KNOXVILLE FOOTBALL CLUB
IMPLEMENTATION OF U.S. SOCCER RULE CHANGES
Dear Crush Families:
We wanted to share with you some rule changes that will take effect in the upcoming
soccer year and discuss how they will be implemented by our Club.
Background
As many of you know, U.S. Soccer, which is the umbrella organization in the United
States for essentially all soccer organizations, has mandated certain rule changes for youth soccer
that will dramatically affect our Club. The most significant change is that players will now be
grouped for teams by calendar year instead of what has essentially been school year. So, for
example, all players born in 2002 will be grouped together for team placement as U15 players.
The oldest age group in the Club will now be U19, which will include players born in 1998, and
the youngest age group that will play competitively, being U9, will include players born in 2008.
A chart showing the new age groups for the coming years is attached.
At the same time that U.S. Soccer changed the age groupings, U.S. Soccer also changed
the team sizes for the younger age groups. U9s and U10s will now play 7v7 instead of 6v6, and
U11s and U12s will now play 9v9 instead of 8v8. The field sizes for the younger age groups
were also decreased to encourage more technical play.
In a separate change, U.S. Soccer has also banned, for safety reasons, heading in the U9
and U10 age groups. Heading will be permitted in the U11 and U12 age groups only in practice
and will be a violation during a game. Players that are U13 and above will be allowed to
continue to head balls during both practice and games.
Implementation at KFC
The rule changes are not optional and must be implemented by our Club. In other words,
we cannot just decide to continue to use the school year approach to teams while the rest of the
Clubs in the state and across the country move to a calendar year approach. Therefore, we have
spent the last few months reaching out to other clubs and to our State Association to try to
identify best practices for implementing these rule changes. In doing so, we also have tried to
take into account your views, and, to elicit those views, we hosted a presentation by the
executive director of the State Association so that we could hear your concerns.
A number of you have expressed the desire for the Club to use a school year approach for
grouping teams so that existing teams would not need to change. If the Club did this, our teams
would be forced to play up to the next eligible age group for all purposes. Our Board did not feel
that was a workable solution for four reasons. These reasons are founded in our Club’s primary
concern, which hopefully is the same as yours—promoting the safety and development of our
players as they grow and mature physically, emotionally, and in their soccer skills.
First, if an entire team plays up an age bracket, they will have to play against teams that
have older players, some of which may be older by as much as two calendar years. The Board is
concerned that this could be less safe for our Club’s players. A hard tackle—even a clean one—
from a player who is two years older can be significantly different than a hard tackle when the
players are closer in age and maturity. Naturally, we want to err on the side of caution where
player safety is concerned so that players have the opportunity to play against teams of similar
size and maturity as much as possible.
Second, under the new rules, our younger players (U12 and below) are not going to be
allowed to head the ball in games. For this reason, we expect U.S. Soccer or our State
Association to not allow U12 players to "play up" although we do not have a final resolution of
this issue. A similar restriction will likely apply to U10 players. Even if U10s and U12s are not
forbidden from "playing up", U.S. Soccer has already determined that it is not wise to do so, and
we would not want young players to be placed in that kind of situation.
Third, at the high school level, there is an additional concern that allowing entire teams to
"play up" an age bracket could strand players born in some six-month period (depending on the
age group at which this would be implemented) without a team. Here is an example of how that
could happen. Right now, our current U15 boys’ team, which is called Juventus, is a mix of
players born from August 1, 2000 to July 31, 2001. In the fall, a 2001 team based on birth year
will be a U16 team. If Juventus remains a team with the same players, thereby keeping the
players born from August 1, 2000 to December 31, 2000, that team would have to play as a U17
team. This has a significant impact on those players born from August 1, 2001 to December 31,
2001 who would not be a part of that U17 team but may not have enough players to field a
competitive U16 team. That result would not be fair to those players. Also, this approach would
only work if all players on a team decided to stay together and ignore the age group changes, and
from past experience, we have found that there is always some turnover on teams for various
reasons.
Fourth, while our teams are often competitive when playing against older teams locally,
our teams would be at an overall competitive disadvantage at state and regional levels if they are
always playing against older competition. This will particularly be true at the younger levels
when a year in age can make a big difference in physical maturity. To maximize our teams'
opportunity for success on the field, we need to keep the playing field level with other clubs from
an age perspective.
After much thought and taking into consideration these concerns, our Club, like all other
competitive clubs in the state, will hold tryouts based upon calendar year age groupings instead
of on a school-year basis as has been done in the past. This decision is a particularly hard for a
Club like ours that values the relationships that are built through teams and the bonds that
develop among our players and families. But, for the long-term best interest of our players, we
need to start implementing the calendar year approach this upcoming soccer year.
Playing Up
In the anticipation that U.S. Soccer would require our Club to implement a calendar year
strategy, a number of you have asked our coaches and Board members whether your child could
try out for an older age group so that your child could continue to play with their current friend
group or school group. Our Club has never prohibited players from trying out for an older age
group, and the Club does not plan to do so this year.
In evaluating whether a player will be permitted to "play up" to an older age group, our
coaching staff is committed to each player’s development from a soccer perspective. Therefore,
a player who requests to be placed on a team in older age group will not be selected for that team
unless, in the opinion of the coaching staff, that player would benefit from the challenge of
playing against older players. Generally, this means that, in the opinion of the coaching staff, the
player would be one of the stronger players on that team, would receive substantial playing time,
and would be playing on the top team on the older age group. Again, we expect this to be a
player-by-player evaluation, but these are the guidelines that the coaching staff plans to follow in
making this recommendation.
If your child is interested in being considered for an older age group for the upcoming
year, we would encourage you to first reach out to your current coach to get his or her opinion as
to whether that is in the best interests of your child. If, after this conversation, your child would
like to try out for an older age group, you will be given the opportunity to register him or her for
an older age group when you register for tryouts. If the designated coach for that age group or
one of our directors does not feel that it is in the best interests of your child to try out for the
older age group upon receipt of your registration, that coach or director will contact you to
discuss their concerns before tryouts.
During tryouts, the designated coach for the older age group will have the opportunity to
evaluate your player the same as other players in the older age group. If that coach believes it
would be best for your child to tryout for the age appropriate team, that coach or one of our Club
directors will do his or her best to let you know. We trust that you will be respectful of our
coaches and their feedback.
In any event, no player will be allowed to "play up" unless a designated committee of
coaches approves that decision so that the decision is a consensus based on soccer
considerations. If you want your child to be considered for an older age group, you will need to
register for try outs beforehand. Any player attending tryouts who has not pre-registered will be
required to attend their age appropriate group.
Parents should also note that it is likely that U10 players will not be allowed to play up
because that age group is prohibited from heading balls in practice or games and that U12
players will not be allowed to play up because that age group is prohibited from heading balls in
games. A final decision has not been made in this regard, but it will be difficult for US Soccer to
take a different approach if they have concluded that it is a safety hazard for these age groups to
be heading balls. In any event, most of our younger players will be expected to play in their
appropriate age group, and players that are U12 and below will only be allowed to "play up" in
unusual circumstances.
The Challenging Age Groups
The new rules create special challenges for two age groups – U15s and U18/19 girls. As
for the U15 age groups, a significant number of players born in the earlier part of the year (Jan.
1-Aug. 15 likely will be entering their freshman year of high school and may want to play high
school soccer. Most players born in the latter part of the year (Aug. 16-Dec. 31) will be entering
8th grade. As most of you are probably aware, TSSAA regulations prevent players from playing
on high school teams and on a club team at the same time.
Like you, we are concerned that, during the high school season, those U15 players who
are in 8th grade may not have an adequate number of players to attend tournaments and play
friendlies. To address this concern, the Club will make a particular effort to have two teams at
the U15 age group for both genders. By having two teams, the younger players from the two
teams (i.e. the 8th graders) can hopefully be combined during the high school seasons for
training and games. If this is not possible, the younger players will be given full training
opportunities during the high school season, and we will search for opportunities for these
players to play small-sided games during the high school season.
The other challenging age group is the U18/19 girls group. The U18 age group will
consist of a mixture of high school seniors and high school juniors. As many high school senior
girls elect not to play Club soccer in the final semester of high school unless they are training for
college play, the Club will need to make an extra effort to make sure that we have adequate
players to field a competitive team at the U18 girls age group, and the Club intends to do so. The
U19 group is even more challenging as half of that age group will already be in college.
However, the Club will strive to field a team at that age group if there is sufficient interest.
Team Names
The Board has decided to continue to use leading club and national team names from
around the world for the teams in the Club. This identification system is relatively easy for the
Club to administer, and it often results in a teaching lesson for our players as to soccer culture.
In the upcoming year, the younger half of each age group will inherit the team name. So, for
example, our existing Napoli team consists of players that were born in 2002 and 2003. The
highest level team at the 2003 age group (being U14) will inherit the Napoli name. Certainly,
some adjustments in this rule may be needed as the Club will certainly have some new teams or
the number of teams may not correlate for each age group, but generally, the Club will identify
teams in this manner.
Conclusion
The KFC Board and coaches understand that these changes will be difficult for a number
of our players, and we want to be helpful and supportive of our players and families in
addressing these changes. Unfortunately, these changes were thrust upon us, and as a Club, we
need to rally together and do the best we can to implement them in a positive manner. We hope
you will join us in doing so.
Tryout dates have been posted on the Club's website. Given the importance of tryouts
this year, please make every effort to attend both tryouts during your designated week. Tryout
registration is also now open on the Club's website, and we hope you will register your player as
soon as possible. The lead coach for each age group will be posted by mid-May.
Thank you in advance for patience and understanding as we work through these changes.
16801744.1