1. U.S. Soccer Driven Age Level Changes
Information for Coaches, Parents and Families

2. AGENDA Review information from MYSA and U.S. Soccer
Review related WBSC decisions/policies

3. Who is making these decisions?
U.S. Soccer, the National Governing Body for soccer in the USA
Mandated = every youth soccer org. will comply
e.g. U.S. Youth Soccer (incl. MYSA), U.S. Club Soccer, AYSO, etc.
Not an MYSA or club decision IF it will happen, just HOW to manage changes
Clubs

4. What is changing?
Switch from Aug-Jul to Jan-Dec (“Birth-year”) registration
New Small-Sided Game Standards
7v7 at U9/10 and 9v9 at U11/12 (currently 6v6 and 8v8)
Offside added at U9/10
Field size and Goal size changes
Build-out line to encourage playing out of the back, i.e. “good” soccer

5. When is this happening? Fall 2016 – Birth-Year Registration
All 55 U.S. Youth Soccer state associations
MYSA Leagues, State Cup, MRL, Regionals, U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship
Fall 2017 – Small-Sided Game Standards
MYSA (other states may implement earlier)

6. What isn’t changing Soccer Seasonal Calendar: Fall-to-Summer
Player tryouts/evaluations can begin in late July
Fall MYSA league and State Tournament (Aug-Oct)
Summer MYSA league and State Tournament (Apr-Jul)
MN State Cup  Region II Champ.  US Youth National Champ. (Apr-Jul)
Age groups still termed “U#” nationally in the overall structure. May be simpler to refer to birth-year within a season, e.g. the “2003’s”
Olympic Development Program (ODP) stays birth-year as it has been
Soccer remains a great game for kids

7. Why the changes?
U.S. Soccer wants to improve the youth soccer environment
More individual development focus vs. a team result culture
Fully implement small-sided games across USA with consistent standards
Align player registration with international standards
Simplify identification of “relative age effect” bias
RAE = Selecting players born earlier within a group due to physical maturity

8. Birth-Year Challenges
Aug-Dec players become younger within their new age group
They “leapfrog” an age group in the transition year ( )
U14 Aug-Dec players (older 8th graders) may have player pool shortage every fall to form 11v11 teams
Due to high school play for Jan-Jul birthday players
Team formation and league placement are challenges in the transition period

9. What can parents/families do?
Be accurately informed - Chain of communication
Families Club leaders MYSA U.S. Youth Soccer and U.S. Soccer
Keep the big picture in mind
National standardization affects all individuals, clubs, and states
Be supportive of club leadership – no easy solutions
Control what you can (and accept what you can’t)
Remember: Not a club decision IF it will happen, just HOW to manage changes
Reassure your child that s/he can adapt to these changes
Same for everyone

10. Related White Bear Soccer Club policies
NONE of these changes affect WBSC teams/players for upcoming summer season
WBSC conducted many discussions on how to best implement age level changes starting in fall 2016
Sought input from other clubs and reviewed MYSA poll results of how clubs plan to implement
Resulted in WBSC establishing the following 5 policies/decisions

11. 1) When to implement birth year play. (e. g. Recreational vs
1) When to implement birth year play (e.g. Recreational vs. Competitive)
WBSC will implement the following age level standards starting with the fall 2016 soccer season:
Play soccer by birth year as soon as players enter club, even at Rec, to get families used to birth year concept from the start
While not encouraged, to not restrict families from signing up for “play up” year in Recreational
Play up for Competitive players need to follow the stipulations stated under item #4 below
Reason:
Providing families with flexibility during Rec soccer would allow more families/kids to A) start soccer, B) keep playing soccer.

12. 2) Decision between A) split age level fall. vs
2) Decision between A) split age level fall vs. summer, or B) same age level
MYSA allows both options for flexibility
WBSC will go with option B
Reason:
Option A would require WBSC to reform teams mid soccer year (during winter) for 2 age levels that move field sizes between fall and spring – see items marked in chart A below. Also, MYSA even states it makes most sense to play entire soccer year in the summer age group.

13. 2) Decision between A) split age level fall. vs
2) Decision between A) split age level fall vs. summer, or B) same age level
Per MYSA: The seasons are broken down individually because if you have fall- only players they may play in an age group based on that fall’s calendar year. For those who play fall and summer, it might make most sense to group them for the entire soccer year based on their summer age group. Technically they would play up in the fall but it's likely many other clubs/teams will do the same. If your club decides to place a team at their actual age group in the fall and move up an age group for the summer season, be aware that from U10-U11 and from U12-U13 that means playing a bigger game with a bigger roster needed.

14. 3) Support teams to stay together, or enforce play at their age level
There has been interest by some coaches to keep entire teams together and move them up to a certain age level. The WBSC has decided not allow coaches to keep entire teams together. Players will go through evaluations as individual players by age level for the purpose of accurate team formation by new age level standards. Reason: Allowing whole teams to stay together would dilute player pools. For example, if a current U12 team (2003/2004 birth year) is allowed to keep the team together then the pool of 2004 players is reduced, so that the current U players may not A) have enough players to form competitive teams, or B) not have enough players to form teams at all.

15. 4) Play up policies
For the fall of 2016 the WBSC has adopted the following play up stipulations:
Allow opportunity to play up
Player has to try out for actual age level first
Player can try out for additional age level(s) without additional evaluation charges
In order to play at age level up the player needs to make the following based on evaluations:
For U9/U10, the player needs to be in the top 6 overall for the age level up
For U11/U12, the player needs to be in the top 8 overall for the age level up
For U13 and above, the player needs to be in the top 11 overall for the age level up
If player does not make top team of age level up (C1 or Maroon) then player must play at actual age level
Reason:
If WBSC does not put restrictions on making the top team, as well as the top # of players of the age level up, the concern is, as mentioned under item #3, that player pools would become diluted due to too many players attempting to play up, which in turn would hurt entire age groups.

16. 5) What to do with U14 Aug-Dec players in the fall
Aug-Dec players in that birth-year will be 9th graders playing school soccer and there may not be enough 8th graders to form a fall U14 team.
WBSC has appointed Edi Buro (DOC) to be responsible for the following:
Communicate with other clubs regarding their plans for these players, to see if there is common ground with direction and possibly league play opportunities
Work with MYSA to try to get official policies/league opportunities set up
Reason:
WBSC can’t make a decision in vacuum so we need to get a better understanding of what other clubs are looking at doing.
Per MYSA: MYSA will want to know if players are not getting the chance to play and if we should implement solutions on a state-wide level.

17. WBSC Resources
Age level information (including birth year / age level chart) has been posted on WBSC Age Level webpage – see URL below
Navigate to webpage the following ways:
Click “upcoming age level changes” news article under Current Activities on WBSC home page
From WBSC website, use the top navigation: Home > News & Events > Age Level Changes
Age Level webpage includes link to form where questions can be submitted to the Club