BioBanding

[Unregistered]

http://the18.com/soccer-news/us-socc...ding-explained

"The bio-banding plan, put forth by Bunce and the U.S. Soccer High Performance Department, will utilize the Khamis-Roche algorithm to determine Peak Height Velocity — in other words, using a youth player’s current height and his or her biological parents’ heights to find out how physically mature the athlete is. So if a U-14 player is 4-10 and her predicted height is 5-7, then she is 86.6 percent of her final height and will be grouped with players of similar physical maturity, such as an 85-90 percent range."

If this had been around my oldest would have been screwed. My wife is 5'7" and I'm 6'. Our son is 6'4" thanks to my very tall FIL. Kid also was a late bloomer. We really didn't think he'd be any taller than me at the most, maybe even less, but he grew 8" between junior into senior year. But during that time he had to play with his age peers which was a huge challenge and made him a better player. I agree smaller kids shouldn't be pushed aside but bigger kids shouldn't be given an advantage either. They already have more skilled players playing up - good. They had a way to let a few younger/smaller players play down - also good (as long as clubs don't abuse it. lol I know). But making this a system wide thing is not good. There's too many places for clubs to not only make mistakes but for it also to get very political

If US Soccer did any research at all on the Khamis-Roche method, they'd know it really only predicts the final height correctly for those growing at normal rates. For kids with growth delays, it underestimates their final heights, so their physical maturity % will be higher than it would be using actually bone growth maturity. Not sure, but I assume it would be the opposite for early developers, in that it would overpredict their final heights, so their maturity % would come out lower than their actual maturity level. The kids who they believe would most benefit from this won't even be measured correctly.

[Unregistered]

Moving from grade to calendar year only moved the goal posts. It just changed who is younger vs older and doesn't eliminate the issue. It also screwed up recruiting for certain groups of kids and made it more complicated for coaches.

As for "waiting for results" it's something you need to see over the course of many YEARS. It's USSF trying to throw more darts at the dart board with a blindfold on.

It did... and it also aligned US Soccer age groupings with the rest of the world. The kids it hurt were the Sept-Dec birth year. Jan-Aug have had positive or no impact, other than not playing with classmates. Both my kids benefited from the change so you won't hear complaints from me.

[Unregistered]

It's probably not a great idea for certain clubs to have a list of "scientifically based" final player heights. Add a new column labeled "Height at Maturity" to the current roster spreadsheet, sort high to low. Makes it all too easy to determine which players to cut next year.

[Unregistered]

As a small player (5’5”) 135 lbs I ended up playing D1 in college and a short time in Europe back in the 90’s. I mainly played the 10. I was not fast, no big and not strong growing up. I only became the player I was because of hard work, dedication and learning how to play against the bigger, faster and stronger players. I had to adapt my way of playing to be better than the other players. I had to develop a great first touch, precision passing and quickness in a 15 yard area. I also had to learn how to cheat and use ever trick I could think of to get the advantage in physical situation with out the referee and AR seeing. I learned body shape and how to move in space with out the ball to always be open. This is the problem with the world now, if you don’t want to do the hard work get out of the game. Players now a day are all mentally soft because their parents have made them that way. We blame others for our misfortunes rather than working harder to over come them. Work hard and you will catch up and pass these early bloomers. I probably would not have pushed myself so hard if I was on a team with similar size players and probably would not have developed the skills I learned good and bad. Playing against better competition is actually what makes the smaller players better. Just like in life the harder you work the quicker you will rise to the top.

With this logic one of the best players I have seen play, plays an age up or 3 sometimes and is a very small player on the national team (AS). Are people saying she should play with players her size based on her parents height. She would be playing u10 instead of u18 and under. She would not be the player she is because of this reason. She did not allow her size to limit her development. This is why I think the DA is a joke and soccer in this country.

Exactly!!!!!

[Unregistered]

I think Bio-banding could actually be beneficial if done at a regional level, and as maybe a twice a year ID-type event, kind of like the Futures camp. In a large region, such as DA Northeast Division (Montreal down to NYC), there would be enough quality late maturing players within the SAME DA age group to gather and train for a week (as with average, and early maturing players). Players would be physically well matched, but also be at similar tactical and technical levels; you wouldn't have much younger kids grouped in with much older kids. At the club level, age groups would need to be mixed in order to have enough for a training session, and I just don't see this as being beneficial with so many differences in tactical understanding, and even technical ability, that exist over three age groups.

[Unregistered]

I think Bio-banding could actually be beneficial if done at a regional level, and as maybe a twice a year ID-type event, kind of like the Futures camp. In a large region, such as DA Northeast Division (Montreal down to NYC), there would be enough quality late maturing players within the SAME DA age group to gather and train for a week (as with average, and early maturing players). Players would be physically well matched, but also be at similar tactical and technical levels; you wouldn't have much younger kids grouped in with much older kids. At the club level, age groups would need to be mixed in order to have enough for a training session, and I just don't see this as being beneficial with so many differences in tactical understanding, and even technical ability, that exist over three age groups.

I understand why ussf wants to do it. Most kids around here are playing in college, and it does seem that the smaller players will be st a disadvantage if they are not matched up against stronger kids.

[Unregistered]

It did... and it also aligned US Soccer age groupings with the rest of the world. The kids it hurt were the Sept-Dec birth year. Jan-Aug have had positive or no impact, other than not playing with classmates. Both my kids benefited from the change so you won't hear complaints from me.

While others got hurt. As that person said it just moved the mile marker. It's fine for the highest level to align with international standards. The stupidity came in making all teams do it. Lower level kids should be playing with their classmates

[Unregistered]

I understand why ussf wants to do it. Most kids around here are playing in college, and it does seem that the smaller players will be st a disadvantage if they are not matched up against stronger kids.

As a former smaller player myself (I grew a ton in college!) I completely agree. Most likely I would have been put with kids much younger than myself. Sure I would have had a bigger ego, but it wouldn't have pushed me to develop my skills as much as playing with bigger kids.

[Unregistered]

Why not just band based upon actual talent? Biobanding is a big step forward but the next step should to then further level based upon actual soccer playing ability.

[Unregistered]

Why not just band based upon actual talent? Biobanding is a big step forward but the next step should to then further level based upon actual soccer playing ability.

Even if it were the most perfect system, it will NEVER WORK. Everyone has an agenda and unfortunately it's never in the best interest of the kids or quality of us soccer

[Unregistered]

Exactly!!

[Unregistered]

Ive petitioned my town to remove fluoride from the water in favor of bovine growth hormones. Our HS varsity should feature 5th graders in a few years...

[Unregistered]

Ive petitioned my town to remove fluoride from the water in favor of bovine growth hormones. Our HS varsity should feature 5th graders in a few years...

You joke, but that would be an unintended consequence. Parents would have an incentive to accelerate Maturity. "My 5th grader is BioBanded as a Freshman. He's legally eligible and athletically ready"

[Unregistered]

How will this affect the phony foreign birth certificates that are so prevalent in US soccer?

[Unregistered]

How will this affect the phony foreign birth certificates that are so prevalent in US soccer?

It would help make the 12 year olds with beards play up with older kids, I suppose.