# Question - Roster sizes



## mlx (Dec 19, 2019)

My son would love to play DA in a year or two, so I've been lurking here and there. Something I noticed is the size of the rosters. Some clubs have 23-25 and some others, like FC Golden State have 36. How does that work?

Does it mean they rotate players? does it mean only 15 get to play regularly and the rest only train? etc.

Thanks!


----------



## watfly (Dec 19, 2019)

Only 18 can be rostered for the game.  So if you have more than 18 full-time players some are not going to be able to play.  From what I've seen in a lot of cases is that the players in excess of 18 are part-time players.  The part-timers can play on a non-DA team, or on the DA team as needed, up to 12 games I believe.  Personally I'd avoid a team with more than 18 full time players.  Even if your kid is not in danger of not playing, the drama surrounding which kids will not dress for a game can create a toxic environment.


----------



## ChrisD (Dec 20, 2019)

18 is ideal I believe and then having a few Part timers to pull up if injuries come around, 36 kids and never getting rostered has got to be tough on a kid.  I do like the ideal of work hard and get rewarded though.


----------



## RedDevilDad (Dec 20, 2019)

Relevant parts from the Rules/Regs Doc:



			
				USSOCCERDA.com said:
			
		

> b) Each Club's roster may average no more than 24 players across each age group based on the minimum of 14 Full-Time players and a maximum of 10 Part-Time players
> c)  Roster Maximums can vary from one age group to another so long as the FT Minimum and PT Maximum limits for number of teams are followed
> d)  There is no limit to the number of rostered players that do not have United States citizenship for either gender.
> 
> ...





			
				USSOCCERDA.com said:
			
		

> ROSTER MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES
> Roster Minimum: Clubs must meet the following minimum requirements for full-time players on each age group throughout the season. Clubs must register the minimum requirement of players by August 5th at 5 pm CT. Clubs may have the following maximum number of players for each Academy age group.
> 
> 2019-20 DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY ROSTER GUIDELINESNumber of TeamsFT MinimumFT+PT Maximum11424228483427245696570120684144
> ...



​FCGS has really used the NPL and PT to their advantage.  Looks like they rotated players through DA and NPL games as PT players.  And before I get lit up by the angry parent whose kid is PT but never got their time... I don't know (or care really... lol) how well they managed that at the player level but it seems like a good idea.  Make your top 14 full-time and lock them in.  Make the rest PT and ensure that they get plenty of playing time at the NPL level and at least 3 are available as subs at the DA level. Good idea on paper.  lol.


----------



## watfly (Dec 20, 2019)

mlx said:


> My son would love to play DA in a year or two, so I've been lurking here and there. Something I noticed is the size of the rosters. Some clubs have 23-25 and some others, like FC Golden State have 36. How does that work?
> 
> Does it mean they rotate players? does it mean only 15 get to play regularly and the rest only train? etc.
> 
> Thanks!


It looks like FCGS only has 14 full time players for U13, the remainder are part-time and mostly 2008's that have only played one game.  So the part-time players are likely playing on another non-DA team (likely NPL).  Don't know how FCGS handles its roster, they may rotate the 08's into games from time to time, or my suspicion (since most of them only have one game) is they may have fielded an all 08 roster for a game (I'm not going to go through the games to figure out).

Just FYI, the rosters posted on DA website can be misleading.  I know kids that may have started DA but have since quit the team (and/or moved to a team) that still show up on the roster.

When trying out for a DA team I would definitely ask the coach what the roster size plan is going to be.  Then ignore the answer and assume it will be something different.


----------



## bigkick (Dec 20, 2019)

ChrisD said:


> 18 is ideal I believe and then having a few Part timers to pull up if injuries come around, 36 kids and never getting rostered has got to be tough on a kid.  I do like the ideal of work hard and get rewarded though.


If you go to the US Soccer DA site, you can look at each team's game report.  It will give you a fairly good (statistical) indication of how much playing time could be possible by club.  Just because you are part of the 18 player roster on game day, does not necessarily mean you will play. 18 as a number means you have a chance to play, not a guarantee.  The only number that is "ideal" for players is 11.  lol


----------

