Stressed About The New Age Requirements? Here’s Some Comforting News.
This blog post was provided by Steve Locker, founder of Locker Soccer Academy and Locker Elite Club Teams. Steve has over 45 years of coaching experience, including more than two decades as an intercollegiate coach, and has led Locker Elite for the past 11 years. Locker Soccer Academy and Locker Elite are both OSMD Insiders and financially support Soccer Moms and Dads as paid sponsors.
Anytime there is change in the league it naturally brings feelings of uncertainty. That is especially true when it involves your child, their team, and their experience. Many families are asking the same questions right now, and the concern is understandable.
This article is meant to walk you through what is changing, why it is changing, and how to think about it as a parent. I am sharing this both from my perspective as a coach, and as someone who has been through the same transition in 2017 as a soccer parent.
What Is Changing?
Starting in the Fall of 2026, all youth soccer age groups in the United States will shift from a Calendar Year system to the School Year system. Instead of teams formed by birth dates of January 1 – December 31st, the new age groups will run from August 1st – July 31st of the following year.
This means that:
- Players born January 1 – July 31 will move up one age group
- Players born August 1 – December 31 will remain in their current age group
The goal is to better align players with their school-grade peers rather than birth year.
Why Are We Making These Changes?
First, this change is an effort to better align players with their school grade peers. Under the calendar year system, it was common for kids to be placed on teams with players not in the same grade, and ultimately separated from the friends they see everyday.
Second, this helps address the “trapped players” problem, which usually impacts players in middle school and early high school. Because of how age group cutoffs were structured, some players found themselves having to choose between school soccer and club soccer. In most cases that led to players stepping away from club soccer altogether.
And most importantly, this change is about keeping kids in the game longer. When kids are playing with their friends, feel socially connected, and enjoy the experience, they are far more likely to continue playing.
As coaches and parents, our #1 priority should be creating an environment that keeps our kids wanting to play.
What Are Parents Concerned About?
A big part of the anxiety comes from the unknown. In speaking with parents, I am hearing three main (valid) concerns:
- “My child will be separated from his/her friends”
- “We don’t know who their new teammates will be”
- “What’s the quality of the new team going to look like?”
Here’s How This Can Play Out
All clubs approach their training and team alignments differently. Because of that, this transition will not look exactly the same everywhere.
One of the most important things to consider is how your club is currently structured.
Does your club allow for various age groups to sometimes play together? Or, are most teams insulated from each other and kept separated because of their “A” & “B” team status?
The way your club organizes training schedules, locations, and team interaction will play a big role in how smooth or stressful this transition feels for families.
A large part of the anxiety right now comes from the unknown, and that is why communication is so important.
I would urge clubs to take the responsibility to communicate proactively with families to help everyone better understand exactly what these changes will mean to them. As parents, you should be asking questions of your club leaders to help explain what the scenario will look like for your child.
Should Your Child Play “UP”?
This is another common question I’m hearing right now.
Yes, I believe there are situations where a player should play up IF they need to be better challenged. However, if you take a player who may not be fully ready to play “UP” in an age group, you may be doing more harm than good in this case.
I always come back to these these two questions,
“Where will this child thrive the most? Where will they grow the most confidence?”
For example, I would prefer to take a ‘true’ U10 player and place them at U10 in a higher division of competition, rather than to put them at U11 in a lower division.
When developing young players, these are the truly important questions. I am not concerned about youth players making the high school team or getting a college scholarship at these younger age groups.
How We’re Approaching This Change with Locker Elite
I know that for our club, Locker Elite, I am excited about these changes.
It gives us the opportunity to be more intentional with how we form teams. I believe that our teams will become stronger, and our players will have the opportunity to play at higher divisions within their true age groups.
One of the best ways to ease this transition is to remove as much uncertainty as possible.
To help with that, we offer open training sessions with various age groups. This allows players and parents to experience what the new teams may look like ahead of time.
We are also looking ahead at opportunities for newly formed teams to participate in late-season tournaments so families can see how everything will come together in a real environment. This will help take away some of that unknown and alleviate the fear.
A Final Thought
As a former intercollegiate coach of twenty years, and a child development and youth player development expert of more than 20 years, I can say one thing for certain: children make friends incredibly quickly.
There’s no need to have any trepidation about this process.
Kids are resilient. They will come through this with great success!