US Soccer age changes - what are the area leagues doing? are all the kids moving up? u11-u13

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you help me to understand what the benefit to doing this is? My child is only currently a U8, and I'm not knowledgeable about soccer.[/quote]

We think it's how soccer is set up in the rest of the world. That's not quite true, but it hasn't stopped anyone.

It IS how the major international tournaments are set up. Somehow, we've managed to find a bunch of kids born in January through March for the current U.S. U17 team without changing every team in the USA.

In any case -- there's some solid pushback at the younger age groups, and I can tell you rec leagues will have a lot of leeway in how they set things up.

There is a long discussion of this topic over in the travel soccer in NoVa thread (much of it overwrought in my view, but there is some good information there). I think the impetus was not so much to blindly copy what the countries who are good at soccer development do, but to make the path into elite soccer smoother. The change will be beneficial not only for international tournaments, but also for evaluating kids who are candidates to play on a Development Academy team. DAs are now the primary feeder system for the youth national teams, and they have always been birth year. Starting next year or the year after, the program will expand to cover U12s (currently U14 is the youngest age group). Evaluating kids will be simpler if they are already on birth year teams.

Many people feel that the change will cause all sorts of problems at the rec level. I don't share that view. As an earlier poster said, it just means that your child will end up with some extra friends in addition to the ones they have from their grade at school. The current age group classifications are pretty bizarre if you think about it. Most school cut offs around here are Sept. 1, but soccer age groups are August 1-July 31. Other parts of the country have different school cutoffs. The calendar year approach seems more sensible to me.

6 of the 8 2nd grade boys my husband coaches are in the same 2nd grade this year. It is really sweet. They are a tight knit bunch. Our school only has recess 1 grade at a time. There isn't a lot of mixing with kids in other grades. These kids attend the same bday parties, etc. It really forms a tight knit group---even after they get older and some concentrate on a different sport that initial bond with the early classmates/teammates is still there. My 5th grader has been doing travel since 3rd grade and has made friends from many different schools--but most parties are still the old classroom/first sports team buddies. I am one of those that feels Rec should run independently. Kids choosing to stay in Rec, for the most part, will not have any interest in DA, etc.

at a neighborhood school---it is usually how many become friends with their neighbors that live 4 streets over, etc. A lot of Kindergartners are timid enough to be starting school, new sport, etc...throw them in with First graders that already have 2 seasons of Rec under their belt and it's not a great mix for them---especially because are K teams are co-ed to begin with. Many girls drop out because of the boys in K soccer....

Heck yeah, my K girl dropped out of soccer because of the boys and didn't make it back until she was 8 years old and could go into a girls only team.

[Anonymous]

In our baseball league this s witch was made over the last year. Also to fit the international standard. Has worked well. At younger ages teams still cover two years. 7 and 8s on same team, 9th and 10s on same team. It's in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The age cut off for all us soccer leagues will be January 1. There will be no more "u9" or "u11" Teams will be referred to as 2005 etc. . . based on the year kids were born.

Initially there will be a fair amount of restructuring for teams. Yes some teams/clubs will say "we will just play you up", but that does not help kids who will then be among the youngest on the team versus being among the oldest on the team. It is never a good idea to play up unless your kid really is just eating up the competition at this age level, and you cannot move him/her to a higher level of play at that same age.

US Soccer will NOT grandfather in kids already playing. State organizations under the US Soccer umbrella are making the call whether to (a) convert everyone starting with next summer's tryouts; (b) convert everyone in the summer of 2017; or (c) allow local leagues to decide for themselves whether to convert this coming summer or next. It seems like most states as saying -- convert this summer. That, in turn, will affect how big tournaments are handled as teams will likely need to be set up to comply with the Jan 1 age cutoff.

Again -- DO NOT have your kid play up simply because it is easier for a club, or to "stay together". Your kid will make friends playing on their appropriate age team.

I agree with most of this post, but wanted to make a couple of points. First, I don't think State organizations will have too much say over when the change happens. USYSA and US Club have already announced that they'll be implementing the change for this coming Fall, and I think most State organizations belong to one or the other, so they'll have to follow along.

There still will be "U9", "U10" etc., because you need to have general categories that apply to the rules for each age group (field size, roster size, etc.), and the soccer bodies won't want to update their materials each year. There will just be a one year transition period during which the Fall birthday kids will move up an age group (say from U9 to U10) as they would have without the change, and the Jan-July kids will stay in the same age group they currently are in if they don't play up (current U9s will be U9s next year again).

Going back to the OP, decisions about allowing kids to play up with their old teams vs. being divided by calendar year will not be made by leagues, it will be made by clubs and/or teams.

Your information is definitely NOT correct! As it was in the US years ago, I played on a 74' team, There will not be the U9, U10 designation ANYMORE. U9 will be 06' and 07', U10 will switch to be 05' and 06'. U9 designation will no longer be a term used to identify an age group. The age group cutoff group will be Jan 1st, those born on or after Jan 1st 2006 in tha year 2006 will be in the age group 06'. If you are familar will soccer treams many players on a U10 team are currently not 4th graders anyway. There would be mostly 4th graders, but there are also 5th graders (red shirted kids) and plaerys playing up a year or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The age cut off for all us soccer leagues will be January 1. There will be no more "u9" or "u11" Teams will be referred to as 2005 etc. . . based on the year kids were born.

Initially there will be a fair amount of restructuring for teams. Yes some teams/clubs will say "we will just play you up", but that does not help kids who will then be among the youngest on the team versus being among the oldest on the team. It is never a good idea to play up unless your kid really is just eating up the competition at this age level, and you cannot move him/her to a higher level of play at that same age.

US Soccer will NOT grandfather in kids already playing. State organizations under the US Soccer umbrella are making the call whether to (a) convert everyone starting with next summer's tryouts; (b) convert everyone in the summer of 2017; or (c) allow local leagues to decide for themselves whether to convert this coming summer or next. It seems like most states as saying -- convert this summer. That, in turn, will affect how big tournaments are handled as teams will likely need to be set up to comply with the Jan 1 age cutoff.

Again -- DO NOT have your kid play up simply because it is easier for a club, or to "stay together". Your kid will make friends playing on their appropriate age team.

I agree with most of this post, but wanted to make a couple of points. First, I don't think State organizations will have too much say over when the change happens. USYSA and US Club have already announced that they'll be implementing the change for this coming Fall, and I think most State organizations belong to one or the other, so they'll have to follow along.

There still will be "U9", "U10" etc., because you need to have general categories that apply to the rules for each age group (field size, roster size, etc.), and the soccer bodies won't want to update their materials each year. There will just be a one year transition period during which the Fall birthday kids will move up an age group (say from U9 to U10) as they would have without the change, and the Jan-July kids will stay in the same age group they currently are in if they don't play up (current U9s will be U9s next year again).

Going back to the OP, decisions about allowing kids to play up with their old teams vs. being divided by calendar year will not be made by leagues, it will be made by clubs and/or teams.

Your information is definitely NOT correct! As it was in the US years ago, I played on a 74' team, There will not be the U9, U10 designation ANYMORE. U9 will be 06' and 07', U10 will switch to be 05' and 06'. U9 designation will no longer be a term used to identify an age group. The age group cutoff group will be Jan 1st, those born on or after Jan 1st 2006 in tha year 2006 will be in the age group 06'. If you are familar will soccer treams many players on a U10 team are currently not 4th graders anyway. There would be mostly 4th graders, but there are also 5th graders (red shirted kids) and plaerys playing up a year or two.

It is currently not quite clear what age groups will be U-x vs. U-y for next year, as US Soccer has issued conflicting information on how to determine the age groups. But there certainly will be Uwhatever designations even after the change.

This is for the reason I mentioned above: Leagues are not going to update all their publications each year to refer to specific calendar year birthdays. Instead, they will include statements like: U12s will play 9 v. 9 and may have a roster not to exceed __ players. U13s will play 11 v. 11 and may have a roster not to exceed __ players. If you are familiar with the Development Academy, you will note that though it has been organized on a calendar year basis since it started many years ago, the teams are still referred to in all publications as "U18, U16, and U14." The same will be true for non-DA teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The age cut off for all us soccer leagues will be January 1. There will be no more "u9" or "u11" Teams will be referred to as 2005 etc. . . based on the year kids were born.

Initially there will be a fair amount of restructuring for teams. Yes some teams/clubs will say "we will just play you up", but that does not help kids who will then be among the youngest on the team versus being among the oldest on the team. It is never a good idea to play up unless your kid really is just eating up the competition at this age level, and you cannot move him/her to a higher level of play at that same age.

US Soccer will NOT grandfather in kids already playing. State organizations under the US Soccer umbrella are making the call whether to (a) convert everyone starting with next summer's tryouts; (b) convert everyone in the summer of 2017; or (c) allow local leagues to decide for themselves whether to convert this coming summer or next. It seems like most states as saying -- convert this summer. That, in turn, will affect how big tournaments are handled as teams will likely need to be set up to comply with the Jan 1 age cutoff.

Again -- DO NOT have your kid play up simply because it is easier for a club, or to "stay together". Your kid will make friends playing on their appropriate age team.

I agree with most of this post, but wanted to make a couple of points. First, I don't think State organizations will have too much say over when the change happens. USYSA and US Club have already announced that they'll be implementing the change for this coming Fall, and I think most State organizations belong to one or the other, so they'll have to follow along.

There still will be "U9", "U10" etc., because you need to have general categories that apply to the rules for each age group (field size, roster size, etc.), and the soccer bodies won't want to update their materials each year. There will just be a one year transition period during which the Fall birthday kids will move up an age group (say from U9 to U10) as they would have without the change, and the Jan-July kids will stay in the same age group they currently are in if they don't play up (current U9s will be U9s next year again).

Going back to the OP, decisions about allowing kids to play up with their old teams vs. being divided by calendar year will not be made by leagues, it will be made by clubs and/or teams.

Your information is definitely NOT correct! As it was in the US years ago, I played on a 74' team, There will not be the U9, U10 designation ANYMORE. U9 will be 06' and 07', U10 will switch to be 05' and 06'. U9 designation will no longer be a term used to identify an age group. The age group cutoff group will be Jan 1st, those born on or after Jan 1st 2006 in tha year 2006 will be in the age group 06'. If you are familar will soccer treams many players on a U10 team are currently not 4th graders anyway. There would be mostly 4th graders, but there are also 5th graders (red shirted kids) and plaerys playing up a year or two.

Say WHAT??? NO, NO and no. There will be no mixed year teams! I played on a '70 team fwiw. '06 and '07 will NOT play together in 2016. There will be a 2006 team (1/1/06-12/31/06) and a separate 2007 team (1/1/07-1/31/07). The current system is mixed like you stated--but that system is going away when it goes to CALENDAR year. It's currently 8/1/06-7/31/07--that goes away. Understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The age cut off for all us soccer leagues will be January 1. There will be no more "u9" or "u11" Teams will be referred to as 2005 etc. . . based on the year kids were born.

Initially there will be a fair amount of restructuring for teams. Yes some teams/clubs will say "we will just play you up", but that does not help kids who will then be among the youngest on the team versus being among the oldest on the team. It is never a good idea to play up unless your kid really is just eating up the competition at this age level, and you cannot move him/her to a higher level of play at that same age.

US Soccer will NOT grandfather in kids already playing. State organizations under the US Soccer umbrella are making the call whether to (a) convert everyone starting with next summer's tryouts; (b) convert everyone in the summer of 2017; or (c) allow local leagues to decide for themselves whether to convert this coming summer or next. It seems like most states as saying -- convert this summer. That, in turn, will affect how big tournaments are handled as teams will likely need to be set up to comply with the Jan 1 age cutoff.

Again -- DO NOT have your kid play up simply because it is easier for a club, or to "stay together". Your kid will make friends playing on their appropriate age team.

I agree with most of this post, but wanted to make a couple of points. First, I don't think State organizations will have too much say over when the change happens. USYSA and US Club have already announced that they'll be implementing the change for this coming Fall, and I think most State organizations belong to one or the other, so they'll have to follow along.

There still will be "U9", "U10" etc., because you need to have general categories that apply to the rules for each age group (field size, roster size, etc.), and the soccer bodies won't want to update their materials each year. There will just be a one year transition period during which the Fall birthday kids will move up an age group (say from U9 to U10) as they would have without the change, and the Jan-July kids will stay in the same age group they currently are in if they don't play up (current U9s will be U9s next year again).

Going back to the OP, decisions about allowing kids to play up with their old teams vs. being divided by calendar year will not be made by leagues, it will be made by clubs and/or teams.

Your information is definitely NOT correct! As it was in the US years ago, I played on a 74' team, There will not be the U9, U10 designation ANYMORE. U9 will be 06' and 07', U10 will switch to be 05' and 06'. U9 designation will no longer be a term used to identify an age group. The age group cutoff group will be Jan 1st, those born on or after Jan 1st 2006 in tha year 2006 will be in the age group 06'. If you are familar will soccer treams many players on a U10 team are currently not 4th graders anyway. There would be mostly 4th graders, but there are also 5th graders (red shirted kids) and plaerys playing up a year or two.

Say WHAT??? NO, NO and no. There will be no mixed year teams! I played on a '70 team fwiw. '06 and '07 will NOT play together in 2016. There will be a 2006 team (1/1/06-12/31/06) and a separate 2007 team (1/1/07-1/31/07). The current system is mixed like you stated--but that system is going away when it goes to CALENDAR year. It's currently 8/1/06-7/31/07--that goes away. Understand?

I meant 'birth year'. Our club said they won't allow kids to play up to keep current teams together. That means teams will be split because the age groups are pretty heavily 50-50 between the birth years.

[Anonymous]

I don't know where you're all getting this info that no one will ever, ever, ever play up. That's crazy talk. Yes, there will be limitations, but everyone who has anything to say about youth soccer would agree that players should be encouraged to play up if they have the talent to do so.

And in the Development Academy and ECNL, there will continue to be mixed-year groups at the higher ages -- U17/18 and U15/16. (Though they may eventually realize that they have to rename them U18/19 and U16/17 if they're going to comply with USSF mandates.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where you're all getting this info that no one will ever, ever, ever play up. That's crazy talk. Yes, there will be limitations, but everyone who has anything to say about youth soccer would agree that players should be encouraged to play up if they have the talent to do so.

And in the Development Academy and ECNL, there will continue to be mixed-year groups at the higher ages -- U17/18 and U15/16. (Though they may eventually realize that they have to rename them U18/19 and U16/17 if they're going to comply with USSF mandates.)

I think it comes from the fact that all 4 teams in our current age group are split even between 2 different birth years. They don't envision allowing 6 players on each team to play up to keep current teams together. It's a logistical nightmare. If there is a single star--yea--maybe he or she can--but they aren't going to keep current teams together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where you're all getting this info that no one will ever, ever, ever play up. That's crazy talk. Yes, there will be limitations, but everyone who has anything to say about youth soccer would agree that players should be encouraged to play up if they have the talent to do so.

And in the Development Academy and ECNL, there will continue to be mixed-year groups at the higher ages -- U17/18 and U15/16. (Though they may eventually realize that they have to rename them U18/19 and U16/17 if they're going to comply with USSF mandates.)

I think it comes from the fact that all 4 teams in our current age group are split even between 2 different birth years. They don't envision allowing 6 players on each team to play up to keep current teams together. It's a logistical nightmare. If there is a single star--yea--maybe he or she can--but they aren't going to keep current teams together.

I'm not as immersed in the details as some of you, but I don't see the problem. Some teams will split up, but don't all travel teams require tryouts every year anyway? And the effect is the same on all teams, so all will have to learn to play with new teammates. Not a big deal, and kids should easily be able to roll with it. (Parents with set carpools may have a harder time.) Our kid's team will lose most of its players, since apparently 75% of them are on the older side of the new age divide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where you're all getting this info that no one will ever, ever, ever play up. That's crazy talk. Yes, there will be limitations, but everyone who has anything to say about youth soccer would agree that players should be encouraged to play up if they have the talent to do so.

And in the Development Academy and ECNL, there will continue to be mixed-year groups at the higher ages -- U17/18 and U15/16. (Though they may eventually realize that they have to rename them U18/19 and U16/17 if they're going to comply with USSF mandates.)

I think it comes from the fact that all 4 teams in our current age group are split even between 2 different birth years. They don't envision allowing 6 players on each team to play up to keep current teams together. It's a logistical nightmare. If there is a single star--yea--maybe he or she can--but they aren't going to keep current teams together.

I'm not as immersed in the details as some of you, but I don't see the problem. Some teams will split up, but don't all travel teams require tryouts every year anyway? And the effect is the same on all teams, so all will have to learn to play with new teammates. Not a big deal, and kids should easily be able to roll with it. (Parents with set carpools may have a harder time.) Our kid's team will lose most of its players, since apparently 75% of them are on the older side of the new age divide.

I'm optimistic since our age group has been wrought with problems since the get-go. I am hoping they look at players with fresh eyes and the shake-up is productive. Of course-our group will probably get stuck with the coach we don't want.

[Anonymous]

I have an Oct birthday U9 girl on a team that is 60/40 fall/spring birthdays.
I'm just hoping that the U10 team she'll be combined with has a similar mix of kids.
The problem will be if this isn't the case and talented kids don't get a spot because there is a glut of kids at the older level they're combining with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an Oct birthday U9 girl on a team that is 60/40 fall/spring birthdays.
I'm just hoping that the U10 team she'll be combined with has a similar mix of kids.
The problem will be if this isn't the case and talented kids don't get a spot because there is a glut of kids at the older level they're combining with.

Someone has to be the youngest. At any tryout, there will always be kids who are almost a full older than the other kids, and they tend to have an advantage in both size and experience level. Nothing you can do about it. Mine has a summer birthday and is the youngest on a U10 team, so next year he will end up being in the middle of the age range. His friend on the team was born on Dec 31 so will go from being in the older group on the team (which is, unsurprisingly, the bulk of the team) to the absolute youngest on his new team with the new age spreads. Again, nothing you can do.

[Anonymous]

I never realized how intense these sports leagues are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never realized how intense these sports leagues are.

The leagues aren't intense; the parents are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never realized how intense these sports leagues are.

The leagues aren't intense; the parents are.

Thats what I meant. Seems like we are bordering on professional youth leagues.