USA Volleyball changes age cutoff for upcoming club season
September 1st cutoff changed to July 1st
Contributed by: Walter Patterson
July 9, 2020 - Greetings A5 families,
As many of you have heard, last week USA Volleyball announced a change in how they define eligibility for each age level in club volleyball, i.e. they changed the cutoff date from September 1 to July 1. There have been a lot of questions about what this means to your athlete, so this article is an attempt to explain everything more clearly.
First of all - as plain as can be - if your athlete does NOT have a July or August birthday, this change does not directly affect you in any way. Whatever her age eligibility was for last year, this year it's one year higher, as usual. Athletes not born in July/August may be indirectly affected by the movement, or lack of movement, of other athletes with July/August birthdays.
If your athlete was born in July or August, they were always one of the youngest athletes in their age group. With the change in the USAV age definition, they are now one of the older athletes in their age group, and as a result of this change, they are eligible for the upcoming 2020-2021 season to try out or play for the SAME age group they may have during the past season.
Of course at the club's discretion or the preference of each athlete's family, athletes may be allowed to or asked to try out for an older age group, for example to stay with their grade in school. Talk to a club representative if you're unsure about this.
All A5 websites (A5, A5 Gwinnett, A5 South, and A5 Chattanooga) have been updated to reflect the new USAV age definition as well as the correct age eligibility for each athlete for the upcoming 2020-2021 club volleyball season. When you sign into your parent profile, the circled number displayed with your athlete's name is the correct age eligibility for the upcoming season.