Why are the division ages so confusing?

US Youth Soccer implemented the best practice of calendar year age grouping for player registration beginning with the 2016-2017 soccer year for all US Youth Soccer programs and competitions. Using the school calendar for age groups was practiced only in the United States and Canada. All other FIFA members go by the calendar year. Therefore US Youth Soccer changed to be in line with the other 208 countries that register youth players by their year of birth. The change will also make it easier for American club teams to play internationally. Players move up in age divisions in the Fall Season ONLY.

• Guidance from US Soccer: Five Things to know about Birth Year Registration
• 2023-2024 NCYSA Birth Year to Age Division Chart
• GCAA Soccer - Birth Year Age Divisions page

Why was my child wait-listed?

Our practice is to leave everyone wait-listed for each age division until two things happen: (1) a head coach is registered and (2) there are enough children to fill the team. Once a coach is registered, we will release and notify sufficient players (in the order they registered) to fill the team. This procedure continues as coaches register and sufficient players are signed up. As you can imagine, the sooner coaches register, the less players need to be wait-listed. If your child is wait-listed, you can almost guarantee your child is removed from the wait list by volunteering to be a head coach (assuming there are enough children to form a new team). Head coaches also receive a free registration for one child per team, with a maximum of two teams coached and two children being paid for. Head coaches are still responsible for purchasing uniform kits for their children.

Does GCAA honor registration requests?

We do our best to honor requests but CANNOT guarantee any specific team assignments for any player. You may request a teammate, a coach, or a practice day (or to avoid a day because of church, dance, scouts, or other prior commitments).

Understand that practice nights and coaches are not guaranteed to remain the same from season to season. A coach or parent may request a specific day for practice, but we again CANNOT guarantee consistency from season to season--not for teams as a whole, coaches, or players. If the day you practice is a deal-breaker (more important to you than the same team or coach) make sure you state such during registration.

Why do I need to purchase a soccer kit after registration?

Prior to the 2019-2020 season GCAA allowed the coach to select the color of their teams uniform. In 2019 the Rec Soccer Committe decided to keep with modern soccer organization trends and move to the uniform kit consisting of a pair of shorts, pair of socks, a home uniform, and an away uniform. Why was this decision made? See below:

• • Uniform kits will save parents money in the long run. Parents no longer have to purchase a new uniform each Fall. If your child still fits in their uniform from previous seasons or they have a uniform from a sibling or friend that fits there is no need to purchase a new uniform.
  • To reduced the effort required by the volunteer that orders and distributes the uniforms. If there is a volunteer or human ordering error it is no longer a loss to GCAA budget. Instead we just keep the erroneous kit in our inventory and exchange the uniform for the correct size!
  • All GCAA teams look consistent letting other association easily identify that the team is a GCAA team.
  • GCAA no longer is forced to buy new uniforms at cost to the GCAA budget if a team collapses and the new coach wants a different color uniform. Additionally since all uniform kits are the same GCAA volunteers can easier accommodate parent requests for different practice days or coaches as one uniform kit applies to all teams
  • If the opposing team has the same color uniform one team no longer needs to wear pinnies. The team can simply switch to their other uniform