning-in-2026-2027/?fbclid=PAb21jcAMxYsRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp3LqXBpdqNQ2wgydO_nzTBwGa5NquU_KmKYlCyrD1KVAeR32hnLhDToPqOLp_aem_8VkN8jpoUYCVTShcl6ZZqw

Girls Academy to Adopt Seasonal-Year Age Group Formation Beginning in 2026–2027

Cornelius, NC (September 12, 2025) – The Girls Academy (GA) today announced that it will adopt a seasonal-year age group formation cycle for all players beginning with the 2026–2027 season. Under this adjustment, player registration and team formation will run from August 1 to July 31, better aligning with the academic calendar followed by the majority of U.S. school districts.

This change mirrors the recent announcement by other youth organizations within the U.S. Soccer ecosystem and reflects a shared commitment across the landscape to prioritize the player and family experience.

Girls Academy Commissioner, Patricia Hughes, offered the following statement:

“Our goal at the Girls Academy is to ensure a competitive and developmentally focused environment. We are committed to understanding the collective needs of our member clubs and the importance of aligning with other national organizations in this adjustment, thus reinforcing our shared responsibility to create the best possible experience for our female players.”

The current age group formation cycle (January 1 – December 31) will remain in place for the 2025–26 season. The new seasonal-year cycle (August 1 – July 31) will take effect with player registration and team formation beginning in August 2026.

[Anonymous]

Tryouts will be interesting.

[Anonymous]

MLSNext will be next to announce? Anyone heard anything from their MLSNext clubs?

[Anonymous]

There will still be trapped kids.

[Anonymous]

Omg why another thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will still be trapped kids.

And?

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain how this works? Is it by grade or age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how this works? Is it by grade or age?

Exactly as it says in the link/memo: "team formation will run from August 1 to July 31". So instead of a soccer age group going from Jan 1, 2015 - Dec. 31, 2015, it would go from August 1, 2015 - July 31, 2016. It's a "school year inspired" 12-month age grouping, or "seasonal year" grouping, aimed at keeping *more* kids playing with their school grades (but not all, as there will still be some mismatches).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg why another thread.

It is actually a new topic to be fair

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how this works? Is it by grade or age?

Age -- August 1 to July 31.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how this works? Is it by grade or age?

It's literally the exact same as it is now. The date is 8/1 not 1/1. That's it SIMPLE!

[Anonymous]

So what team does a dec child play?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain how this works? Is it by grade or age?

Age. My November 2014 plays with 2014s in 9v9. They can either play up next year with the rest of their team in 11v11 or play down with their school year and repeat 9v9 with the combo 2014’s and 2015’s. Most of their teammates right now are in middle school while they are in the 5th grade.

I was hoping MLS Next/GA would not change but I guess it was too difficult to shift away from the remainder of the country.

[Anonymous]

In the example above, they are U12 now. They will have the ability to stay U12 as will all current U12’s born 8/1-12/31/2014.

Apply the same logic to whatever birth year you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what team does a dec child play?

Club directors are going to earn their money this year…