Cal South Minimum Age for Competitive Players

rainbow_unicorn

rainbow_unicorn

PREMIER
Just got this email from Cal South. This might impact our 2009 team since we may have a 2010 joining. Kind of sucks that Cal South decides to drop this without any notice. So I guess no more U8 divisions for the 2010's this year? The 2010's just have to scrimmage all year long? LOL.


MINIMUM AGE FOR COMPETITIVE PLAYERS


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During its January Board meeting, the Cal South Board of Directors adopted a minimum age policy and requirements associated with competitive play for leagues, clubs, and teams as outlined below. The policy is applicable to competition, and the forming of teams for the purpose of competition, in preparation for and beginning with the 2017-18 playing season. This includes all activities associated with recruiting, forming, rostering, and/or tryouts process of players for the sake of creating or establishing teams in preparation for the 2017-18 playing season.

This policy is consistent with the United States Soccer Federation’s (USSF) Player Development Initiatives for participating player’s in the youngest age groups, and supports the Federations reduced emphasis on competitive play during the early stages of development.

The policy defines an age floor of eight years (8) old in which players cannot be classified as Competitive players.

Mimimum age for competitive players policy:

  1. Any Cal South player whose eighth (8th) birthday occurs during the calendar year or prior is eligible to be classified as a Cal South Competitive player and can play on a competitive team.
  2. Any Cal South player whose eighth (8th) birthday Does Not occur during the calendar year or prior will not be classified as a Cal South Competitive player and cannot play on a competitive team or in a competitive environment.
  3. Class I and II Competitive Tournaments may not have age groups or flights of competition for teams registered younger than eight (8) years of age. Cal South Sanctioned Competitive Tournaments will be classified as follows:

    Class I    : Open to domestic youth teams affiliated with USSF and international teams affiliated with FIFA.*
    Class II: Open to domestic youth teams affiliated with USSF.

  4. Cal South sanctioned affiliate leagues shall not allow or authorize competitive play, competition, age groups, or flights for teams classified younger than eight (8) years old.
Tournament Sanctioning Policy:

This policy is applicable to Tournament sanctioning in addition to league play. Competitive Tournaments shall not allow or authorize competitive play, competition, age groups and/or flights for teams classified younger than eight (8) years old. U8 or 8U age groups are not authorized or allowed in a competitive environment.

Effective Date: This policy is effective January 2017. Compliance is compulsory and required for the 2017-18 playing season, which includes all preseason processes associated with tryouts, forming, and/or rostering of players to teams in preparation for the season, regardless of when they occur. Waivers to the requirements set forth in this policy shall not be considered.
 
rainbow_unicorn said:
Just got this email from Cal South. This might impact our 2009 team since we may have a 2010 joining. Kind of sucks that Cal South decides to drop this without any notice. So I guess no more U8 divisions for the 2010's this year? The 2010's just have to scrimmage all year long? LOL.


MINIMUM AGE FOR COMPETITIVE PLAYERS


fe3910ee-f899-407a-b360-d773da4ed744.jpg


During its January Board meeting, the Cal South Board of Directors adopted a minimum age policy and requirements associated with competitive play for leagues, clubs, and teams as outlined below. The policy is applicable to competition, and the forming of teams for the purpose of competition, in preparation for and beginning with the 2017-18 playing season. This includes all activities associated with recruiting, forming, rostering, and/or tryouts process of players for the sake of creating or establishing teams in preparation for the 2017-18 playing season.

This policy is consistent with the United States Soccer Federation’s (USSF) Player Development Initiatives for participating player’s in the youngest age groups, and supports the Federations reduced emphasis on competitive play during the early stages of development.

The policy defines an age floor of eight years (8) old in which players cannot be classified as Competitive players.

Mimimum age for competitive players policy:

  1. Any Cal South player whose eighth (8th) birthday occurs during the calendar year or prior is eligible to be classified as a Cal South Competitive player and can play on a competitive team.
  2. Any Cal South player whose eighth (8th) birthday Does Not occur during the calendar year or prior will not be classified as a Cal South Competitive player and cannot play on a competitive team or in a competitive environment.
  3. Class I and II Competitive Tournaments may not have age groups or flights of competition for teams registered younger than eight (8) years of age. Cal South Sanctioned Competitive Tournaments will be classified as follows:

    Class I    : Open to domestic youth teams affiliated with USSF and international teams affiliated with FIFA.*
    Class II: Open to domestic youth teams affiliated with USSF.

  4. Cal South sanctioned affiliate leagues shall not allow or authorize competitive play, competition, age groups, or flights for teams classified younger than eight (8) years old.
Tournament Sanctioning Policy:

This policy is applicable to Tournament sanctioning in addition to league play. Competitive Tournaments shall not allow or authorize competitive play, competition, age groups and/or flights for teams classified younger than eight (8) years old. U8 or 8U age groups are not authorized or allowed in a competitive environment.

Effective Date: This policy is effective January 2017. Compliance is compulsory and required for the 2017-18 playing season, which includes all preseason processes associated with tryouts, forming, and/or rostering of players to teams in preparation for the season, regardless of when they occur. Waivers to the requirements set forth in this policy shall not be considered.
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Another bureaucracy telling parents what's best for their kid.
 
rainbow_unicorn said:
Just got this email from Cal South. This might impact our 2009 team since we may have a 2010 joining. Kind of sucks that Cal South decides to drop this without any notice. So I guess no more U8 divisions for the 2010's this year? The 2010's just have to scrimmage all year long? LOL.


MINIMUM AGE FOR COMPETITIVE PLAYERS


fe3910ee-f899-407a-b360-d773da4ed744.jpg


During its January Board meeting, the Cal South Board of Directors adopted a minimum age policy and requirements associated with competitive play for leagues, clubs, and teams as outlined below. The policy is applicable to competition, and the forming of teams for the purpose of competition, in preparation for and beginning with the 2017-18 playing season. This includes all activities associated with recruiting, forming, rostering, and/or tryouts process of players for the sake of creating or establishing teams in preparation for the 2017-18 playing season.

This policy is consistent with the United States Soccer Federation’s (USSF) Player Development Initiatives for participating player’s in the youngest age groups, and supports the Federations reduced emphasis on competitive play during the early stages of development.

The policy defines an age floor of eight years (8) old in which players cannot be classified as Competitive players.

Mimimum age for competitive players policy:

  1. Any Cal South player whose eighth (8th) birthday occurs during the calendar year or prior is eligible to be classified as a Cal South Competitive player and can play on a competitive team.
  2. Any Cal South player whose eighth (8th) birthday Does Not occur during the calendar year or prior will not be classified as a Cal South Competitive player and cannot play on a competitive team or in a competitive environment.
  3. Class I and II Competitive Tournaments may not have age groups or flights of competition for teams registered younger than eight (8) years of age. Cal South Sanctioned Competitive Tournaments will be classified as follows:

    Class I    : Open to domestic youth teams affiliated with USSF and international teams affiliated with FIFA.*
    Class II: Open to domestic youth teams affiliated with USSF.

  4. Cal South sanctioned affiliate leagues shall not allow or authorize competitive play, competition, age groups, or flights for teams classified younger than eight (8) years old.
Tournament Sanctioning Policy:

This policy is applicable to Tournament sanctioning in addition to league play. Competitive Tournaments shall not allow or authorize competitive play, competition, age groups and/or flights for teams classified younger than eight (8) years old. U8 or 8U age groups are not authorized or allowed in a competitive environment.

Effective Date: This policy is effective January 2017. Compliance is compulsory and required for the 2017-18 playing season, which includes all preseason processes associated with tryouts, forming, and/or rostering of players to teams in preparation for the season, regardless of when they occur. Waivers to the requirements set forth in this policy shall not be considered.
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Aside from the clumsy language, this policy leaves me with one question -- Why?
 
espola said:
Aside from the clumsy language, this policy leaves me with one question -- Why?
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Because the U.S. Soccer Federation has said so - 4v4 is what they should be playing with pug goals and no GK. The initiatives from USSF are these ages should not be placed in competitive environments, rather, they should be placed in environments where the goal is "fun" and not winning championships. Here is what will happen, all those U-little parents that disagree (along with the clubs that need the parent's cash) will join the club (just like always) and their kids will be put on teams (just like always) and they will play in a league tied to a recreational program that ignores the USSF directives. We already saw it last fall a number of U-Little teams playing in some league out of North San Diego County. No big deal.

https://www.ussoccer.com/~/media/files/coaches/player-dev-initiatives/pdi-aug2017-eng.pdf?la=en
 
MWN said:
Because the U.S. Soccer Federation has said so - 4v4 is what they should be playing with pug goals and no GK. The initiatives from USSF are these ages should not be placed in competitive environments, rather, they should be placed in environments where the goal is "fun" and not winning championships. Here is what will happen, all those U-little parents that disagree (along with the clubs that need the parent's cash) will join the club (just like always) and their kids will be put on teams (just like always) and they will play in a league tied to a recreational program that ignores the USSF directives. We already saw it last fall a number of U-Little teams playing in some league out of North San Diego County. No big deal.

https://www.ussoccer.com/~/media/files/coaches/player-dev-initiatives/pdi-aug2017-eng.pdf?la=en
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That just pushes the "why" question back one step.
 
This came out a while ago. Honestly they should move up to 2007 and up only. These kids are going to get burned out by the time they hit 11. Club soccer is now year round and how can you push 7 year olds to do club every fall and spring and summer from this young age until high school years. That's almost 7 years of soccer before they join high school.
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
This came out a while ago. Honestly they should move up to 2007 and up only. These kids are going to get burned out by the time they hit 11. Club soccer is now year round and how can you push 7 year olds to do club every fall and spring and summer from this young age until high school years. That's almost 7 years of soccer before they join high school.
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2007's are already 10 years old turning 11. There is no such thing as burn out when you actually love doing something. The burn out occurs for kids that don't really have a passion for the sport.
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
Really?? Wait til most kids turn 13-14. The drop out from soccer to other sports is huge. It's a fact.
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At about that age, kids are entering high school. Many of them are participating in several sports, only to find out when they hit high school that the serious players are expected to spend the whole year working out in one chosen sport, either through club teams, PE classes, or private trainers. My sons' teams lost players to basketball, lacrosse, baseball, football, tennis, wrestling and even karate (not a HS sport, but he was encouraged to go into full-time training by his master). Some of those kids ended up with college money in their sports, where soccer money for them was doubtful.
 
So true Espola! Soccer has a disadvantage for scholarships. Not enough scholarships for boys and then they have to compete with international players(Mexico, Australia, Europe). And if they get a scholarship it's not a full ride. I asssume that your son needs to be in academy soccer level by the time they are 13 to have a chance for a scholarship.

Girls have a better chance.
 
SoccerFan4Life said:
So true Espola! Soccer has a disadvantage for scholarships. Not enough scholarships for boys and then they have to compete with international players(Mexico, Australia, Europe). And if they get a scholarship it's not a full ride. I asssume that your son needs to be in academy soccer level by the time they are 13 to have a chance for a scholarship.

Girls have a better chance.
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I wouldn't assume that.
 
Right because in Europe Australia and Mexico they just train until their first competitive game at around 14 and no kid ever burns out... morons!

And what is the kid who scores "too many" goals in rec soccer and is told to stop scoring, put in goal or pulled off the field going to do. Right... develop by doing drills with cones in non-competitive environment for a few more years. Nope the best athletes will find something else to do.
 
XBZ said:
Right because in Europe Australia and Mexico they just train until their first competitive game at around 14 and no kid ever burns out... morons!
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Relax XBZ, easy with the insults!!!! Take your 6 year old to club and I hope he does really well.

The fact is that 70% of the kids stop playing by the time they get to high school. Also just because your child is crushing it at the U-littles, it doesn't automatically lead to success in the future. My kid was the worst player at age 8 at a rec level. The big kids would dominate and push the little ones aside. Thankfully my son has speed, and we worked hard on his footwork. Now at age 14, he is doing great at a flight 1 team and a lot of those kids that were crushing it are either no longer playing or below his level. The best players back then are just average now. I think one made it to academy and he wants to quit because he cannot play high school soccer and cannot play other sports. It really takes a lot of determination and commitment from the kid to make it and not get bored after 10 years of playing soccer. Another kid that I know started playing at age 10 and he loves it and has the drive and is now with the Sounders Academy.
 
The morons I was referring to is whoever decided that kids can't play competitive soccer before age 8 because it will somehow harm their development or that more kids will stick with soccer if they don't play competitively "too early".

There is this strange concept espoused on this site quoting numbers like 70% of kids stop playing by high school as if there is something wrong with that. Its natural for kids to grow up and find new interests or figure out at some point that they aren't competitive enough to continue on. Its a great sport for kids and a huge number play it at an early age so its a statistical certainty that at some point there will be a big drop off. Its not like the high school teams are having a hard time getting enough kids. If the point is that the Mens national team will somehow solve its problems by eliminating competitive soccer before age 8 and by retaining more of the 70% that decides they'd rather play some other sport or no sport at all then its flawed reasoning. Its a natural process, my kids will probably move on to other sports as they get older, 99% of kids who sign up for mini-kickers don't play college soccer and 99.99% don't make the US National team. so the 70% of kids who aren't playing by high school actually makes a lot of sense.

It should not be a surprise that any sport with huge numbers of kids playing at a young age has 70% dropout rate by high school. I would bet its very similar with baseball but would doubt anyone is saying there needs to by systematic changes to when kids can play competitively so that more kids end up playing highschool baseball because our national talent pool for baseball isn't cutting it. My kids have a ton of fun playing competitive club soccer with their peers, gaining lots of social, fitness and any other number of benefits, .... if/when my kids move on to another sport, having played soccer will be a big benefit.

Its a cultural thing, In Europe Mexico and Australia there are probably chat boards like this for people who's kids play basketball or football commiserating about the talent drain from soccer impeding their ability to field an NFL or NBA team.
 
Here are some actual numbers...number of girl teams playing in last year's state/national cup:

U9 - 101 (7 v 7)
U10 - 138
U11 - 184 (9 v 9)
U12 - 195
U13 - 217 (11v11)
U14 - 231
U15 - 192
U16 - 149
U17 - 116
U18 - 78
 
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