Youth seasons and proof of age

Overview

In a youth season, every player under 18 needs a parent or guardian's consent and a proof-of-age document that StatsCentral has checked before you can approve their team. You don't handle the documents yourself — StatsCentral reviews them — but you'll see where each team stands and the Accept button waits until everyone is verified. This guide covers when the rule applies, what you can see, and how to add your own registration questions.

When a season needs proof of age

A season needs proof of age when either of these is true:

• Youth games is ticked in the season's settings.
• The season includes an age division capped under 18, such as U14.

Players 18 and over are never asked for documents.

If you tick Bypass division age restrictions on the season, proof of age is switched off along with the division age check.

What happens when a team applies

1. The team applies as usual. They're never blocked from submitting.
2. StatsCentral emails each minor's parent or guardian, asking them to confirm the date of birth, accept the consent policy, and upload a document.
3. StatsCentral reviews each document and compares it with the date of birth the family gave.
4. On Applications, the Proof of age column shows progress, for example 3 of 5 verified.
5. Once every minor is verified, Accept becomes available.

While players are outstanding, Accept is greyed out and names who the team is waiting on. If you try to approve anyway, you'll see which players still need proof of age.

What you can and can't see

You can see	You can't see
Each player's status: verified or not yet	The documents themselves
Your season's registration answers	Who reviewed a document
The consent policy, read-only

Documents are only ever seen by authorized StatsCentral reviewers and are deleted 7 days after upload.

The consent policy

StatsCentral writes and issues the consent policy that families accept. You can read it by opening Read the consent policy under Youth games in the season's settings. You can't change it or replace it with your own.

Adding registration questions

You can ask players or parents extra questions for any season, youth or not.

1. Open the season and go to Settings.
2. Choose the Registration Form tab.
3. Under Add a field, enter the Question, choose who answers it in Answered by, and pick a Type. For a dropdown, list the choices one per line.
4. Tick Required to apply if the team can't be approved until every player has answered.
5. Click Add field.

To see a team's answers, open Applications and click Answers next to the team. Missing required answers are marked Missing, and they hold back Accept the same way proof of age does.

Hiding a question

To stop asking a question without losing the answers already given, click Hide from form next to it. Players and parents no longer see it, and a hidden required question no longer holds back Accept. Its answers stay on the Answers page, marked (hidden). Click Show on form to ask it again.

Once anyone has answered a question, it can't be removed and its type can't be changed, so no answers or uploaded files are lost. To ask in a different way, hide the old question and add a new one. Remove is only offered for a question nobody has answered yet.

Asking for a document

Choose File upload as the Type to collect a document from each player, such as an enrollment certificate or an eligibility form. Parents upload a PDF, JPG or PNG of up to 10 MB from their child's page in the Player Portal.

On the Answers page, click a file's name to open it. Only league admins and the person who uploaded it can open the file, and it isn't available to team managers. Files are deleted 30 days after the season ends. After that, the player still counts as having provided one, and the file shows as Deleted after the season.

Edge cases

• A required question added after you approved a team — the team stays approved. The answer shows as missing, but approval isn't reversed.
• A player's date of birth is corrected — if the document shows a different date, StatsCentral updates the player's record. The team may then fall outside the division's age range, so check the roster.
• A team is waiting on a family — ask the team manager to send a reminder from their My Applications page in Team OS.