** 2024 GRADING WILL BE ON SUNDAY 4th & 11th FEBRUARY – SEE TIMES BELOW **

** CHANGE in 2024: W11/U11 to W13/U13 – grading is mandatory for all players **

PLAYERS WHO WISH TO PLAY IN THE TOP TWO DIVISIONS SHOULD ATTEND GRADING.

PLAYERS (EXCL. W11/U11 to W13/U13) WHO WISH TO PLAY WITH FRIENDS IN LOWER DIVISIONS DO NOT NEED TO ATTEND GRADING.

Here’s a list of which age groups are graded:

• U6, W7, U7, W8, U8, W9 and W10 – no grading.  The age coordinators will attempt to construct teams that keep friends and last year’s team together.
• U9 and U10 – grading is optional and only recommended for those players who wish to be placed in competitive divisions (there may be more than one team in each division).
• W11/U11 to W13/U13 – grading is mandatory for all players.
• W14/U14 to W16/U16 – grading is mandatory for those players who wish to be placed in our top two competitive divisions (usually only one team in each division).  It is optional for other players.
• W18, U18 and U21 – grading is mandatory for those players who wish to be placed in our top team in those age groups.

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  Players are required to attend at least one (1) grading session. Some players may be invited to attend a second grading session. This is so our independent assessors have ample opportunity to observe and grade them.

• Players in U9 and U10 who wish to grade – you will be placed in a team of similar assessed playing ability.  Note that grading does not guarantee placement into competitive teams.
• Social teams in W14/U14 to W16/U16 (lower divisions only) can opt not to grade in order to stay together.  At the time of registration you can request to stay together and play with last season’s team mates.
• Time and field availability permitting, some teams from W11/U11-W18/U18 may also be required to play a trial match.

• Players need to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the start time in order to register for the session.
• Players need to wear shin pads and boots and bring water and sunscreen.  You don’t need to bring a ball.
• All sessions are deemed “on” regardless of the weather.  Any cancellations will be made on the day and a re-scheduled date and time will be advised.
• Please regularly check the club website for updates before the grading sessions

A comprehensive description of how Seaforth FC runs the processes of grading and team allocation can be found HERE.

Please note that when we announce teams, we’ll only include players who are registered.  Unregistered players won’t be advised beforehand about any team placements.

Check HERE to see the status of all age groups and confirm that we are still accepting registrations for a particular age group.

GRADING WILL BE HELD ON SUNDAY 4th AND SUNDAY 11th FEBRUARY

Please arrive 15 minutes before your session is due to start.

For all graded players up to U12/W12 we do our best to keep friends/teams together.  If the players are assessed to be in the same broader skill group and have similar ability we will absolutely do everything we can to get friends together, but this may not always be possible (particularly if there is a wide variance in their ability).

We will also do our best to keep friends and team mates together for U9-U11 Mixed/Boys teams and W10-W11 Girls teams that are less competitive and more social.

Individual players from these teams who wish to progress into more competitive teams are given the opportunity to move up out of social teams if they perform well in grading.

After the teams have been allocated and published, if you decide to deregister and leave, this can have a major impact on your team and on other teams in the age group. This can result in a team being in danger of folding due to inadequate player numbers, other players can be greatly affected and a lot of effort may be required to re-adjust the affected teams.

If a player cancels their registration after teams have been announced then a large portion of the total registration fee, required to cover the cost of effort to re-adjust teams, will not be refunded.