LUSC Age Group Policy

Last revised May, 2024.

IN-TOWN SOCCER

Children normally play with their grade level.  However, children who do not fall within the standard Lexington Public Schools age guidelines (September 1 – August 31) for their grade have the additional option of playing with the children of their age group.  To play kindergarten soccer in the 2024-2025 school year, a player must be 5 years of age on or before August 31, 2024, or be enrolled in kindergarten in fall 2024.

TRAVEL SOCCER

In terms of age, the team a LUSC player is eligible for will be based on the BAYS (Boston Area Youth Soccer) “Age Groups” match rule.  In general, children play in the BAYS age group for their grade.  However, there are some exceptions where a child can choose a different age group and some where a child must choose a different age group.  

For the school year 2024-2025, the BAYS age group is determined according to the following table:

BOTH CRITERIA MUST BE MET FOR BAYS
DOB (ON OR AFTER)	SCHOOL GRADE 2024-2025	SOCCER GRADE 2024-2025	FORMERLY CALLED
1/1/15	3rd	3	U9
1/1/14	4th or below	4	U10
1/1/13	5th or below	5	U11
1/1/12	6th or below	6	U12
1/1/10	8th or below	7, 8	U14
1/1/08	10th or below	9, 10	U16
1/1/06	12th or below	11, 12	U18

DOB means date of birth.  There is no separate 7^th grade playing group; 7^th and 8^th grades are combined into a single playing group. Similar for 9th+10th grades and 11th+12th grades.

To understand situations where a child’s age doesn’t correspond to her school grade, consider different examples for a child of nominal 5^th grade age (9/1/13 – 8/31/14 for Lexington Public Schools in the 2024-2025 school year), but who attends a different grade.

EX.	DOB (NOMINAL 5TH GRADER)	ATTENDS SCHOOL	SOCCER GRADE CHOICES	EXPLANATION
1	9/1/13 – 12/31/13	4th grade	5th grade	Can’t play 4th grade because not born on or after 1/1/14.  Possible by waiver.
2	1/1/14 – 8/31/14	4th grade	4th or 5th grade	Can play 4th grade because born after 1/1/14. Can play 5th grade because 5th grade age.
3	9/1/13 – 8/31/14	6th grade	6th grade	Can’t play 5th grade because not in 5th grade or below. Possible by waiver.

A few further comments are in order for each example:

1. A waiver is possible under BAYS Match Rule 4 section 1.C., with no restrictions on the division of play; consult the LUSC Registrar.
2. No waiver required, and no restrictions on division.
3. A waiver is possible under BAYS Match Rule 4 section 1.B., with no restrictions on the division of play; consult the LUSC Registrar.

The BAYS waivers are further explained here.

There is another case not covered in the examples above.  Consider a child of nominal 6th grade age (9/1/12-8/31/13) who indeed attends 6th grade.  According to BAYS Match Rule 4 section 1.B., if this child is born 1/1/13-8/31/13, she can be granted an automatic waiver to play 5th grade soccer.  However, LUSC does not allow this exception.  As another example of this case, LUSC does not allow a player of 9th grade age, who attends 9th grade, to play 8th grade soccer.

Under BAYS rules, there is theoretically no limit to a child playing up.  However, LUSC imposes restrictions on a child playing up in both age and grade level.  Specifically, this requires a recommendation from the Director of Coaching and the concerned Division Directors, and approval of the President.  In addition, the child must place in the top half of the first team of the higher age group.   For example, suppose Bill has been playing with his classmates in his BAYS 4^th Grade age group, and is of 4^th grade age.  However, even on the first 4th Grade team he is much better than his teammates, and consequently his soccer development is being stunted.   The DOC and 4^th Grade division director recommend that Bill move up to the 5^th Grade age group, and the 5^th Grade division director confirms that Bill would place in the top half of the first 5^th Grade team.  The LUSC President must give final approval.  (Note that under no circumstances can Bill skip another age group and play in the 6^th Grade age group.)  Bill must satisfy the same criteria to continue playing in the upper age group in subsequent years.

 

LEXINGTON PLAYER DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY

Our LPDA teams play in the New England Premier (NEP).  Age eligibility is determined by birth year without any regard to school grade. The chart below shows the teams LUSC is planning for 2024 -2025.

TEAM	BIRTH YEARS	NOMINAL SCHOOL GRADES
BOYS
U11	2014	Older 4th, younger 5th
U12	2013	Older 5th, younger 6th
U14	2011, 2012	Older 6th, all 7th, younger 8th
U16	2009, 2010	Older 8th, all 9th, younger 10th
GIRLS
U11	2014	Older 4th, younger 5th
U12	2013	Older 5th, younger 6th
U14	2011, 2012	Older 6th, all 7th, younger 8th

 

Note that older 8^th graders are grouped with high schoolers in U16/boys and U17/girls (who play high school in the fall).  Since they won’t have a team to play on in the fall, the older 8^th graders will be invited to practice with the U14 teams in the fall, then join their U16/U17 team in the winter.

4^th graders born in 2015 have the opportunity to try out for LPDA as well, though preference will be given to 2014 birth year players.

SKILLS ACADEMY

The Skills Academy teams for 3^rd and 4^th graders follow the BAYS age policy discussed above.