Can a 04 play on a 03 team?

New to this and trying to figure out the fine print for a 04 going select. Can a 04 tryout and play on a 03 team if it is their first year of select?

Yes, as soon as your daughter is of select age she can play up if she would like to take that route.

FriscoSoccer05 wrote:Yes, as soon as your daughter is of select age she can play up if she would like to take that route.

When does a player reach select age?  Would that be on July 1st when contracts are signed?  Or, would it be on August 1st, which I believe is the roll-over date for age groups?  It would have to be July 1st - right?  To me there is a bit of gray area there because the U10s sign contracts a month before they are officially U11s.

Actually, if she can play up, once she is "select age" then it would be nice if she could start now so that the girl could practice/guest play in tournaments with the '03 team she hopes to make.  An '04 would be at a disadvantage if she has to wait until July 1st to get game exposure with the '03s.

My understanding is she can sign as of July 1st with any age team that will take her.

Yes, in fact an entire team of 04's could play up in the 03 division if the right situation came along.   

Yep that is true as well. Basically once June 1st hits it is open season. Get ready for one crazy month! And then July 1st hits and it is like radio silence settles in for a month.

Can an entire team of 04's play up in the first year? Didn't SRSA try that last year and get shot down?

I believe the rules actually state that all teams must participate in their proper age division and that no team will be allowed to play up unless given special permission. If SRSA didn't get it last year I don't see any way anyone else is going to get it.

If your DD is looking to play up make sure she's playing in DI or DII of LH's. If she's not then it's probably not worth her time because the level of play in DI of the 04's is probably going to be about the same as DIII in of the 03's.

For example, let's say the club that has a very good 04 team also has a D1 bye in Lake highlands for its 03 team. Couldn't they put the 04 team in the 03 D1 bye?

Not that there is any chance of that.   

I don't believe so Unicorn.

Your scenario would violate the rule that states a team must play in their own age division. You would have to get special permission from the commissioner and I just don't see that happening.

LH's plays by their own rules. They don't care what the clubs want or what team has been promised what.

thanks, learned something new.

MumboJumbo wrote:New to this and trying to figure out the fine print for a 04 going select. Can a 04 tryout and play on a 03 team if it is their first year of select?

The short answer is YES. Once your '04 reaches select age, she can play up with an '03 team.

As for all of the details of when she could start practicing with, or playing in tournaments with an '03 team, I would contact NTSSA directly and ask them. My experience is that they will be very helpful with these sorts of questions.

As I understand the rules, your '04 can't become a registered competitive player with NTSSA until July 1, 2014. So I don't believe that she would be able to play with any NTSSA competitive team in an NTSSA sponsored tournament prior to July 1, and possibly until August 1, as that is technically when the soccer year starts. So I'm not sure how that would apply if, for instance, the '03 team she signed up for was playing in King TuT or Puma Cup in July, or even the LHGCL QT for U12 in July. The month of July seems to be a bit of a gray area, so again, I'd call NTSSA directly to get clarification.

After August 1, there are for certain no limitations in NTSSA to an '04 playing up with '03's.

Also, I'm not sure what the US Club Soccer rules are. It could be that an '04 could play up with an '03 team that is registered for a US Club Soccer sponsored tournament using a US Club Roster (i.e. Primetime tournaments) before July 1.

Unicorn,

I'm not saying that it can't happen, because we are talking about the world of NTX soccer; however I don't remember a scenario where it has happened and there have been more than a handful of teams which probably would have liked to try (SRSA 03' being the one the comes to mind most recently).

GrandTXSoccer wrote:Unicorn,

I'm not saying that it can't happen, because we are talking about the world of NTX soccer; however I don't remember a scenario where it has happened and there have been more than a handful of teams which probably would have liked to try (SRSA 03' being the one the comes to mind most recently).

It can happen.  There was a Sting team in U13 D3 this past year ('01's) who's roster was majority '02's.  They claimed a bye spot for a Sting '01 D3 team that folded after U12.  This wasn't a "top" '02 Sting team that did this, they finished in last place in D3, and will possibly have to requalify for a spot in D3 at U14, depending on how the whole scenario of ENCL teams trying to keep their D1 byes this year, ends up playing out.

A younger team could try to qualify for an older age group, but that would only get them a spot in D3. This would be a waste of time for a dominant '04 team, as they would get better overall competition playing in U11 D1 than U12 D3.

Now, if a club had a team from an older age group that owned a D1 or D2 bye for the upcoming year, and that team folded without 75% of that roster signing together somewhere for next year, the club could possibly decide to give that bye to the younger age group team (like Sting did with the D3 bye this past year).  I don't know what, if any, approvals would be required from LHGCL to do so.

Those are the LHGCL rules as I interpret how they are currently written, and have been applied in recent past.  However, given some of the recent decisions that LHGCL has made (i.e. mid-season implementation of CPP last year, and rumors that I'm hearing about relaxing the requirements that would allow the ECNL clubs to retain their top team's byes at U14), I wouldn't be surprised by any decision LHGCL makes these days.

Head spinning yet???     

Bwg, I was thinking more of first year teams that never went through qualifying. I couldn't think of one that skipped qualifying for their age group and just jumped to DI of the age group above them. Now I can think of some teams that can easily compete in those age groups but I've yet to see LHs say ok but like you said nothing shocks me anymore.

There still is the rule that says teams must play in their own age division but I'll just leave it up to the commissioners. Makes no difference to me.

LHGCL will not allow a U-11 team that has not been through the QT to play up in another age group.  They've been pretty consistent on that in the past, at least up until now.

I could be wrong, but I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Thank you for your responses, knew you would know   

You better check with North Texas to be sure.
A few years ago a couple of boys tried to do this and the rule was that no one is able to play up their first year of select.
If this were not the case, then I would see RASE skipping '04 and go directly to play with the '03's.

Players can play up their first year. It happens often. A team getting a pass to play up without giong through QT though, wont happen.

Anyone know if a an '04 team could try to get in to a older age group such as '02 (or '01 etc..) if the went through qualifying? Its been mentioned that a team like RASE (or any other superteam) would be better off playing DI '04 vs DIII '03, but at what age would DIII be more competitive than '04 DI and if LHGCL would even allow it, or would it be too risky for that matter?

It'll be interesting to see what the outcome of the LFS Black vs. RASE matchup will be in a couple of weeks. If it is a repeat of last year (don't think it will be), will RASE really be looking at other options?

There is no benefit for RASE, or any other top 5 team to play up in DIII of the 03s, competition in the 04s will be better.

I know at older ages teams will essentially keep one older girl on the team and classify themselves as the older age group team based on that one girl, however I just don't see LH's letting a new team try to circumvent the rules just to play up.

Personally I think folks should be able to play where they get the most competition but I don't have a vote.