Letter to the Membership

Letter to the Membership On August 24, 2015, U.S. Soccer announced the birth year player development initiative (PDI). The PDI is aimed at standardizing American soccer and aligning it with rest of the world. Youth soccer organizations, specifically US Club Soccer and US Youth Soccer moved to adopt birth year registration for all competitions in 2016-17. In our town hall meeting on February 10, 2016, Prince William Soccer (PWSI) announced its timeline for implementation of the initiative. The full presentation and age group chart can be downloaded at www.pwsi.org. SPRING 2016 (SELECT PROGRAM) Current U-9 and U-10 pools will be formalized into teams for the spring 2016 season to participate in league and tournament play. The Youth Development League-Virginia (YDL) will move from 5v5 to 7v7 for U-9 league play and maintain 5v5 league-wide festivals at both U-9 and U-10. PWSI will enter two teams in YDL. Additional teams will participate in NCSL/WAGS. We will maintain pool and age group training methodology. RECREATIONAL PROGRAMMING – 2016-17 PWSI will maintain the August 1-July 31 registration and team rosters for all in-house recreational teams for 2016-17. In-house recreational soccer will not be affected by the birth year PDI as we believe players and families participate in recreational soccer largely for the social and healthy living aspect of the sport. We will review this policy for 2017-18, but it is our intention to maintain August 1-July 31 registration. The Suburban Friendship League (SFL) has announced its intention to transition to birth year rosters in 2017-18. The league will vote in March to determine the plan for 2016-17. PWSI is against the transition to birth year for recreational-based teams. We will make a final decision for our inter-club recreational programming as soon as possible and communicate accordingly. All-Star teams will be selected by birth year (January 1-December 31) to participate in outside competition. CLASSIC PROGRAM – 2016-17 PWSI classic program will adopt the birth year (January 1-December 31) registration for 2016-17 to participate in league/tournament play. Team formation will remain coach-select; however, no player will be permitted to play more than one year older than his/her proper age group. SELECT PROGRAMMING – 2016-17 PWSI select program will adopt the birth year registration for 2016-17. Team formation in the May/June 2016 tryout will be based on the selection of players born January 1-December 31 in each birth year. PWSI has taken additional steps to mitigate the unintended consequences of these changes: High school seniors –The U-19 high school senior will necessarily be left without enough players for form a proper team. As such, the U-18 and U-19 age groups will be combined and 14716 Minnieville Road l Woodbridge, VA 22193 l Phone 703-670-6061 l Fax 703-730-9031 www.pwsi.org





participate in the appropriate league as a U-19 team. (For 2016-17, U-18/19 will be players born in 1999 and 1998. Players born in 2000 will play U-17.) The NPL pool will be expanded to 35 with two teams entered in the Virginia NPL at the U-19 age group where applicable. Trapped 8th graders – The U-15 age group will have a significant increase in the number of players who are in eighth grade. This presents a challenge during the high school season to provide meaningful training and competition. With the exception of U.S. Soccer Development Academy players, PWSI will not discourage players from participating in high school soccer. During the spring season, student-athletes will be separated into two training groups – those who participate in high school soccer and those who do not. The physical and academic workload on players participating in high school soccer necessitates a different club experience during that period, including 1-2 sessions/week at a shorter duration. Non-high school players will be placed into a more demanding training pool, including 3-4 sessions/week at full duration. All U-15 players – both high school and non-high school participants - will be eligible to participate in spring league and tournament matches. Additionally, U-14 and younger players may be rostered to an older age group on game day to provide developmental opportunities and functioning game day rosters. Relative age effect (RAE)– The relative age effect shows selection of players at the youngest age group is largely based on physical and cognitive maturation. Players on top teams often get the best coaching and competition. As a result, players born in the first part of the registration cycle generally become more successful. Moving the registration parameters simply aligns the RAE with the rest of the world. To combat this effect and ensure all players receive consistent development, PWSI will form U-9 and U-10 teams on six-month cycles where feasible. The top two teams will be comprised of players born January-June and July-December. Additional teams will be formed on the January-December registration. PWSI will maintain pool and age group training in addition to team-specific practices. FINAL THOUGHTS Prince William Soccer supports U.S. Soccer’s efforts to raise the standard of development for all youth players. Through the steps outlined above, PWSI aims to reduce the stress and uncertainty caused by these initiatives. We sincerely appreciate each family’s commitment to our organization and look forward to maintaining the highest standard of player development and individual excellence both on and off the field. ###

14716 Minnieville Road l Woodbridge, VA 22193 l Phone 703-670-6061 l Fax 703-730-9031 www.pwsi.org