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Post by soccerlegacy on Oct 25, 2016 15:38:37 GMT -5
Because of the age mandate change the U15's are mixed with 8th and 9th graders. For the 9th graders they will have the chance to play high school soccer. My daughter is in the 8th grade and I've heard "talk" that they would allow 8th graders to play on the J.V. team (but having watched J.V. girls soccer, I'm less than impressed). I've also heard that there was again "talk" of having a club spring season that wouldn't actually count for or against the clubs, just so they could get some touches on the ball.
Since, with the stupidity of the age mandate change, this will now be an ongoing issue every year when your child is on a U15 team, I wanted to know if anyone has heard anything or may have some insight for what is expected. If you have children under U15, this will eventually affect you as well.
The fall season is already over the half way mark and I have yet to hear a solution. My daughter plays on a mid-to-small sized club so its not like we have enough players to form a team if there was a spring season, but was curious to see what others are doing or what we could possibly do.
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Post by Kick Goals 10 on Oct 25, 2016 16:20:58 GMT -5
Our club had a meeting on this, as my daughter is U15, and in 9th grade. We were told that there will be a Spring season. I do not know if GA Soccer will pick it up, or if it will count. I think it will be friendlies with local clubs, as we are in RPL.
I do know one thing. I am not going to double up practice three times a week as we did last year. We made club 1st priority last year....because my daughter was playing JV in the 8th grade. If she makes Varsity, it will be a different story this spring.
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Post by spectator on Oct 25, 2016 20:14:27 GMT -5
Because of the age mandate change the U15's are mixed with 8th and 9th graders. For the 9th graders they will have the chance to play high school soccer. My daughter is in the 8th grade and I've heard "talk" that they would allow 8th graders to play on the J.V. team (but having watched J.V. girls soccer, I'm less than impressed). I've also heard that there was again "talk" of having a club spring season that wouldn't actually count for or against the clubs, just so they could get some touches on the ball. Since, with the stupidity of the age mandate change, this will now be an ongoing issue every year when your child is on a U15 team, I wanted to know if anyone has heard anything or may have some insight for what is expected. If you have children under U15, this will eventually affect you as well. The fall season is already over the half way mark and I have yet to hear a solution. My daughter plays on a mid-to-small sized club so its not like we have enough players to form a team if there was a spring season, but was curious to see what others are doing or what we could possibly do. 8th graders on JV is common but not at all schools so if your daughter's future high school doesn't already have 8th graders playing, it's unlikely they will this year. Our school does not have 8th graders playing although several parents showed up at the first parent meeting asking about it. They were told no - the pool of players at our high school is pretty broad and deep.
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Post by Keeper on Oct 26, 2016 8:50:47 GMT -5
In Gwinnett 8th graders are not allowed to play on high school teams, same as Cobb and Fulton I believe. You'd think Ga HS Sports would try to fix that as well to make it across the board.
The Ga Soccer Board met yesterday but we were told nothing changed. The big clubs haven't budged on accepting a true season due to player availability so its still an exhibition season. It'll really come down to how many 02 teams declare in January on if the state will assist with schedules are just put the list out there allowing each club to schedule what they want. Either way it's a joke for all those 8th graders because they just lost a season of competitive soccer.
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Post by rifle on Oct 26, 2016 16:14:25 GMT -5
It's done no favors for year 2000 sophomores, either. In 2 years, much of the team is gone.
Who would imagine a capitalist country with a caste system?
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Post by soccerparent02 on Oct 26, 2016 20:04:59 GMT -5
Georgia High School allows 8th graders to play JV in the spring. Whether they are allowed to is determined by the County school system. If enough parents complained you may get it changed. GHSA can't change the practice.
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Post by guest on Oct 28, 2016 8:12:28 GMT -5
Georgia High School allows 8th graders to play JV in the spring. Whether they are allowed to is determined by the County school system. If enough parents complained you may get it changed. GHSA can't change the practice.
Why the rush to play JV ball your 8th grade year? I can't imagine you would get much from it. Obviously this would depend on the school. Probably some schools' JV squads are better than other schools' varsity squads. Our club has said unless you are a starter for Varsity, they want you to focus on your club spring season. Not sure what it will look like but we have been assured there will be one. I know we have already paid for it!!
**funny story about differing levels on high school soccer. One year we had some marching band members try out and make the JV team. I heard that the band director told them he wanted them to remain active in the spring, after football season. He suggested picking something not too difficult - like the soccer team! Ha, ha.
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Post by gaprospects on Oct 28, 2016 10:25:25 GMT -5
In my experience at most big 6A and 7A schools in Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, you have to be playing at a decently high level to make JV as a 9th grader. In terms of training and instruction it's not nearly the level that a strong club program is but the level of play is usually pretty solid.
This is on the boys side, the girls side is usually more variable in skill level.
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Post by touchlinedad on Oct 28, 2016 11:20:10 GMT -5
What do players do who don't make high school teams? Do they play rec in the spring or just sit the season out? Personally, I hope Georgia Soccer does something for U15's who are affected by this. It's nuts to have players sitting out a season just because of U.S. Soccer's switch to the calendar year.
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Post by Keeper on Oct 28, 2016 12:13:25 GMT -5
Just another reason to bring back all spring seasons. Never understand why Ga Soccer dropped those seasons. Just bring them back and let's go! Especially if US Soccer is letting DA kick kids off for playing high school.
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Post by reinalocura on Oct 28, 2016 12:23:26 GMT -5
Jaded response here - I'm paying for spring - I better play in the spring.
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Post by Keeper on Oct 28, 2016 12:33:37 GMT -5
Jaded response here - I'm paying for spring - I better play in the spring. Were you even told that it wasn't a promotion/relegation season? Or did your club stay silent on it?
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Post by guest on Oct 28, 2016 15:06:57 GMT -5
Jaded response here - I'm paying for spring - I better play in the spring. Were you even told that it wasn't a promotion/relegation season? Or did your club stay silent on it? I don't think that's jaded at all. We were indeed told that U15s would be playing club ball this Spring. The shortened season and fee structure begins at U16. I am OK if the season takes the form of some ATL area friendlies, and I have even heard it may be 7v7 games.
I too share Kick Goals 10 's concerns about having high school practice and club practice and any extra practice (conditioning or field work). I hope practices don't get too excessive.
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Post by atlcoach84 on Oct 29, 2016 0:03:28 GMT -5
Hearing the larger clubs are getting together for a 7v7 tiered league for U15 with max rosters of 12. SPRL/ATH A/CL I is top level and down from there. Sounds like at least the larger Atlanta metro clubs will have a good opportunity to play games in the spring for U15's at least, though not sure about smaller clubs or those outside of the metro area...
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Post by SoccerMom on Nov 4, 2016 5:34:38 GMT -5
Ga Soccer has already announced to the clubs that there will be a U15 spring season. This will be for the 8th graders and any 9th graders that want to participate.
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Post by Keeper on Nov 4, 2016 11:00:15 GMT -5
Ga Soccer has already announced to the clubs that there will be a U15 spring season. This will be for the 8th graders and any 9th graders that want to participate. Did UFA say that or was that sent out to TMs and Coaches?
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Post by SoccerMom on Nov 4, 2016 11:03:55 GMT -5
Ga Soccer has already announced to the clubs that there will be a U15 spring season. This will be for the 8th graders and any 9th graders that want to participate. Did UFA say that or was that sent out to TMs and Coaches? Ga Soccer sent it to the clubs yesterday along with how they plan on doing the divisions. It hasn't been distributed it out yet
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Post by Kick Goals 10 on Nov 10, 2016 12:23:38 GMT -5
Looks like our club will have a meeting on this topic. We'd like to hold a BRIEF informational meeting on Monday, November 14th at the times listed below. The topic will be what the Spring Soccer Season will look like for our U15 Boys and Girls teams. With so many players in 8th and 9th grade on the same team this year, the Spring season will look a little different than it has in the past. Please make sure one parent is in attendance.
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Post by Kick Goals 10 on Nov 15, 2016 15:53:07 GMT -5
Some more communication from our club. Parents,
First, congrats to many of you on the awesome season you guys had this Fall! We are so proud of the way all the players represented themselves and DSC this Fall season. We had our first ever "Green" team go UNDEFEATED and they did so by winning all games (no ties which would still be considered undefeated), so way to go boys and Coach Francois!
We apologize for having to cancel the meeting last night, but we didn't want to drag you all up there on a night you could be home with your families eating dinner around the dinner table instead of the picnic table or passenger seat of a car. As we discussed last Spring in the town hall meetings we setup to explain the 2002/U15 age group, we are entering new territory. This is the first time that we've had a significant number of 8th and 9th graders on the same team. Historically, the rosters aligned MUCH more with the school age cutoff, but with the birth year registration change implemented by US Soccer... well, I don't think I have to tell you how that has impacted things.
I've tried to make the expectations listed below as easy to understand as possible; please keep in mind that this is a difficult situation for us all, BUT it's only ONE season. After this, all 2002s will be in a high school setting, and we will go back to the "old ways" of simply fixing in May-December what the high schools have broken in January-April.. ONLY KIDDING.
1. We will have a spring season for the U15 age group; however, it will be shortened, and will not determine any promotion relegation beyond this Fall. In other words, if you have an AWESOME Spring season it won't impact placement for next Fall, and likewise, if you have a poor Spring season it will not impact the Fall.
2. The season will be roughly 8 games (no more) and we will do our best to schedule the games for Saturday afternoons only, so that the players have a chance to rest before and after high school games (typically high schools play on weeknights and Fridays; no weekends).
3. Training will carry as usual for all 8th graders including our typical start time of the last week of January. If you currently train twice per week, you will train twice per week this Spring. If you train 3 times per week, the same will be true for you. We will align practice schedules among the 02 age groups (and possibly the 03 age groups), so that we can combine teams if that will provide a better training environment.
4. 9th graders are asked to attend one session per week, and we would prefer that session be Wednesday night if at all possible. Coaches will be very careful to monitor how intense the effort needs to be for the 9th graders that may be playing high school soccer. For example, fitness will not be addressed if the player feels he/she is receiving adequate fitness through the high school programming (this varies GREATLY by school and even within the schools programs - JV vs Varsity).
5. Attendance at the games on the weekend is mandatory. Again, minutes of play will be rationed appropriately to ensure we aren't overloading players more than is necessary.
It is our hopes that the high school coaches will embrace this challenging season, and keep an open mind. Ideally, they should "back off" the fitness on their end during "busy" weeks. Our guess is that some will and some won't. Of the high schools that we have communicated with, they feel that this is the best "compromise" to our circumstance (this impacts high schools as much as club.. they are not mutually exclusive). This is new territory for us all, so thank you in advance for your understanding. We will remain flexible and will continue to do what it is in the best interest of our players on a case by case basis. Without knowing who will make what programs/teams at their respective high schools, it is, understandably, difficult for us to predict schedules based on hypotheticals. Coaches will be asked to keep in touch with you throughout the high school tryout process, and we will adjust as needed. Expected Spring practice days and times following the Thanksgiving break.
Finally, please keep in mind that the same boys and young ladies that your child battled with, sweated with, maybe even cried with are the same ones that need everyone to be as committed as ever this Spring. There is no other solution available to us for our 8th grade 2002s, so when things become a little inconvenient at times, please put yourself in the shoes of your teammates and remember that this is a tough spot for us all.
Thank you again for your time reading through this email, and your participation with _______ ______ Club. If you have questions, please talk to your coach. If he can't answer your question, then he knows how to get the answers.
Thanks!
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