Feedback requested: U.S. Soccer survey regarding age group formation
US Club Soccer Member Organizations,
As you are likely aware, U.S. Soccer is considering a change from the formation of age groups in youth soccer based on birth year (January 1-December 31) to school year (August 1-July 31 or September 1-August 31). Due to the potential impact of this decision, U.S. Soccer has created a formal feedback process to gather additional data from membership. Specifically, there are two forms:
- A single representative from leagues and clubs may complete this survey, which should encompass your full organization’s perspective. All surveys must be submitted by Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 12 p.m. CST.
- Individual teams, individual participants, parents and guardians may submit feedback via this form.
Below is a message directly from the U.S. Soccer Membership Department:
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Background
In phase 1 of the Ecosystem Review, membership and other stakeholders highlighted several important issues that are essential to a successful and thriving soccer ecosystem. Player registration is one issue that we are reviewing collaboratively across all levels of play, specifically between birth year (January 1-December 31) and school year (August 1-July 31 or September 1-August 31) registration. U.S. Soccer has facilitated informal feedback to understand how registration choice fosters growing the game and developing winning teams. We determined that this is a highly complex and important issue that merits a more formal process. Registration affects every child and handling this process with care is a top priority.
Our Process
U.S. Soccer, in collaboration with the Board of Directors’ Technical Development Committee, is currently conducting a formal survey with members, leagues, and clubs. We will present the findings and recommended path forward at the Board of Directors meeting on November 22. U.S. Soccer plans to communicate the path forward to the ecosystem by the end of the year.
Survey Instructions
Survey Link: The link to your survey can be found HERE.
Due Date: 12:00 PM CST, Tuesday, November 12
Participants: Each member organization can submit one survey response representative of the organization’s perspective. Please read below to see others who can participate in this survey.
- You can share the survey (the aforementioned link) with your leagues and clubs to participate.
- Each league and club can submit one survey response representative of their respective league or club’s perspective.
- If multiple responses are submitted, we will select one and remove the others, as we’ll be able to identify duplicates based on the organization’s name in the back-end data.
- We recommend having a person in a leadership position review and submit the survey to ensure it accurately reflects the organization, league, or club.
- While your name is anonymous, we do require that you complete the name of the organization, league or club.
Other Information
We have narrowed the participant pool to members, leagues, and clubs; teams, individual participants, parents/guardians, and other stakeholders can submit their feedback via our Ecosystem Review website here.
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Thank you for your time and attention. We will remain communicative throughout this process.