New Fall 2023 Birth Year Ranges for Upper House

Beginning Fall 2023, SFYS is extending the birth year ranges for Upper House divisions to include players born on or after August 1st of the previous year. 

• Click here for a table summarizing player age restrictions by division.

Remember: players may register on a team up to two years older than their age group, but no younger. For example, in Fall 2023:

• a 4th grader playing in the Recreational divisions can be rostered on a team in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade divisions; but not 3rd or 7th
• a player born August 1st, 2011 playing in the Upper House divisions could play on a team in the U12+, U13+, U14+, and U15+ divisions; but not U11+ or U16+

Not sure which division to register your Upper House team in for Fall 2023?

Check the date ranges in the table referenced above.

• If all of the players on your team were born in the same year, you should register into the division which has a matching base year for its age range (age range not including the August extension).
  • For example: A team registering for Fall 2023 with a roster of players born in 2011 only would register in the U13+ division (age range 8/1/2010 - 12/13/2011).

• If you are making the transition from a grade-based division to Upper House with a few older players, your should register into the division that has a matching base year for the majority of your team as long as the older players were born on or after August 1st of the year before.
  • For example: A team registering for Fall 2023 with a majority of players born in 2013 and a few players born on or after August 1st of 2012 would register in the U11+ division (age range 8/1/2012 - 12/31/2013)
    
    

Not sure if a player is the right age for your team?

The table below restates the age ranges for each division in another format, showing the oldest and youngest player who would be allowed to register for that division (remember–players can be rostered on a team up to two years older than their age group).

Why are we making this change?

The age restrictions for SFYS Recreational divisions are grade-based, while Competitive Upper House divisions have been strictly birth-year based, as mandated by US Soccer. Other recreational leagues across the country lost a significant percentage of their rec teams once US Soccer switched to strictly birth year. SFYS was determined to help keep together Recreational teams that are based out of a school and may have players with a range of birth years in a single grade. As a result, we maintain a healthy and thriving recreational playing environment.

That said, having multiple age ranges on the recreational side made it tricky for teams transitioning to Competitive Upper House or playing in tournaments or moving on to regional/travel leagues, all of which base their registration on birth year. The upcoming extension to the age range limits in Upper House is intended to address this by helping teams make the difficult transition from Rec to Upper House without also having to jump up an age group to match the birth year of a few older players, who are in the same grade as their teammates.

Using an incoming Fall 2023 4th grade team as an example: the majority of their players will likely have been born in 2014, but could have been born as early as 8/1/2013 (which is why the 4th rec division is marked U11 – in 4th grade, most kids would be 9, but could technically be as old as 10). Up until Fall 2023, an incoming 4th grade team looking to move to Upper House with a majority of 2014 players but just one 2013 player born after August 1st would have had to register in the U11/2013 division to match their oldest player, even though most of their players would be in U10/2014 (or, even worse, that older kid would quit or find another team so everyone else could play at the right level). This led to unbalanced divisions, huge blowouts, and disappointing experiences for everyone across the board. Extending the birth year range back to August of the previous year gives us more flexibility to correctly bracket those teams and manage some of the difficulties teams face when moving up a level in competition. It's obviously still not a perfect solution, especially for teams going to other tournaments where they'll be more strict on birth year registration, but we feel confident managing that from the perspective that we can have those conversations as we make player passes.