Staying Down

Guidelines For Player Staying Down In A Lower Division

Soccer Association for Youth (SAY) does not typically allow staying down, however, they will consider a move down based on a mental or physical handicap.

To stay down the following conditions need to be met:

1. A parent must request in writing that their child stay down. A note on the Registration Form would suffice.
2. There must be some type of mental or physical handicap.
3. A coach(es) needs to verify that there is a handicap and based on the playing ability, recommend that the child stay down. The handicap alone may not affect the child's playing ability enough to keep them down.
4. The above information, as well as any additional information regarding the request, must be presented to the Board for discussion. The Board must agree to the tentative stay down by majority. The Board may also initiate other conditions such as one of the parents coaching or team mom.
5. If the Board does not agree, the issue is dead. If the Board does agree, we need to Fax the information to SAY. They will either approve or deny and send us back info. They may also offer suggestions/conditions regarding either option.
6. This would be good for one season only. The process would need to be repeated for each subsequent season that staying down is requested.

This would assure that we are complying with SAY guidelines, our insurance would not be compromised, and we would not open ourselves up for any liability issues in case of an injury.

The above is the minimum SAY recommends. The Board may adopt additional criteria