About Youth Soccer Answers

Our mission

Youth soccer is confusing on purpose — every governing body uses a different age chart, cleat sizes don't line up between brands, and half of the "guides" online are recycled press releases. We started Youth Soccer Answers because the parent standing on the sideline asking "what U is my kid?" or "do I really need $180 cleats?" deserves a straight answer in under 30 seconds, not a 3,000-word affiliate funnel.

Our promise: every answer is written for a parent or volunteer coach — not a scout, not a boutique — and every rule we cite links to the governing body that published it.

Who runs the site

Youth Soccer Answers is published independently by a small team of youth-soccer parents and current volunteer coaches. The site was founded in 2026 by a US Soccer grassroots-licensed parent-coach after a season of watching families on their own sideline get bad information about the 2026–27 birth-year calendar shift. It's an independent publication with no affiliation to US Soccer, US Club Soccer, AYSO, MLS NEXT, Canada Soccer, or any equipment manufacturer.

Our contributors currently include a US Soccer grassroots-licensed coach (U8–U12), a former college goalkeeper coaching a rec U10 team, a certified referee working youth matches in the northeast US, and a Canada Soccer Community Coach in Ontario. New contributors are vetted for hands-on coaching, refereeing, or playing experience before they publish.

What makes us different

• Original tools, not aggregated posts. The age calculator, cleat finder, and practice-plan generator are built in-house and updated every season — you won't find them syndicated anywhere else.
• Plain language, not jargon. We rewrite governing-body rules the way a first-year rec coach actually needs them, with worked examples and diagrams.
• No pay-to-play recommendations. When a $40 cleat fits a wide-footed 8-year-old better than a $200 pro boot, we say so — and we say why.
• US + Canada coverage. Most youth-soccer sites cover one country. We publish parallel guidance for USYS, US Club, AYSO, MLS NEXT, and Canada Soccer so cross-border families and coaches get the right answer.

What we cover

• Free interactive tools: age group calculator, cleat size finder, practice plan generator.
• Reference charts for field dimensions, goal sizes, ball sizes, and game lengths.
• Explainers on rules parents ask about most (offside, build-out line, heading, handball).
• Gear buying guides written for family budgets, not pro shops.
• 50+ drills organized by age and category, with printable practice plans.

Editorial standards & fact-checking

Every page on Youth Soccer Answers is fact-checked against the current published rules from US Soccer, US Club Soccer, AYSO, MLS NEXT, and Canada Soccer before it goes live, and re-checked at least once per season. When governing bodies change a rule — most recently the 2026–27 US Soccer seasonal-year calendar shift and the updated heading guidance — we update every affected page and note the change on the source page.

• Rule citations link to the governing body's own publication whenever one is public.
• Gear guidance is based on hands-on fitting on real youth players in our households and teams, not on manufacturer spec sheets.
• AI tools are used only to draft outlines and speed up formatting. Every published page is reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a human contributor before publication, and we never publish AI-generated affiliate recommendations.
• We do not aggregate or rewrite other blogs. If we quote another source, we link to it and name it.

Corrections policy

We correct errors as soon as we're aware of them. If you spot a rule that no longer matches your league's rulebook, a sizing chart that doesn't match a manufacturer's current run, or any factual mistake, use our contact form and pick "Correction" as the category. Substantive corrections are noted at the bottom of the affected page with the date changed.

Brand-safety commitment

Youth Soccer Answers publishes content for parents, kids, and volunteer coaches, and our editorial standards are built for a family audience. We do not publish adult content, gambling content, political opinion, hate speech, weapons content, drug or alcohol content, or anything that would be inappropriate next to a family-brand advertisement. Every page is written with that standard in mind, and we hold advertising and affiliate placements to the same bar.

How we make money (advertising & affiliate disclosure)

The site is free to use. We fund it two ways, and both are disclosed openly:

• Display advertising. We run display ads through third-party ad networks. Ads are clearly labeled and never influence editorial decisions or product recommendations.
• Affiliate links. Some gear links (cleats, shin guards, balls) earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we would put on our own kids — recommendations are based on fit, safety, and value, never on commission rate. Where we recommend a lower-priced product over a pricier one, we explicitly say why.

We accept no paid placements, no sponsored posts, and no "please review our product" arrangements. Editorial and advertising are entirely separate.

Privacy

We collect only what's needed to run the site (basic analytics, and email for readers who opt in to our weekly newsletter with double confirmation). Full details are in our privacy policy. We never sell reader email addresses.

Contact us

The fastest way to reach us is our contact form — pick a category (General question, Correction, or Press & partnerships) and we'll reply from a monitored inbox, usually within a couple of business days. Every message routes to the same person, so you don't have to guess which address to use.