AYSO National defines which division a player should be assigned based on the child’s age on August 1st.
| Division | Typical Age | Typical Grades | Age Cut-off Dates by Date of Birth | Game Sizes | Team Sizes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U06 | 5 | K | 8-1-05 thru 12-1-06 | 4 v 4 | 7-8 |
| U07 | 6 | 1 | 8-1-04 thru 7-31-05 | 5 v 5 | 7-8 |
| U08 | 7 | 2 | 8-1-03 thru 7-31-04 | 7 v 7 | 9-10 |
| U10 | 8-9 | 3-4 | 8-1-01 thru 7-31-03 | 9 v 9 | 12 |
| U12 | 10-11 | 5-6 | 8-1-99 thru 7-31-01 | 9 v 9 | 12-13 |
| U14 | 12-13 | 7-8 | 8-1-97 thru 7-31-99 | 11 v 11 | 14-15 |
| U16 | 14-15 | 9-10 | 8-1-95 thru 7-31-97 | 11 v 11 | 14-18 |
| U19 | 16-18 | 11-12 | 8-1-92 thru 7-31-95 | 11 v 11 | 14-18 |
Although AYSO National prefers that all players play in their age-appropriate division, they do allow regions the flexibility to have players “play-up” to an older division. We apologize, AYSO National does not allow for players to “play-down” to a younger division.
AYSO Region 45’s policy, consistent with AYSO National’s policy and local public school age guidelines allows for any play-up of up to 4 months. If you have a younger child born on or before December 1st but after July 31st, you will be presented with the option to play in his or her age appropriate division or to play-up one division during registration.
If you forgot to select to play-up during registration or if you later decide not to play-up, please email our registrar at registrar@ayso45.org to request the change.
Play-up requests of greater than 4 months must be made to our Regional Commissioner for board-level approval. These requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Please Email this request to our Regional Commissioner at rc@ayso45.org and include justification along with the child’s height, weight, relative speed and agressiveness compared to his or her peers.
In general, a player’s past rating and other data will be looked at in order to make a determination along with possible contact with last year’s coach. At a minimum, the player needs to already be above average in the play-up division (well above average in their age-appropriate division) to be considered unless one of the parents volunteers to be head coach and their primary purpose for the play-up is to pair siblings on the same team.
Please note that we need to have an adequate number of head coach volunteers in the play-up division to accept the request for a play-up of more than 4 months. The Region will not turn away a player in their correct age division (that signs up by June 7th) as they have no other age-eligible options. This does not apply to players accepted to play up that also come with a Certified head coach volunteer in the play-up division.
