Important Information about...

Team Registrations, Rosters, and Fall Tournaments
after August 1, 2017

Locked Rosters in June

Guest Players/Pickup Players

Sanction Your Team HERE

UPDATED 7/9/2017

NOTE: We strongly encourage teams to play in the age group they are playing in the Spring/Summer 2018 to prepare them for that age group.

The softball "year" for USSSA runs from August 1 to July 31. That means that tournaments scheduled after August 1 are considered 2018 events and in order to participate in them a team must be registered for 2018. In short, all the teams that were created and all rosters that were submitted for the 2017 season expired on July 31, 2017. 

Under the USSSA system (ISTS), a manager establishes a one-time online account, and then creates teams under that account from year to year. On or shortly after July 1 managers can create their 2018 team, particularly if they plan on playing any USSSA tournaments in August through December. Otherwise, they can certainly wait until next year to create their team. 

When a manager creates a 2018 team, he/she will then need to enter their roster online just as they did for 2017. One thing that makes entering your roster easier the second time around is that any player that previously played on a team that the manager has under their account will already be in the system. If the manager wants to retain that player for 2018 (or at least the fall of 2017) then all he/she has to do is highlight the player under the “Add Former Player” section and hit the button. 

Now, here’s the catch. The age cut off is still based on the calendar/sanction year, however the age eligibility for 2018 teams will change beginning August 1, 2017. The best way to explain this is with an example. Let’s say we have a team that played 14U in 2017. They have a mix of players born in 2002 (roster 14 year olds) and 2003 (roster 13 year olds). If they want to keep playing 14U in the fall of 2017 with players born in 2002 they will not be able to create a 2018 14U team because all 2002 players are now considered roster 15 year olds. What the manager needs to do in this situation is to create their 2018 team as a 15U team. That way he/she can keep all the 2002 players for the fall. Tournament-wise we are going to combine all 14U and 15U teams in the fall because that’s the group that played against one another in the spring and summer. NOTE: No metal cleats in 13U in the Fall 2017.

A 14U team was used in the above example, but the same applies to the 8U, 10U and 12U as well. In other words, an 8U manager with 2008 players should create a 9U team (still playing under coach-pitch rules), a 10U manager with 2006 players should create an 11U team and a 12U manager with 2004 players should create a 13U team. Then come tournament time this fall we will combine the 8U and 9U teams (playing under 8U coach-pitch rules), combine the 10U and 11U teams (playing under 10U rules--pitching distance = 35 ft, 11-inch ball), and combine the 12U and 13U teams (playing under 12U rules--pitching distance = 40 ft, NO METAL CLEATS). 16U and 18U is a slightly different story because USSSA doesn’t have a 17U division or 19U division. A manager with 2000 players will have to register as an 18U team. Most of the time that won’t matter because in the fall we often combine 16U and 18U age brackets anyway. In cases where we don’t, we’ll simply open up the tournament to 18U teams. If you have a player who is currently 18 years old but turns 19 before December 31st, the online system will not accept her. Contact your tournament director for instructions. Below is an outline of age eligibility per age group according to a player’s birth year.

AGE CALCULATOR for the new 2017 Season (which started August 1, 2017)

Age Eligibility According to Birth Year for the 2018 Season (which begins August 1, 2017)
AGE	BIRTH DATE
8U	2009 - 2012
9U	2008 - 2011
10U	2007 - 2010
11U	2006 - 2009
12U	2005 - 2008
13U	2004 - 2007
14U	2003 - 2004
15U	2002 - 2005
16U	2001 - 2004
18U	1999 - 2003

 

If a manager creates an odd year team for the fall (9U, 11U, 13U or 15U), then come next spring they have three options: 

1. If they really want to play next spring as a one year younger team, then they should email the state director to have them reclassified as such after the fall season is finished and after they’ve deleted their older players.  For example, let’s say a 14U team in 2017 decides they want to play out the rest of the fall with their current players which include 2002 girls.  They would register as a 15U in the fall.  However, if in the next calendar year they want to be a 14U team again, then the manager would delete any 2002 girls from the roster and call/email the office requesting that they be reclassified to 14U team.

2. If they want to play next spring as a one year older team, then they would have to let our office know that as well.  Following the above example, if a team registers as a 15U team in the fall, but then next spring wants to pick up players born in 2001, then we would have to reclassify them as 16U.

3. They can do nothing and just stay as an 9U, 11U, 13U or 15U team for the spring/summer of 2018.

There are two other side issues to all of this. 

Insurance. The insurance situation changes depending on whether the team purchased their insurance from USSSA or from another association. 

If a team has USSSA insurance: Teams that purchased USSSA had two options when they bought it – to have coverage run through 7/31/17 or have it run through 12/31/17. If they purchased the latter policy then they’re fine through the fall. If they purchased it to expire on 7/31/17 then they’ll need to purchase another policy that runs from 8/1/17 to 12/31/17, which USSSA offers at half price because of the shortened term. Or they can purchase a full “year” policy that runs from 8/1/17 to 7/31/18 which will cover them through the 2018 registration period. 

If a team does not have USSSA insurance: Most non-USSSA policies expire on December 31. If a team has such a policy then it will remain in effect throughout the fall provided that the team is essentially the same. If a 12U team becomes a 13U team in the fall, but otherwise carries the same team name, then their 2017 coverage will apply provided any newly added players are included on the team’s roster. However, if the team name completely changes then a new policy would be required. 

Player Pickup Policy. We are reviewing the Player Pickup Policy at the Florida USSSA Fastpitch State Meeting. More details to come.

Other Roster Notes  

As stated above, Florida USSSA Fastpitch allows open rosters until mid-June. A player may play on several teams before that as long as she is not actively playing for two USSSA teams playing tournaments the same weekend. Sometime in mid-June, I will lock all rosters, then all player moves from one team to another must be approved by the State Director. 

Hopefully this answers any questions that managers and players have regarding the USSSA softball “year.”