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GSPAA Soccer New Clinic and Club Program Age Groupings

In the past, the Clinic and Club programs had their age groupings aligned to the calendar year. This was intended to allow children in the same school grades to play together. Recent trends in education regarding the age at which children are best ready to begin schooling have caused a growing number of same-calendar-year children to be in different grades. Many people are aware that as of this year, all students must be 5 years old by September 1 to enter Kindergarten - it used to 5 by December 31.

The Clinic and Club programs receive numerous special requests each year to have children placed with their school grade friends rather than with a calendar age group.

The Select program age groupings have always been the U.S. Youth Soccer requirement of 8/1 through 7/31, not calendar year.

Because the Select program starts at U9, the Club program serves two purposes. Primarily, it is a program that provides all children of all talent, commitment and interest levels a chance to play soccer. Secondarily, however, it also serves the needs of children – those who are 7 and 8 years old – who will be moving to the Select program.

A major problem seen in the first two age groups of Select soccer is the traditionally different age grouping dates. Some of these children are able to participate, while others are not and are forced to remain another year in the Club program. And just as in the Clinic and Club programs, the children in the Select program also enjoy playing with their classmates.

Our intentions with changing our Clinic and Club (in Club, only the 7 and 8 groups are changing this year) include:

• Allowing the maximum number of children to play with their classmates in all programs
• Align all of our programs with U.S. Youth Soccer
• Minimize the problems the mismatched age groupings cause to the transition to the Select program
• Provide a fairer opportunity for the younger-aged players to compete for a spot on a Select team. For example, a child who is 6 and currently falls into the U06 age group will ultimately be trying out for the Select program with players who are currently in the U07 age group. Therefore, when he does tryout for Select, he will be trying out with players that have one more year of Club experience

Of course, no change this significant can occur without its on set of issues. So we have policy to minimize these. For example, if this new age grouping causes a child to “repeat” Clinic-6, they have the option of moving to Club-7 as they would have under the old grouping.

We feel strongly that the benefits of this new policy are substantial, and with the goodwill of coaches and coordinators to accommodate special player assignments, it’s time to make this change.

And may I ask for your patience and understanding if there is an issue that arises that we did not plan for adequately. We pledge to resolve every issue with the child’s best interest at heart.

Please take a look at the following color-keyed tables which describe the old and new age group assignments.

 

SAME 11-12	SAME  9-10	NEW U08	NEW U07	NEW U06	NEW U05	NEW U04
OLD 11-12	OLD 9-10	OLD EIGHTS	OLD SEVENS	OLD SIXES	OLD FIVES	OLD FOURS	OLD INELIGIBLE
01/96-97	01/98-99	01/00	01/01	01/02	01/03	01/04	01/05
02/96-97	02/98-99	02/00	02/01	02/02	02/03	02/04	02/05
03/96-97	03/98-99	03/00	03/01	03/02	03/03	03/04	03/05
04/96-97	04/98-99	04/00	04/01	04/02	04/03	04/04	04/05
05/96-97	05/98-99	05/00	05/01	05/02	05/03	05/04	05/05
06/96-97	06/98-99	06/00	06/01	06/02	06/03	06/04	06/05
07/96-97	07/98-99	07/00	07/01	07/02	07/03	07/04	07/05
08/96-97	08/98-99	08/00	08/01	08/02	08/03	08/04	08/05
09/96-97	09/98-99	09/00	09/01	09/02	09/03	09/04	09/05
10/96-97	10/98-99	10/00	10/01	10/02	10/03	10/04	10/05
11/96-97	11/98-99	11/00	11/01	11/02	11/03	11/04	11/05
12/96-97	12/98-99	12/00	12/01	12/02	12/03	12/04	12/05

 

 

Last updated on June 2, 2008.

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