BUILD OUT LINE RULE EXPLAINED
The U.S. Soccer Federation recommends a “build out line” for 2nd/3rd grade teams playing on the small junior fields at Mingo. It’s intended to promote:
1. a more controlled and less pressured setting for the defense, allowing them to build the attack out of the back …rather than teaching defending players to just send the ball as far as they can down the field and chase after it!
2. More vertical space for the attacking team, as they can now be considered ‘onside’ a greater distance up the field.
The build out Line is a white dash line placed midway between the top of the penalty area and the midfield line. Here’s how it works:
When the goalkeeper has possession of the ball, either during play or for a goal kick, the attacking team must move back behind the build out line until the ball is put back into play. The attacking team has about 6 seconds to move behind line. (If the attacking team repeatedly takes longer than 6 seconds to move behind the line, referee may whistle and award an indirect free kick to the defending team from a spot on the build out line.
The goalkeeper is not required to wait until the attacking team is behind the line to put the ball in play, but may choose to do so. If he chooses a ‘quick start’ option—rather than waiting for attacking players to go behind the BO line—the ball is immediately in play upon release from his possession and the attacking players do not need to return behind the BO line before playing the ball.
To put the ball back in play, the keeper may pass, throw, or roll the ball. Punts and drop-kicks are not allowed. If the goalkeeper punts the ball, the ref will whistle and the restart is an indirect free kick on the penalty area line parallel to the goal at the nearest point to where the infringement occurred.
BENEFIT TO THE DEFENDERS: From a goal kick or keeper possession, the ball is NOT considered ‘in play’ until it leaves the goalkeepers possession and is touched by a teammate or crosses the buildout line--at which time play resumes as normal and the opposing team is then allowed to cross the build out line and attack.
BENEFIT TO THE ATTACKING TEAM: the buildout line--not the halfway line--is used to denote an offside violation…so an attacker can’t be penalized for being offside between the halfway line and the build-out line. As such, the offside violation is enforced on a smaller portion of the field while still not allowing an attacker to hang out by the opposing team’s goalkeeper…much better for our 2nd/3rd grade kids who are just learning the offside rule.