Age cheating is rampant in youth soccer, and its easy to see why, the pay off can be college scholarships, youth national teams, and professional careers. Some notable players who were often accused of being overage below. I am neither y/n regarding the below players, but there seems to be a common thread. And remember Luna blew up TM yrs. ago w/regard to being overage. The list goes on, I'm still waiting to see a 'man among children' 'a youth who plays above his age' who actually sports a US b.Cert.

Charles Renken, still only 16, Also like Adu, who lived in Ghana until he was 9 years old, Renken was born in Africa, in Zambia, and moved to the United States as a boy.
Ruben Luna , Born in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, often accused of being overage while playing Dallas Classic League
Alexei Reyes, Born in Mexico City, Mexico, see Luna
Eighteen-year-old forward Birnis Adames winner of Sueño MLS 2011, Born in Dominican Republic
17-year-old Alberto Lopez from Aurora, IL, born in Mexico fulfilled his dream by becoming the National Champion of Sueño MLS 2009 and securing a spot with the Chicago Fire Juniors.
Gabriel Funes,Born in Mendoza, Argentina, stood out amongst tough competition and over 2,000 participants during the 2008 Sueño MLS try-outs
Jorge Flores joined the Chivas USA Flores spent his childhood in Pénjamo Guanajuato

I understand what you are all saying but what about this:

We have a couple of boys on our team that are larger than most. My BB ('00) is taller than me and could pass for 14 or 15 easily. He's 5'5" and weighs over 100 lbs and has a hint of a mustache. I am not claiming that he never fouls. However, when he's up against a kid who is 4'8" and weighs 80 lbs, even when it is a legal play, the kid he's up against will often fall, roll, and yell out just to get the call. Sometimes the referees are awesome. More often, they will penalize the bigger kid every time. It's human nature.

I'm not saying that illegal players are not an issue; I know that they are. I'm just saying that until you know for sure that a player is too old, don't make assumptions/accusations. It's sour grapes. The bigger, legal ones are already being punished enough for their size without irate parents being hateful because they think the kid is too old when he's not.

wow quite a few "first time" posters in here? makes you think whos who?

omega striker wrote:wow quite a few "first time" posters in here? makes you think whos who?

I can't speak for anyone else, but this is my BB's first year in competitive soccer. Just getting comfortable enough with the forum to start posting. I've got more coming up soon so I'm sure I'll be here for a while.

freckles wrote:

omega striker wrote:wow quite a few "first time" posters in here? makes you think whos who?

I can't speak for anyone else, but this is my BB's first year in competitive soccer. Just getting comfortable enough with the forum to start posting. I've got more coming up soon so I'm sure I'll be here for a while.

And you had to go steal your dogs name for your screen name . Freckles ?? Really ??

1) I'm super glad that everyone took my first post very seriously.
2) I've never seen a dog that had freckles.
3) I was going to be dirtyredhead but I was afraid it would send the wrong message.
4) I guess you'd take me more seriously if i was soccermom3?

And to think I was going to upload a picture. Fine. It's back to the name pool for me. Just don't be surprised at the new users with only 1 post at U12.

freckles wrote:I understand what you are all saying but what about this:

We have a couple of boys on our team that are larger than most. My BB ('00) is taller than me and could pass for 14 or 15 easily. He's 5'5" and weighs over 100 lbs and has a hint of a mustache. I am not claiming that he never fouls. However, when he's up against a kid who is 4'8" and weighs 80 lbs, even when it is a legal play, the kid he's up against will often fall, roll, and yell out just to get the call. Sometimes the referees are awesome. More often, they will penalize the bigger kid every time. It's human nature.

I'm not saying that illegal players are not an issue; I know that they are. I'm just saying that until you know for sure that a player is too old, don't make assumptions/accusations. It's sour grapes. The bigger, legal ones are already being punished enough for their size without irate parents being hateful because they think the kid is too old when he's not.

As father of two microplayers, I can attest to this. Can't always get the call, but it's extremely common even when there is no foul. FYI - your son would tower over my 15 year old.

I have two sons of friends that were over 6'3" at age 12/13 and very large - one will be a D1 football player most likely (as was his father) - so, the 'obviously over age' thing isn't always obvious.

We had a team (around U10) short of players and witnessed some older brothers put on shirts so they had enough. One of the players actually went to school with one of our players so we knew he was 2 years older - it was all good - we'd rather play than not. I think everyone's just looking for a reason as to why a team is big or why they lost, it's human nature to seek reasons (some prefer excuses than reasons).

plantit wrote:

freckles wrote:

omega striker wrote:wow quite a few "first time" posters in here? makes you think whos who?

I can't speak for anyone else, but this is my BB's first year in competitive soccer. Just getting comfortable enough with the forum to start posting. I've got more coming up soon so I'm sure I'll be here for a while.

And you had to go steal your dogs name for your screen name . Freckles ?? Really ??

What's wrong with freckles? I actually love the screen name; makes me think of my middle child, which always makes me smile
Leave freckles alone, you big bully.

Ibystander wrote:

plantit wrote:

freckles wrote:

omega striker wrote:wow quite a few "first time" posters in here? makes you think whos who?

I can't speak for anyone else, but this is my BB's first year in competitive soccer. Just getting comfortable enough with the forum to start posting. I've got more coming up soon so I'm sure I'll be here for a while.

And you had to go steal your dogs name for your screen name . Freckles ?? Really ??

What's wrong with freckles? I actually love the screen name; makes me think of my middle child, which always makes me smile
Leave freckles alone, you big bully.

Agree. And I vote for the pciture too!

[quote="freckles"]1) I'm super glad that everyone took my first post very seriously.
2) I've never seen a dog that had freckles.
3) I was going to be dirtyredhead but I was afraid it would send the wrong message.
4) I guess you'd take me more seriously if i was soccermom3?

And to think I was going to upload a picture. Fine. It's back to the name pool for me. Just don't be surprised at the new users with only 1 post at U12.[quote]






Dirtyredhead ?? I like it .. Hence .. Freckles .. Do the #urtain$ match the Dra^p%s . Forget it. Now I'm just being mischievous. Welcome aboard. (spots on face)...

Unfortunately this seems to be happening more and more across every sport we play. I am not thrilled by it but at least in soccer it isn't as big of a safety risk as it can be with some of the other sports only due to the nature of game play.

I have a U-12 football team and we were playing against teams that were supposed to be the same age but had kids pushing 5'-10" and others 200 pounds. At 12... really?

In an International tournament, we played against 2 teams from Mexico and their smallest kids were as big as my biggest.

I brought this up to our league and they did nothing about it. Thank goodness it was my last year.