GFT Age Chart

Training is important because it’s where you get repetition. If you want to be successful at something, repetition is very important, doing something well and continuing to improve upon it. We should be training more than we play matches because that’s the environment where we try and get better. We can simulate the game but we can also coach and reinforce and be repetitive in the instruction of what they’re doing. – Jill Ellis, U.S. Women’s National Teams Development Director

GFT skill programs produce control of body and comfort on the ball. We breed confidence, borne from soccer skills strength that buys time on the ball, and provide education about the individual’s particular skill set, knowledge of the game, and tactical awareness. Our full time trainers work with all ages and skill levels and put focus on the individual as such and on personality and drive traits that influence a person’s game. The following categories are just a few of the essential components to each age group’s success. The age categories are further explored through the itemized links at the bottom of the page.

Players develop and mature at different rates and stages physically, mentally, and emotionally. What this means is that even though we have mapped out an age chart does not mean that if a player is behind that it is too late. For the late-starter or late-bloomer as a soccer player, to go play college or pro soccer is not impossible but that player will have to be driven and/or athletically gifted.

Many people believe that after age 12 it is too late to learn skills. THIS IS NOT TRUE. While it does help receive fundamentals and skills training from an early age, there are players who can start late and still finish strong.

Meet U.S. Women’s Soccer Player Alex Morgan: In an interview with Soccer America, US National Player Alex Morgan played recreational soccer until she was 14 years of age. Morgan says, “I started to transition into the club scene after the AYSO season when I was 12 or 13. I tried out for a club but I wasn’t on the team. I was able to go to practice with them but the coach was just messing with me, so it was a bad first year of club. The next year, I found my team, Cypress Elite, when I was 14. That was my first club team…I wish someone would have told me when I was going through the process that if you believe in yourself and you think that you will continue improving, colleges will wait for you. I know the recruiting process starts earlier, but from age 14 through 18 a lot can happen. You can peak at 14 and not get any better or you can be at the bottom of your team at 14 and then be at the top by age 18.”