Small-Sided Format and Calendar Year Age Groups Mandated for 2017

[Unregistered]

One issue with the change will be that kids born in the first half of the year and before the school age cut off will never play U18s if they for play up. My child is currently a u16 born in June 2000 and would play u16 next year as well as a high school junior. She will then play u17 as a senior unless she plays up. It will become a recruiting issue for some kids who will never see u18. Please respond if I am missing something. Thanks.

[Unregistered]

One issue with the change will be that kids born in the first half of the year and before the school age cut off will never play U18s if they for play up. My child is currently a u16 born in June 2000 and would play u16 next year as well as a high school junior. She will then play u17 as a senior unless she plays up. It will become a recruiting issue for some kids who will never see u18. Please respond if I am missing something. Thanks.

You are!! She is being recruiting at a younger age . By the time she is a senior she should have committed to a school and you don't have to worry about it. Let it go it will happen. Also she will play at 17 and be a senior in high school. Get rid of the (U) in U18, that means she is 17.

[Unregistered]

One issue with the change will be that kids born in the first half of the year and before the school age cut off will never play U18s if they for play up. My child is currently a u16 born in June 2000 and would play u16 next year as well as a high school junior. She will then play u17 as a senior unless she plays up. It will become a recruiting issue for some kids who will never see u18. Please respond if I am missing something. Thanks.

You are right. College coaches will understand that the new 17s is more like the old 18. Label the players by 20XX now and not U?. Teams at the oldest ages will more likely be combined calendar years to accomodate the Senior Aug.-Dec. birthdays. And the college coaches will somehow figure out what year the players are graduating.

[Unregistered]

You are right. College coaches will understand that the new 17s is more like the old 18. Label the players by 20XX now and not U?. Teams at the oldest ages will more likely be combined calendar years to accomodate the Senior Aug.-Dec. birthdays. And the college coaches will somehow figure out what year the players are graduating.

Thank you, a few get it. There will be no change in recruiting and it will make it very easy for the recruiter to target players. Why don't people get this? It is a very adjustable approach to the age of players being targeted. Thank you US Soccer for bring this into play. Just need the clubs to move fast on it.

[Unregistered]

Like anything else, there are issues with both approaches. Girls may be recruited at earlier ages than boys but most of the kids, boys and girls, get offers and commit during their senior year. Outstanding players that are true D1 do commit earlier but there are many more kids playing D2 and D3. Those coaches will be watching both age groups.

[Unregistered]

It will be what it is. My child is end of July. It has always felt like she is playing up. She is smaller and less assertive than her older team mates. But she has great skills and participates in the US Soccer Training Centers. No matter what cut off they use, some kids are going to be older and some younger.

I feel my daughter has benefitted from always playing with girls who are almost a year older. We started her in private training at a young age to compensate for the age difference, and it has paid off skill wise. I have always felt that when she is old enough to no longer feel younger, maybe U15, she will also become more assertive and really blossom in her game. But that may never happen.

I will also say this, I've known several girls who played up for a while, and then when they play their own age group, you expect them to be rock stars, and they aren't. They seem to play down to the level they are in.
So this is why, even for an end of July birth date child, I'm not really expecting her to get some great benefit with the change. And I am hoping she will be able to play up and stay with the older girls she is playing with now, and benefit even more from playing with even older girls.

I don't see how anyone can really advocate one over the other, aside from arguing for what benefits their own child. It stinks to have to make the change and reshuffle the teams, I'm not looking forward to that at all. But it will be good to align with the rest of the world I guess. Soccer is a very international sport. I don't know if colleges will care one way or the other. They'll adjust their recruiting to fit the situation as necessary to get the best players I would think. But I don't know much about that process.

[Just a Coach]

USSF Establishes Player Development Initiatives
Small-Sided Format and Calendar Year Age Groups Mandated for 2017

On July 5, 2015 the USSF Board of Directors approved the “Player Development Initiatives” developed and proposed by the National Coaching Staff. These initiatives mandate a small-sided games format for Under 12 and younger age groups along with a move to calendar-year registration for all age groups.
The initiatives contain a graduated implementation schedule which include adoption as a Best Practice beginning in August, 2016 followed by mandatory implementation in August of 2017. National affiliates, such as US Youth Soccer (USYS) are free to adopt these initiatives earlier into their programing if they choose to do so.

Cal South is working diligently to assess the impact to National, State, and local programs. We will begin the process to develop an implementation and transition plan to facilitate these new requirements and enable us and our affiliates to execute these initiatives effectively. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.
A copy of the “Player Development Initiatives” slide deck distributed by USSF is provided as reference material.
Please contact Cal South’s Director of Coaching and Education, Steve Hoffman at shoffman@calsouth.com or (805) 331-1522 should you have any questions concerning these initiatives.
USSF Player Development Initiatives (PDF File)

Centralized governing, trying to put the same size coats on everyone, does not work. The intention of playing with less players per team in the young age groups has been proven to be greatly beneficial for player development. However, in Florida, the U-11-12 will be playing with more players per team (9 instead of 8) as a result of this USSF initiative.

[Unregistered]

One issue with the change will be that kids born in the first half of the year and before the school age cut off will never play U18s if they for play up. My child is currently a u16 born in June 2000 and would play u16 next year as well as a high school junior. She will then play u17 as a senior unless she plays up. It will become a recruiting issue for some kids who will never see u18. Please respond if I am missing something. Thanks.

If she was born in 2000 she will play U17 next year and U18 her senior year in HS. So everything else you're worried about is kind of pointless.

https://usys-assets.ae-admin.com/ass...Final%20v2.pdf

[Unregistered]

One issue with the change will be that kids born in the first half of the year and before the school age cut off will never play U18s if they for play up. My child is currently a u16 born in June 2000 and would play u16 next year as well as a high school junior. She will then play u17 as a senior unless she plays up. It will become a recruiting issue for some kids who will never see u18. Please respond if I am missing something. Thanks.

she will play 17 next year and following year will play 18

[Unregistered]

... My child is currently a u16 born in June 2000 and would play u16 next year as well as a high school junior. She will then play u17 as a senior unless she plays up. It will become a recruiting issue for some kids who will never see u18. Please respond if I am missing something. Thanks.

By subtracting her 2000 birth year from the last year of the applicable seasonal year, you will learn that your daughter will be a U17 during the 2016-2017 season (as a HS junior) and a U18 during the 2017-2018 season (as a HS senior).

[Unregistered]

11v11 is going to be great for our son. I am very happy with the new implementations.