Age Group and Small-Sided Games Mandate from U.S. Soccer

by thetruthhurts 9/11/2015, 11:56 pm

There has been much discussion on other boards about the "Age Group and Small-Sided Games Mandate from U.S. Soccer", so I thought I would try and start a discussion in this age group, on this board as well (Anything to get this 05 board fired up again!).

First, it's apparently official that the following changes will take place no later than August 2017 and most probable by August 2016:

1. For the age grouping of teams, the school-year (Aug 1 to July 31) dates will no longer be used. Age grouping of teams will strictly be by the calendar year (Jan 1 to Dec 31) in which a player was born.

All of the follwing is based off the assumption that North Texas Soccer will implement the mandated changes in August of 2016.

1a. If your current 05 BB was born between Aug 1 to Dec 31 2004, he will now be an 04.

1b. All of his team mates that were born between Jan 1 to July 31 2005 will now be an 05, again, next year, for the 2016/2017 season.

1c. There has been some discussion that 05s will still be allowed to play up with the 04s if they choose.

1d. There has also been some discussion about the new "age pure" 05s will be once again the youngest group to play select, because the new age pure 06s will not be allowed to move into select until the following 2017/2018 season.

1e. From what I hear, the age pure 06s will not be allowed to play up.

2. There will be a nationwide adoption of Small-Sided Games.

*If necessary, switch to classic version of txsoccer.info to view table correctly*

	U10/Born 2006	U11/Born 2005	U12/Born 2004
Field Size (Yards)	47 x 30	75 x 47	75 x 47
Number of Players	7 v 7	9 v 9	9 v 9
Goalkeeper	Yes	Yes	Yes
Playing Time	2 x 25 min	2 x 30 min	2 x 30 min
Goal Size (Feet)	6.5 x 18.5	6.5 x 18.5	6.5 x 18.5
OffSide	Yes	Yes	Yes
Roster Max Size	14?	16?	16?

See it here and here for yourself.

by soccerdadrandy 9/12/2015, 2:40 am

[quote=1c. There has been some discussion that 05s will still be allowed to play up with the 04s if they choose.
[/quote]

no discussion needed. once a player reaches U11 and is eligible for club he/she can play up as many years, as their little body and skill can handle. Smile

by Guest 9/14/2015, 9:07 am

My son is a July 05, I don't forsee him playing up with Jan 04 boys who are a year and a half older than him. I for one am looking forward to the change.

by number10 9/14/2015, 9:28 am

One of my sons is an October 04. So I start lurking on the 04 board in August?

by Guest 9/14/2015, 9:57 am

thetruthhurts wrote:2. There will be a nationwide adoption of Small-Sided Games.

*If necessary, switch to classic version of txsoccer.info to view table correctly*

U10/Born 2006 U11/Born 2005 U12/Born 2004
Field Size (Yards) 47 x 30 75 x 47 75 x 47
Number of Players 7 v 7 9 v 9 9 v 9
Goalkeeper Yes Yes Yes
Playing Time 2 x 25 min 2 x 30 min 2 x 30 min
Goal Size (Feet) 6.5 x 18.5 6.5 x 18.5 6.5 x 18.5
OffSide Yes Yes Yes
Roster Max Size 14? 16? 16?

See it here and here for yourself.

Aren't the U12/04s grandfather in playing 11v11? Thats how I understood it.

by NapoliFC-Texas 9/14/2015, 10:09 am

Grandfather was a rumor and not accurate. At this time all leagues are waiting on a final decision from North Texas Soccer on how to implement the changes.

Our club received an email from the classic board indication that all previous information/announcements are now outdated.

by Rancho4C 9/14/2015, 10:41 am

number10 wrote:One of my sons is an October 04. So I start lurking on the 04 board in August?

Yup, you should start lurking on the 04 board, unfortunately you'll be a troll on the 05 board next year. You should've waited a few months, if you had an age pure 05 playing up next year then you could've lurked on both the 04 & 05 boards. Laughing

by tshirtfan 9/14/2015, 6:53 pm

NapoliFC-Texas wrote:Grandfather was a rumor and not accurate. At this time all leagues are waiting on a final decision from North Texas Soccer on how to implement the changes.

Our club received an email from the classic board indication that all previous information/announcements are now outdated.

Did any other clubs get this email or just Napoli FC? Seems like everyone would have gotten this....

by Sho'Nuff 9/14/2015, 8:39 pm

Grandfather was not a rumor. Classic League just forgot that they are sanctioned by NTX, and announced their decision prematurely.

by tshirtfan 9/14/2015, 8:46 pm

So, basically, no body knows anything except their will be a change at some point. All the talk is just speculation, since everyone "knows" something different is happening. Its going into effect in Jan, its going into effect next Fall, first group effected is 07s, 05/06 teams will be split, etc.. Seems that ppl are panicking, or trying to get others to panic, and move their kids to another team without any concrete info. to go off of.

by Sho'Nuff 9/15/2015, 8:48 am

Call NTX directly. Talk to a higher-up at your club, assuming your Club bothered to send a representative to last weeks meeting.

by Durty-Tackle 9/15/2015, 12:05 pm

I welcome the change. Smaller pitch means more touches. Coaches may actually have to coach skill and control, instead of relying on bigger, faster, stronger boys.

by PremierLeagueFan 9/15/2015, 1:13 pm

Durty-Tackle wrote:I welcome the change. Smaller pitch means more touches. Coaches may actually have to coach skill and control, instead of relying on bigger, faster, stronger boys.

Coaches teach technique and most of the skilled players in youth academy are small.

A small pitch is good and forces more communication and quicker decision making.

Speed is a great attribute and is not something that is found in most big players so if you think that small sided games are going to change the status quo, you might find that it just makes everyone play better and that is a good thing for all of us.

BFS Athletes will always have an advantage, but skilled play can overcome that advantage so work on the 4 pillars and learn to make adjustments in youth academy that will serve you well into Select and beyond.

by Sho'Nuff 9/15/2015, 1:29 pm

PremierLeagueFan wrote:
Durty-Tackle wrote:I welcome the change. Smaller pitch means more touches. Coaches may actually have to coach skill and control, instead of relying on bigger, faster, stronger boys.
Coaches teach technique and most of the skilled players in youth academy are small.

A small pitch is good and forces more communication and quicker decision making.

Speed is a great attribute and is not something that is found in most big players so if you think that small sided games are going to change the status quo, you might find that it just makes everyone play better and that is a good thing for all of us.

BFS Athletes will always have an advantage, but skilled play can overcome that advantage so work on the 4 pillars and learn to make adjustments in youth academy that will serve you well into Select and beyond.

Tiny!

by bjhill2112 9/15/2015, 5:38 pm

Just got this press release from US Club Soccer:

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Sept. 15, 2015) - US Club Soccer has announced its implementation plan for U.S. Soccer mandates to calendar-year competition and small-sided games. US Club Soccer's Board of Directors approved the action late last week in accordance with U.S. Soccer's recent coaching initiatives:

US Club Soccer members will be required to transition age grouping of teams from school-year based (Aug. 1-July 31) to calendar-year based (Jan. 1-Dec. 31) by Aug. 1, 2016.

US Club Soccer members will be required to follow the U.S. Soccer mandates related to small-sided games, which also includes changes to field and goal sizes, by Aug. 1, 2017.

If able to do so, members are encouraged to implement these initiatives prior to the mandates coming into full effect.

The new calendar-year format is consistent with international standards and U.S. Soccer youth national team programming. Players will still be allowed to play in an older age group. Small-sided and field size standards are for U-6 through U-12 age groups.

In order to ensure the smoothest and most efficient transition, US Youth Soccer and other youth soccer organizations are also implementing these standards at the same time.
Calendar-year age chart, provided by U.S. Soccer

The National Cup XV Finals will accommodate teams constructed both from calendar-year competition (Jan. 1-Dec. 31) and school-year registration (Aug. 1-July 31).

The 2016 NPL Finals will also accommodate both roster structures. Many NPL clubs are already calendar-year based, though.
Click here for more information about impacts to upcoming US Club Soccer programming

In addition, all tournaments submitted for US Club Soccer sanctioning that will be played after Aug. 1, 2016 will only be approved if age groups are calendar-year organized.

Player passcards will continue to be issued on an Aug. 1-July 31 competition season.

Questions may be directed to your respective US Club Soccer membership services representative.

So, if I understand correctly - new 04s and 05s will not be impacted by the small-sided game mandates as they will be U13 by then...

by OP05 9/15/2015, 5:54 pm

The interesting takeaways:
Calendar year by August 2016
Small sided mandates by 2017

The PR says USYS will implement on a similar timeline. But it doesn't say how. So this is probably not much help to those of us curious as to what will happen for Dallas Classic League, other than providing confirmation that so-called "age pure" is coming in 2016 (not 2017).

by Guest 10/14/2015, 6:34 pm

Think we were getting off topic on another thread so I am posting my question on this one while quoting some of the original thread.

You figure that when the age pure comes into play, that some clubs may ask for kids to move to the age pure team rather than play up. Otherwise you may see fewer 05 teams this year than in the past due to half the number of kids coming to play. Figures to be quite a bit of upheaval next summer. In addition, even if you have 05 kids in select now, they would have to move to another team within a short window so that teams can be ready for qualifying. Going to be very interesting.

Rancho4C wrote:
lostball wrote:This is not gospel and only my interpretation of what will happen with the current 05 teams.

Option 1 - Current teams can stay together however they will play in the age group of the oldest player. Current 05 teams will need to play in the 04 age group starting next fall if they want the team to stay the same as this season. This group will have the option of playing 9v9 or 11v11.

Option 2 - 05's currently playing in select can join the new wave of 05 select players starting next fall and play age pure. This group will play 9v9.

I'm not sure that Classic will offer 9v9 for AP04's next fall, last I heard they will only offer 11v11 for this age group.

by robben 10/15/2015, 8:03 am

What about the 03's?

by thetruthhurts 10/19/2015, 12:18 am

Here is an interesting blog post and related comments on the "Age Group and Small-Sided Games Mandate from U.S. Soccer".

Some highlights from the blog/article:

There is ample evidence of the benefits of small-sided games...Manchester United conducted a study of playing 4v4 instead of 8v8...and it yielded the following findings about the increased frequency of goals, assists, passes, tackles and actions per game in smaller vs. bigger games:

135% more passes
260% more Scoring Attempts
500% more Goals Scored
225% more 1v1 Encounters
280% more Dribbling Skills (tricks)

The birth-year logic certainly makes a boatload of sense in the elite player realm... Here we are starting to identify top players on state, regional and national levels, and having them grouped and playing all their soccer with those similar age groups makes perfect sense. Yet the new U.S. Soccer mandate sets these rules for all USSF affiliates down to U-6...which would include recreational players...and this could potentially be a huge mistake.

by finish1 10/19/2015, 7:06 am

Here is the official birth year chart.

[url=http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/1/15/USYS-NEW-SOCCER-AGE-CHART-2016-BIRTH-YEAR-MATRIX v1.pdf]http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/1/15/USYS-NEW-SOCCER-AGE-CHART-2016-BIRTH-YEAR-MATRIX%20v1.pdf[/url]

by thetruthhurts 10/19/2015, 7:31 am

According to the above press release here, from nationalpremierleagues.com, the birth year registration is to take effect in 2016 and the small sided games mandate is to take effect in 2017, but so far I have not been able to find a source direct from U.S. Soccer to verify this. All of the information that I have read from U.S. Soccer mandates all changes to take effect in 2017, not just small sided games. So if North Texas Soccer is implementing the birth year registration in 2016 instead of the mandatory 2017, I would assume that the small sided game mandate may be implemented in 2016 as well. Has anyone found a direct source from U.S. Soccer or North Texas Soccer that clarifies this?

by chronic_llama 10/19/2015, 7:59 am

thetruthhurts wrote:According to the above press release here, from nationalpremierleagues.com, the birth year registration is to take effect in 2016 and the small sided games mandate is to take effect in 2017, but so far I have not been able to find a source direct from U.S. Soccer to verify this. All of the information that I have read from U.S. Soccer mandates all changes to take effect in 2017, not just small sided games. So if North Texas Soccer is implementing the birth year registration in 2016 instead of the mandatory 2017, I would assume that the small sided game mandate may be implemented in 2016 as well. Has anyone found a direct source from U.S. Soccer or North Texas Soccer that clarifies this?

I'm still waiting to see it in writing but Classic told us at the managers/coaches meeting this past August that the soccer year will still run July 2016-June 2017. They told us that the current 05s U11s will be age pure 04s U12s and still play 11v11 for the 2016-2017 season. Next years age pure 05s will be 9v9 for both U11 and U12. Like I said nothing in writing yet, so I guess that can all change.

by Guest 10/19/2015, 9:33 am

OK, so what I dont get with this age pure teams is what happens when kids reach the oldest division. So hes playing with kids a grade level below him, meaning that when he graduates from high school (assuming he stays in Select the whole time), he will graduate a whole year ahead of his team) leaving them potentially scrambling their last year in Select to fill holes with the kids who did graduate. If he plays "up" when he plays with some 04s could run into the same problem (assuming some 04s play age pure). The school year grade and age pure thing dont seem to mesh well together. Something to be concerned about, or just go age pure and potentially leave your team in a bind when they graduate...