Dear Parents, Players and Friends of Glenview Soccer Club & FC-1 Academy,

Earlier this month I wrote to you to bring to your attention the changes U.S. Soccer had announced for youth soccer leagues and soccer clubs across the country.  As you may recall, the most significant change - which has generated vigorous debate throughout youth soccer circles in the United States - centers on how teams will be formed. U.S. Soccer is looking to shift from the current "school age" format where teams are formed by school year (8th graders, 9th graders, etc.) to the international "birth year" model where teams are formed by the calendar year in which players were born (2002, 2001, etc.).

The reason for this change is simple: to compete at the highest level with other countries in the world over the long term, U.S. Soccer wants to construct their teams the same way teams are built internationally - by calendar year.

What Does This Mean for GSC and FC-1?

For over 30 years, our philosophy has been to provide a high quality soccer experience for our players at all age levels in a competitive, community-based environment. Our primary goal is to provide the technical foundation and development opportunities for our players to achieve the highest level of competition they aspire to reach. For most, this means playing in high school; for others, it means pursuing opportunities to play in college. For all of our players, it means becoming the best player and teammate they can be as members of the GSC and FC-1 soccer family.

With this mission in mind, we rigorously evaluated the options available to us. After lengthy discussions with other clubs, youth league representatives and area high school coaches - and guided by the thoughtful recommendations of our Directors of Coaching - we are pleased to announce our plan to implement U.S. Soccer's mandate at GSC and FC-1.

We believe the best way to manage the transition for our families is to implement US Soccer's calendar year mandate for all Glenview Soccer Club teams effective for the Fall 2016 season and to phase-in the calendar year mandate over the next several seasons at the FC-1 Academy level.  

GLENVIEW SOCCER CLUB

What is changing?

Glenview Soccer Club will be moving to calendar year based aged groups for all U8-U11 teams beginning with the upcoming fall season. These teams will now be formed by the year your child was born. For example, boys and girls who were born during calendar year 2006 will trying out for next year's U11 GSC Club teams.  All leagues that our teams will play in also will be organized by calendar year.

What isn't changing?

With over 700 players in our combined programs, multiple teams at nearly every age group, and our strong affiliation with Little Legends as a feeder program, we have the strength in numbers to continue forming multiple teams in U.S. Soccer's new calendar year age format.  Like always, we will form teams based on our Elite, Select, Premier and Classic designations, and players may move between teams based on both performance during the season and our coaching staff's evaluation of our player pool during tryouts.  GSC teams will still practice twice a week and play home games at West Park.  

Why did we do it this way?

We recognize that this will be a big change for our youth program. Adjusting our Glenview Soccer Club teams now will allow us to begin moving forward in competitive alignment with other youth programs that we play most frequently during our outdoor and indoor seasons. As parents like you, we understand that the change will impact different players, teams and families in different ways.

"With our younger teams, we felt it was most advantageous for the kids to make the switch to calendar year right away. By and large, we think it is important for kids in these age levels to play with kids their own age for their own development, safety and confidence." 

- Albert Gudmundsson, Director of Coaching 

FC-1 ACADEMY

What is changing for FC-1 Academy?

FC-1 Academy will be phasing in the transition to calendar year age groups. All current U12 teams (and all incoming U12 teams) will move to calendar year beginning with the upcoming fall season. All leagues that our teams will play in also will be organized by calendar year.

What isn't changing?

All current FC-1 U13-U18 teams will remain in school year based age groups. Like always, we will form teams based on our Elite, Select and Premier designations, and players may move between teams based on both performance during the season and our coaching staff's evaluation of our player pool during tryouts.  Our FC-1 teams will continue to play in a variety of leagues, including IWSL,YSSL and our highly competitive teams will still participate in MRL and State Premiership.  Wilmette Wings will continue to join the FC-1 program in high school, and, as always, we will encourage our high school age participants to play for their high school teams.

Why did we do it this way?

At the FC-1 level, we have a mix of players who have been together for many years, and others who are just getting to know their new teammates. After a year of significant change in our organization, we believe that our current U13-U18 players will benefit from the stability of retaining school year age groupings. To comply with the new US Soccer calendar year age groupings, this means that, on average, about half of our FC1 players will be playing in their age group, and about half will be playing up an age group. At our older age groups, we believe that playing up will not significantly impact the competitiveness of our teams.  The decision to begin the transition at U12 also reflects our commitment to fully align with U.S. Soccer within a reasonable time frame.  We will make adjustments to the plan in the future, if necessary, based on our experience over the next several seasons.

"For our older players, we felt it was best and most fair to allow them to remain in their school age groups until they "matriculate" through the program. We also know these teams and players very well and we will identify the proper level of competitiveness for each team in each league." 

- Issac Moushi, Director of Coaching
 

Next Steps: Information Session on Wednesday, April 13th at the Glenview Park Center

We understand that you may have lots of additional questions.

We will be holding an information session for all GSC and FC-1 families on Wednesday, April 13, from 7:30-9:00 pm at the Glenview Park Center, and then meeting with individual age groups over the coming weeks as we get closer to tryouts for next season.  This session will also contain a club update and all who are interested are invited to attend.

Thank you for your continuing support of Glenview Soccer Club and FC-1 Academy.

Sincerely,
Thomas J. Meier
President