The president and leadership at the ECNL have stated that they would like to go back to school year instead of the current birth year. I think a lot of parents would welcome this switch. They know they can’t do it for this fall but it sounds like they will be making a strong push to make the change for the fall of 2025.
-
-
US SOCCER EMAIL today:
Club Admins & Coaches,
Background
In 2015, U.S. Soccer announced Player Development Initiatives (i.e., PDIs) focused on improving the approach to player development practices. PDIs are developed through international and domestic best practices, research and data, and stakeholder feedback.
In 2017, PDIs were officially rolled out to U.S. Soccer members. As part of these PDIs, U.S. Soccer made a determination to make player registration tied to year of birth (i.e., January 1 to December 31), as opposed to the school year the player is in.
The purpose of moving to birth year registration includes driving clarity on domestic calendars, improving understanding about development progress/culture, and enhancing playing environments.
About This Survey
U.S. Soccer is soliciting feedback about the birth year registration PDI to determine positives and challenges, particularly as it relates to participation and player development. It is U.S. Soccer's responsibility to help facilitate positive experiences for participants while safeguarding the long-term development of the sport at all levels. This includes better understanding how registration (i.e., birth year vs. school year) affects growing the game, fostering best playing environments, and developing winning teams.
Our Ask
As clubs, coaches, and administrators, you know your playing environment extremely well, and we need you to provide your perspective, evidence / data, and anecdotes that will help U.S. Soccer make the best decisions around registration for the player.
Please complete the survey by clicking the button below by August 15, 2024 – it should only take 5-7 minutes.
Thanks everyone,
Simon
-
Maybe they should solicit feedback from the actual customer.Comment
-
Simon doesn’t work for us soccer. Not a us soccer email.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
-
Let me guess…parents with kids born in Jan-Aug are going to prefer birth year, while parents of kids born Sept-Dec are going to provide school year. Birth year will win, statistically speaking.Originally posted by Guest View Post
Comment
-
It said it was a "US Soccer Survey" with the logos of US Soccer and Oregon soccer together, so maybe in collaboration with US Soccer, Oregon soccer is asking questions about the pending change? Not sure.Comment
-
Let’s keep changing things so we never ever get better.
-us soccerComment
-
Anyone have access to the actual survey questions?Comment
-
Do you register players based on birth year or school year? Note: there will be no recourse or governance consequence from U.S. Soccer based on your choice, so please answer freely and accurately.
-Birth Year
-School Year
How impactful is your current registration choice on the player’s experience? Impact means you can tell that it drives parental / guardian decisions on where / how to register their child
-Highly Impactful
-Somewhat Impactful
-Minimally Impactful
-There is no impact
How would you characterize the impact of current BY registration?
-Current registration is positive for the player
-Current registration is not positive for the player, but we have not seen any significant adverse effects
-Current registration is not positive for the player, and we have seen significant adverse effects
-Current registration has no noticeable impact
Do you prefer birth year or school year registration?
-Birth Year
-School Year
Based on your choice in the previous question, please select the options that best fit your reason why
-It will increase participation
-It will increase retention
-It allows children to play with their school friends
-Its best for the childs physical development
-It's best for the child's social/emotional development
-we want to align with international best practices for player development
-we want to align with how other sports address registration
-its best for talent identification for national teams
-its best for talent identification for professional teams ( i.e.. NWSL, MLS)
-It streamlines and creates easier access for college recruitment
Comment
-
From the ECNL podcast, the big argument is that they are seeing a significant drop off in kids playing at the beginning when they realize they have to play with kids a grade older instead of their peer groups. Also, there is a huge downside when they get to 8th grade and don't have a season since most of the team will be playing high school. This also happens senior year. So they want a system that does not penalize 25% of the kids playing.Comment
-
I agree with it changing it back. It was dumb to change it a decade ago or whatever it was .Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
-
yeah, I didn't even know they changed it. But it definitely seems like the right thing to do for the kids - to play with their peers, in their grades, and not have mixed grade groups. I mean, the best kids will always play up, so that's still fine for them. But to not give kids an option to play at their grade does not seem like it would help player retention and player enjoyment (to the point of the survey).
Comment
-
from the Massachusetts forum:
Originally posted by Guest View Post
I spoke with a state association president who stated that they were asked to go to their member clubs for comments on this change. He is going to those clubs, getting feedback from directors, and sending back (not sure if that was to USSF or ECNL). This directive came ftom a conversation he had at a conference in Florida.
his feel is that this change will eventually happen. BUT, if the USSF doesn’t make the decision in the next two months many clubs are going to have a logistical mess. Again, this guys opinion was that it will likely change, but whether it’s 25-26 or 26-27 is based on how quick the USSF moves. “They have a lot more important stuff on their plate with the WC and trying to hire a coach.”
everyone saying anything is done is wrong. Not done, but strong lean toward a change. But again, the timetable is in question.
sounds like they are really going to take into account the director feedback.
This tracks with what our GA club has told us. Everyone keeps thinking this is just ECNL but we are told GA will do the same as they are concerned about the negative impact on youth soccer and recruiting issues since birth year has gone into place. We are told “stand by” for announcements this fall and slated for 2025-26.Comment
-
Here’s the email. I got it because I’m a past team manager. It’s for coaches, directors, registrars and parents to fill out. See link at the bottom.
Club Admins & Coaches,
Background
In 2015, U.S. Soccer announced Player Development Initiatives (i.e., PDIs) focused on improving the approach to player development practices. PDIs are developed through international and domestic best practices, research and data, and stakeholder feedback.
In 2017, PDIs were officially rolled out to U.S. Soccer members. As part of these PDIs, U.S. Soccer made a determination to make player registration tied to year of birth (i.e., January 1 to December 31), as opposed to the school year the player is in.
The purpose of moving to birth year registration includes driving clarity on domestic calendars, improving understanding about development progress/culture, and enhancing playing environments.
About This Survey
U.S. Soccer is soliciting feedback about the birth year registration PDI to determine positives and challenges, particularly as it relates to participation and player development. It is U.S. Soccer's responsibility to help facilitate positive experiences for participants while safeguarding the long-term development of the sport at all levels. This includes better understanding how registration (i.e., birth year vs. school year) affects growing the game, fostering best playing environments, and developing winning teams.
Our Ask
As clubs, coaches, and administrators, you know your playing environment extremely well, and we need you to provide your perspective, evidence / data, and anecdotes that will help U.S. Soccer make the best decisions around registration for the player.
Please complete the survey by clicking the button below by August 15, 2024 – it should only take 5-7 minutes.
https://i46ri5fbb.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?...z50fWFNDzaeQ==
Thanks everyone,
Simon
Simon Date
Executive Director
503.957.3523
Comment
-
Has anyone seen the post on X? How credible is College Soccer Truth?Comment
Comment