Soccer Links
- Soccer on TV
- Iowa Soccer Asoociation
- CISL (U5-U10 league)
- IPSL
- GDMJSL
- ODP
- US Youth Soccer
- NCAA Soccer
- Professional Leagues
- FIFA
- World Cup
Determining your "Soccer Age"
Soccer ages are determined once per year and hold for the whole year. The soccer year corresponds to the academic year, so your "soccer age" is the same for Fall and the following Spring (i.e., not the calendar year). Your soccer age is your age on July 31 immediately before the Fall season. Thus your "soccer age" for the Fall 07 and Spring 08 seasons is the age you are/were on July 31, 2007.
| Age on 7/31/07 | Fall 07 | Spring 08 |
|---|---|---|
| 4 or 5 | U6 | U6 |
| 6 or 7 | U8 | U8 |
| 8 or 9 | U10 | U10 |
| 10 | U11 | U11 |
| 11 | U12 | U12 |
| 12 | U13 | U13 |
| 13 | U14 | U14 |
| 14 or 15 | U16 | U16 |
| 16 or 17 | U18 | U18 |
We sometimes distinguish U5 from U6, U7 from U8, and U9 from U10. This just implies the one-year brackets that we try to use for teams. All the rules, team sizes, etc. are identical for these odd/even pairings.
What's Does "U6" or "U8" (etc.) mean?
"U8" is short for "My soccer age is Under 8". U8 players cannot be 8 years old (or older) on August 1 previous to the Fall season, as explained above. The system is analogous for U6, U10, etc. In general, U6 players will have "soccer ages" of 4 or 5, U8 players will have soccer ages of 6 or 7, and U10 players will have soccer ages of 8 or 9. Sometimes, U7 and U8 age groups or U9 and U10 age groups are split into these 1-year increments, but our club generally means "U7 and U8" when we say U8 and "U9 and U10" when we say U10. Since the Soccer age corresponds well (but not perfectly) to your child's grade, you may find this table useful. |
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Do I have to play in my correct age group or can I move up or down?
U6-U10 age groups
In the U6-U10 age groups, players are allowed by ISA rules (and thus our insurance) to play up. Thus, we generally allow kids that are young for their grade (e.g., have August or September birthdays) to play with their classmates, even though they qualify for the next group lower. Thus, young 1st graders usually play U8 and young 3rd graders usually play U10. If your son or daughter is unusually large or unusually skilled for his or her age, he or she is also able to "play up". Such decisions are generally made with the guidance of Gary Eyles.
Unlike the other age groups, there is a minimum age for U6. U6 players must have soccer ages of at least 4.
Playing "down" is also possible for U6-U10 teams in unusual cases, but requires paperwork to be filed by our registrar. Please contact Ralph Ackerman if you want your child to play in a younger age group than is normal.
U11 and older age groups
The IPSL does not check the ages of players. We (and all the other clubs in Iowa) generally organize teams according to their ages, but players may play up or down in IPSL games. All that is required for IPSL games is a player card from our club.
For tournaments (particularly State Cup), age groups are observed strictly.