New US Soccer (USSF) Player Development Initiatives

Dear WCSC families:

USSF is the governing body for soccer in the United States and they have recently mandated two new initiatives that will have an impact on soccer clubs throughout the US. Both initiatives will be implemented within our Competitive, House and Winter Select programs.

The first initiative involves moving team formation from school year to birth year calendars. What does this mean for WCSC? We have always formed our teams based upon school year calendars; players born between August 1st and July 31st were grouped together. This will now be changed, and teams will be formed, based upon birth year calendars- players born between Jan 1st and December 31st will be grouped together.

The second initiative involves the move towards small-sided games. Currently, throughout the US, clubs and leagues play anywhere from 3v3 to 11v11 within their youth organizations. USSF will be mandating a specific progression from small sided (4v4) to full sided (11v11) soccer, where the progression will be the same for everyone throughout the country.

We know that both mandates will have an impact on our players, our teams and our families within WCSC. Your Coaching Directors, Committee’s and the Board of Directors are working to integrate these new policies so that they have the greatest benefit to everyone within WCSC. Our club and membership is our priority.

The movement from School year to Birth Year team formation is one that has been talked about within youth soccer at the National level for a while. The rest of the world operates on the Birth year calendar with regards to team formation so this movement by US Soccer has us in line globally with other governing soccer organizations. For WCSC it will mean that player pools for each age group will change, teams will change, and for our players it will create the opportunity to make new friends and forge bonds with new teammates. At the same time, we know that change is tough and there is that ‘fear of the unknown.’ As a club we will work to create the proper playing environment for all our players. Please know we will be putting a great deal of time into this aspect of team formation next season.

The change to small sided games will not affect all age groups, Below are the playing sizes we currently use and what the current mandate states:

The biggest impact will be with the U12’s who will be moving from 11v11 to 9v9. US Soccer believes that going from 22 players sharing 1 ball, to 18 players sharing 1 ball at U12 will create more opportunities for players to develop technical and tactical skills. We know this will mean that some players, who are repeating the U12 age, will move from 11v11 to 9v9 soccer. There will be concerns expressed about this, but know that US Soccer firmly believes in this important step in the player development process.

The organizations that function under USSF (US Club Soccer, NorCal, USYS & CYSA) have all endorsed the US Soccer mandate. This will affect all clubs the same and we are working together on the implementation of the new policies. We are still working on the details of when these changes will be put into effect for the 2016 season. Do know that current teams will finish their seasons with their school year teammates. For tryouts in 2016 we will make the change from School year to Birth year teams.

We know these changes will create questions and concerns. Please submit all questions and feedback to this form. Your Club Directors and Committees will work together to create a FAQ.

If your question is of a more personal nature then please feel free to reach out to me at doc@wcsc.org.

As information becomes available, that shapes and guides the direction of WCSC as it relates to Birth Year team formation and small-sided games, you will receive updates. There are many great people who work behind the scenes at WCSC who care deeply about the direction of our club. Together we will move forward through these changes and towards a great 2016 for our club.

Here is a link to the new mandates by US Soccer.

Yours in Soccer,

Tom Ginocchio
WCSC Director of Coaching