What ages can play soccer with Ames Soccer Club?

The "age" of a soccer player is determined by birth year and your "age" holds throughout the academic year until the next summer. For example, if you play U6 in fall, you will play U6 in spring. 

The age groups and birth years are listed below for the 2022-2023 soccer year (fall > spring):

2020 U5 2019 U6 2018 U7 2017 U8 2016 U9

2015 U10 2014 U11 2013 U12 2012 U13

2011 U14 20010 U15 2009 U16 2008 U17

2007 U18 2006 U19

 

Who runs the Ames Soccer Club?

The ASC is a volunteer-based community organization run by its members and overseen by an annually elected board. If you are interested in becoming a board member, please contact Club President Lowell Davis at lowell.davis@amessoccer.org . The club’s full-time employees are:

Executive Director/Technical Director U5-U10 Gary Eyles

Club Administrator/Technical Director U11-U12 Nick Kyras

Technical Director U13-U19 Girls Matt Laczniak

Technical Director U13-U19 Boys Ollie Johnston

The club also employs part-time coaches to work with the U11 – U19 teams and skills coaches to work with the U5-U10 players.

 

Who chooses the coaches?

The Technical Directors make the hiring decisions for our staff coaches for the U11 and older program and for the skills coaches for the U5-U10 program. Agreements are approved and signed by the club president. Parent coaches for the U5-U10 teams are chosen through a mix of volunteerism, qualified parents, and the U5-U10 Technical Director.

 

If I sign my child up, how much will s/he get to play?

Our typical U5-U10 seasons are 8 games long, usually spread over 9-10 weeks because of holidays or weather cancelations. For all U5-U10 teams, everybody plays at least half of the game. 

In the U11-U19 age group playing time is at the discretion of the coach and will be based upon several factors including attendance at training sessions/games, effort at training sessions/games, overall attitude, and game management etc. Coaches are encouraged to use league and friendly games as developmental opportunities where every player is given fair playing time. As much as possible tournament games will be treated in a similar fashion, but we also realize results and status of games will become bigger factors as well. 

 

How are teams formed?

U5-U10 team formation is mostly based on schools attended and there are no sorts of "all-star" teams. There are no tryout or player evaluations of any sort. You just sign up and we get you on a team! We try to maintain the same teams from season to season unless a parent requests for their child to be moved. 

We emphasize individual player development over trying to win as a team at these ages. We emphasize teaching soccer skills "the right way" in a fun, age-appropriate, game-based environment. We emphasize the importance of good sportsmanship with players, parents, and referees. 

Deadlines for U5-U6 registration are Fall = August 20 and Spring = March 20

Deadlines for U7-U10registrations are Fall = August 1 and Spring = March 1

If trying to join after registration deadlines, contact U5-U10 Technical Director, Gary Eyles amesdoc@gmail.com for roster availability.

For U11 – U19 age groups teams are formed based upon on annual tryouts and previous year’s play. This is designed not to exclude, but rather to place players sensibly on appropriate teams and to be able to place those teams in the appropriate ability level divisions within our leagues.  Tryouts take place during the first two weeks of June.

Deadline for U11-U19 is June tryouts (approx. June 1 – 14).

If trying to join after deadline, contact the respective age group Technical Director listed below:

Technical Director U11-U12 Boys and girls Nick Kyras

Technical Director U13-U19 Girls Matt Laczniak

Technical Director U13-U19 Boys Ollie Johnston

 

Who coaches the teams?

U5-U10. Our centralized practice system means that every player and team have practices supervised by skills coaches and parent coaches. Parent coaches are the direct game-day coaches and are expected to be leaders at the practices. Practice plans are given out in advance, from an age-appropriate curriculum designed by the Technical Director. The skills coach makes sure everything is running well and offers individual instruction and coaching points. We provide extensive support and coaching training opportunities.

Please let us know if you are interested in being a parent-coach or skills coach by contacting Gary Eyles at amesdoc@gmail.com . 

 U11-U19. At the older levels (U11 and up) there is a professional coach for each team.  The pro coach designs and runs all the practices. We aim for 100% game coverage by the pro coaches, but another professional staff coach may coach the team due to extensive game conflicts. Technical leaders recruit the coaches for these age groups. If interested in coaching, please contact one of the technical leaders:

U11-U12 Boys & Girls Nick Kyras nick.kyras@amessoccer.org

U13-U19 Girls Matt Laczniak matt.laczniak@amessoccer.org

U13-U19 Boys Ollie Johnston ollie.johnston@amessoccer.org

 

My child has signed up for soccer. When will I hear something?

The electronic registration provides you a receipt. If you do not get an electronic receipt, contact us immediately. Practice times are posted well before each season for the U5-U10 program, but you will typically also hear from us by email and/or from your coach a week or two before practice starts each season. For the U11 and older program, you will hear from the staff and/or parent coaches or by email from us in a similar interval before practice is due to start.

All families are added to an email list to announce things like the first day of practice, game schedules, special events, and so on. Every player's family gets placed on an appropriate emailing list each season. We re-do the lists each season because so many people change their addresses.

 

We're going to our first practice next week. What should we bring?

A big smile. A water bottle. Shin guards with socks that cover them. A ball. (U5-U8: size 3; U9-U12: size 4; U13+ size 5) Sneakers or soccer shoes are ok, especially for the youngest ages. Cleats are strongly recommended for U9 and older players. Soccer cleats are different from baseball cleats in that they do not have a central cleat in the front toe area. If you have rubber baseball or multi-purpose shoes that have a central, front cleat, just cut it off. 

 

Are there special rules for the younger kids or do they play the regular game?

As part of the Iowa Soccer Association, we play "small-sided games" on smaller fields in our younger age divisions. We strongly endorse these small-sided games, because they give greater opportunities for every player to have quality touches on the ball and achieve success, something that is critically important for our younger players. There are some other simplifying rules as well. You can see all of them on the appropriate age group program pages, but here are the highlights:

U6 plays 2 v 2 > 3 v 3 with no keeper. All free kicks are indirect. No offsides.

U8 plays 4 v 4 with no keeper. All free kicks are indirect. No offsides.

U10 plays 7 v 7 with a keeper, no punting and build-out line are enforced.

U12 plays 9 v 9, but otherwise full rules.

U13 and higher plays 11 v 11 full rules.

 

What about tournaments?

Generally, U8 and U10 teams make the decision whether to play in tournaments on their own. We encourage teams to play in local tournaments, but the decision is yours. Teams are responsible for their own entry fees.

The U11 and older teams are entered into tournaments at the recommendation of the Technical Directors at the beginning of each season. Parents will be billed for the tournaments (registration fee and any coaching expenses -  travel, food, mileage) soon after the tournament is played. We often coordinate so that multiple teams enter the same tournament to reduce coaching expenses (travel, food, mileage)

 

Can my child play up? (or down?)

Children who wish to play up because of ability or to challenge themselves need to get approval from the respective age group Technical Director.

"Playing down" is less common, particularly in the U5-U10 age groups, where it generally requires a waiver from Iowa Soccer Association (ISA). This would be generally for medical reasons and a doctor’s approval/notes will be required.