SWSC Playing Up Guidelines

Playing up will only be considered when it is beneficial to the player and will be approved on a player by player basis. If a parent, coach, or player feels that the player has the ability to play beyond their age group, they must follow the steps below.

Requests to play up in age must be initiated by the parent of the player and needs to be submitted to the Player Development Director (PDD) for consideration.

Upon receipt, the PDD will set up a meeting with the parent and the Coaching Development Director (CDD), at a minimum. The current player’s coach, the potential coach, as well as the Travel Director might be asked to be at the meeting as well. This meeting will take place before tryouts in the spring.

The player will then need to attend both tryout days in the spring for the following season (September-June). The first tryout day will be with their appropriate age group and birth year. The second tryout day would be with the age group the player is hoping to play for.

The player will be evaluated by the PDD on both days. If the PDD is unavailable, the player would be evaluated by someone requested by the PDD. This would be someone with an extensive soccer knowledge and background including but not limited to the CDD, another board member, or another qualified neutral coach.

Once the tryouts are completed, there will be a second meeting with the same parties that were included in the original meeting. The decision should be based on the best interest of the club and player. Criteria under consideration will be-

Does the player excel at their own age group? For example: technical ability, game awareness, and size of player?

Does the player excel at the age they want to play at?

Does the move make sense overall? Meaning, are we cutting players to make space for a player playing up? Or does the advanced age group need players to begin with? 

General Policy:

There will be no playing up in the Recreational Soccer program, including U4-U8.

All players entering the travel program for their first official year at the U9 level will play at least one season (September- June) before they will be considered to play up to the next division. Players will be reevaluated on a yearly basis to ensure a proper fit. Players may resubmit their request to play up the following spring if the request was denied the previous year.

As of 6/1/2021 any current player that had been previously evaluated and approved to play up will be allowed to remain in their current placement with the discretion of the SWSC board, including the CDD and PDD.