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U5
U-5 Guidelines.
The Rules & Regulations (R&R) change approved during the 2007 NAGM permits the region to register a player who turns 4 after July 31, as long as the child is 4 at the time of the first game or practice AND as long as the region has secured the approval of the section director to do so. This change represents a not-insignificant growth opportunity for AYSO (we estimate as many as 3,000 additional players per year) but is entirely voluntary. The regions and areas who supported this initiative were turning away a significant number of young players each spring who were 4 years of age at that time and would see them go over to competing soccer programs that would accept them – never to be seen again. So, seeing that the change is consistent with the spirit of our minimum age for participation, and is entirely optional, it seems to be that regions who wish to do so, should be supported.
We are working now on the coding so that eAYSO will properly allow for this. As contemplated, by default, no region will be able to register a player who is not 4 years of age as of July 31. However, if a region wishes to implement the new change, a section director, and only a section director, will have access in an individual region’s setup in the system, to click a box indicating his/her approval to do so (that's work currently being done in eAYSO. When it is completed, we can provide more specific details about the menu options to be used to signify the section director's approval). Then, the system will compare the date of birth, first to July 31 to determine if the player is already 4, and if so will register the player. If the player is not 4 years of age on July 31, the system will first check to see if the section director has approved the 4 year old registration. If not, it will not allow the player to be registered. If the approval box is checked, the system will calculate the player’s age as of the date of registration. If 4 years of age at that date, the system will allow the player to be registered. This means that some players may not be able to be registered until their birthday.
Section directors should impress upon regional commissioners who wish to adopt this provision that they have the responsibility to ensure that no player steps onto a field unless and until they are 4 years of age. The Coaching Commission’s strong recommendation, made at the time the minimum age was lowered to 4, remains. These players should be placed in their own U-5 division and the U-5 coaching program used to help gently introduce them to the game. 4 year olds should not be added to U-6 programs as the range of physical and emotional growth is too great. After initial registration, these players would become subject to the standard provisions of the R&R related to their playing age (age as of 7/31). It may mean that, in subsequent membership years, some of these players may repeat at U-5, but we don’t see that as a bad thing.
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