San Francisco Vikings Youth Soccer League
Policy on Teams Playing Up

Under CYSA rules a player may elect to play in an older age division. The Viking League acknowledges that the parents, player and coach need to make that decision. The Viking League is a recreational playing league with the goal of ensuring that all children develop a true love and enjoyment of play soccer regardless of their athletic ability. In addition, the Viking League seeks to facilitate the development of soccer players who wish to play at a higher level.
A proposal that a team play in a higher age division raises a number of issues for the Viking League including the following:
1. Is the Team Truly Recreational
Is the team truly a Class 4 recreational team or is it more appropriate to view the team as a Class 3 developmental team (where players have been selected based on ability)? If the team is Class 4, except in unusual circumstances, the team should be competitive with other Class 4 teams. If the team is a Class 3 team, the team should be playing in another league.
2. Impact of Decision on Less Strong Players
Assuming that the team is a Class 4 team and has players with mixed athletic abilities, how will the smaller and/or less athletic players fare playing children who are older? Will they develop fear of being hurt or find the game less fun? Also, while Viking requires all players to play at least ½ of each game, our goal is for all players to play equally. Will playing in a higher age group make this less likely?
Often a team is extremely strong because it has a number of players who could play at a Class 3 or Class 1 level. These stronger players should not drive the experience of others on the team.
3. Impact on the teams in the Older Division.
For the weaker teams in the older division, we feel it would be demoralizing for those teams, which for a variety of reasons are less strong, to be defeated by a team of children who are all one year younger.
For the stronger teams in the older division, we feel it would not be fair to make them play a team that is substantially weaker just because the younger team is choosing to play in an older division. Under Viking Rules, if a team has a 4-goal advantage, the winning team is required to take affirmative action to prevent the score from running up. This includes removing players from the field. We do not feel that it is fair for the players on the older team to have to remove players and have their players have less playing time just because the other younger team has made this election.
4. Have the parents of the team making this election been fully informed and consented to this election
The league feels that it is very important to verify that the parents on the team understand the election that is being made and the consequences of the election.
5. The team playing up may present logistical issues for the league.
Moving one team into the older age division may result in odd numbers of teams in the two age groups. The League will try to honor requests but will have final decision as to the placement of teams.
Because schedules have already been posted, teams electing the older division should not expect to be able to move into the younger age division midway through the season.
In response to the issues above, the league has adopted the following policies regarding the treatment of teams who have chosen to play in a higher age division. It is requiring that each parent of a player on the team must sign the following acknowledgement:
1. The team choosing to play in an older division should expect to be placed in one of the higher divisions in the older age group (not the lowest).
2. The team choosing to play in an older division will not be able to move to a lower age division during the fall season.
3. The older teams playing the younger team will not be subject to the 4-goal rule.
4. Special scrutiny will be given to ensure that each player on the younger team plays at least 50% of each game.
5. The league (in its sole discretion) may require the team to play in the lower age division. This decision will be based on logistics and may not be made until late August when divisions are being finalized.
The undersigned parents of__________________________ acknowledge that they have read the above policy and concerns and consent to having their child play in an older division than the division for which their team is eligible.

_______________________________                                                     _____________________________________
Print Name of Parent 1                                                                                                           Print Name of Parent 2

_______________________________                                                     ______________________________________
Signature of Parent 1                                                                             Signature of Parent 2
Dated: ___________________