Changes coming to Gallatin Soccer Club

It has been a busy off season for youth soccer and with that comes changes from  the US Soccer Federation and the Tennessee State Soccer Association.  Included in these changes are new player development initiatives which involves changes to the cutoff used for age grouping and format of play, new concussion policies related to heading a soccer ball, and requirements for awareness on Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

 

Here are a couple of TSSA links regarding the stance of our state soccer association:

TSSA Age and Small Sided game changes

TSSA Concussion Initiative (Heading)

TSSA Policies

 

To align with the new policies and mandates as passed down from US Soccer and TSSA, the Gallatin Soccer Club will look to start implementing some changes over the next couple of year.  Some change that Gallatin Soccer Club WILL be adopting for the upcoming Fall 2016 season are:

  1. Birth Year cutoff used for age group determination.  Chart provided in links above which can be extrapolated out to U4 (Kickeroos).  Note, GSC still plans on having two groups combined together as previously.  So, U5/U6 = U6, U7/U8 = U8, etc.  Kickeroos are an exceptions and will now be a single year age group.
  2. Changes to policy regarding heading of a soccer ball.  Per TSSA stance, all heading at U11 and below is banned.  At GSC since U11 and U12 are grouped together as U12 we have voted to adopt banning heading at U12 and lower ages groups.  This applies to games and practice.
  3. There will be new information sheets and acknowledgement forms for both parents and coaches to comply with TSSA policy 32 about Sudden Cardiac Arrest.  This is similar to the concussion acknowledgement forms that were implemented in the last couple of years.
  4. To begin aligning our formats of play more closely to the new US Soccer initiatives, there will be changes to ball sizes in some age divisions.  U8 will now use size 3 and U12 will now use size 4.  All other divisions remain the same.

 

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we adapt to meet the new US Soccer Federation mandates.

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