Shift to Jan. 1 cutoff next year or year after?

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Thats f-=ing stupid. Very, very few of the 5,000,000 kids or their families care about getting better at the cost of relationships they've developed over 10 years.

In fact, those relationship actually push kids to get better.

Stupid change. You all are being screwed by the top of the ponzi scheme.

I agree the change is stupid but it's happening and the kids will be fine. I've never heard of even ONE single kid EVER turning down a spot on an A team or an elite team because their friends didn't make it. If one ever did, then they are they only ones truly playing for social reasons. These kids (at least any premier club kids) are playing competitive club soccer to be competitive and go as far as they can. Birth year try outs will simply shift the age groups by 5 months, taking the edge from the Aug-Dec kids (upset parents) and giving the edge to the Jan-July kids(happy parents). 7 months of kids are helped by the change and 5 months of kids will no longer have the advantage they've had. The good players will still be good players. Birth year tryouts will sort all the players onto the best teams for everyone based on the new age cutoffs. PDP/Id2/US Training & pools/ODP have always been birth year and the kids are fine and make new friends on those teams. It's the parents who are making this out to be worse than it is. And trying to keep teams together for social or bonding reasons will end up screwing all the kids even more and drag out the pain even longer. The flood is coming. Let's start preparing. I have two fall bday kids this is going to hurt and one early year kid this will help greatly. I get it. It sucks. However, I want my fall players to go to their new teams sooner to start adjusting. Dragging out the inevitable will only hurt them more. I'm hoping the extra challenge will do them good in the long run. Who knows, they might meet amazing teammates that become amazing friends in the older group. Any true friends on the old team will not be lost unless they really aren't true friends.

[Unregistered]

in Oregon they do and it is the best team in the state.

You're delusional

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I agree the change is stupid but it's happening and the kids will be fine. I've never heard of even ONE single kid EVER turning down a spot on an A team or an elite team because their friends didn't make it. If one ever did, then they are they only ones truly playing for social reasons. These kids (at least any premier club kids) are playing competitive club soccer to be competitive and go as far as they can. Birth year try outs will simply shift the age groups by 5 months, taking the edge from the Aug-Dec kids (upset parents) and giving the edge to the Jan-July kids(happy parents). 7 months of kids are helped by the change and 5 months of kids will no longer have the advantage they've had. The good players will still be good players. Birth year tryouts will sort all the players onto the best teams for everyone based on the new age cutoffs. PDP/Id2/US Training & pools/ODP have always been birth year and the kids are fine and make new friends on those teams. It's the parents who are making this out to be worse than it is. And trying to keep teams together for social or bonding reasons will end up screwing all the kids even more and drag out the pain even longer. The flood is coming. Let's start preparing. I have two fall bday kids this is going to hurt and one early year kid this will help greatly. I get it. It sucks. However, I want my fall players to go to their new teams sooner to start adjusting. Dragging out the inevitable will only hurt them more. I'm hoping the extra challenge will do them good in the long run. Who knows, they might meet amazing teammates that become amazing friends in the older group. Any true friends on the old team will not be lost unless they really aren't true friends.

Anyone who knows knows in an 8-14 year old best friends are the ones they spend the most time with. With premier soccer comes a huge time commitment, at least for us there won't be time to maintain the friendship that is about to be broken up.

[Unregistered]

Anyone who knows knows in an 8-14 year old best friends are the ones they spend the most time with. With premier soccer comes a huge time commitment, at least for us there won't be time to maintain the friendship that is about to be broken up.

That is exactly why you have nothing to fear. They will be spending time making new friends. It seems that there must be a lot of anti-social parents on TS. This change is nothing for the kids. My kid is in middle school now. We didn't stay at the elementary school after 5th grade because of friends. We moved on. There are some familiar faces, some new friends. We will also allow our child to move on to high school and then to college. Will my child choose a job based on friendships? I hope not. Life is fluid.

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in Oregon they do and it is the best team in the state.

Agreed until about U14.

[Unregistered]

Give the kids more credit. Let's say age groups stayed the same and next try outs your kid makes the A team & an elite PDP/ODP/National pool but their BFF doesn't or vice-versa. 99.9% of the players will be very sad they aren't with their friend anymore but they move on without them. Guess what? They still really like each other & remain friends even if they don't see each other as much anymore. This has been happening to Bffs even in the current system and everyone is fine. In fact,this change will be rejoining many Jan-July Bffs who were split to the A & B team last year and the year before. For every player this effects negatively, there is at least one it effects positively. Seriously though, ALL the kids will be fine. The players who have to move up are with all the other Aug-Dec kids so there will be other current teammates & friends in the same boat which will make it much easier. When it happened at tryouts in the past, the player who got "demoted" was often the only one. MUCH harder to deal with.

[Unregistered]

What you all need to understand is that nobody cares about girls youth soccer. You are here to help fund the men's national team and hefty salaries for guys at the top. Everyone knows this change is bad for kids but nobody, I mean nobody cares.

The funny thing is that when the numbers of kids playing goes down, they will just raise fees to offset. And laugh about it.

[Unregistered]

They have never cared about girls soccer before so why would anyone think they would change?

[Unregistered]

Give the kids more credit. Let's say age groups stayed the same and next try outs your kid makes the A team & an elite PDP/ODP/National pool but their BFF doesn't or vice-versa. 99.9% of the players will be very sad they aren't with their friend anymore but they move on without them. Guess what? They still really like each other & remain friends even if they don't see each other as much anymore. This has been happening to Bffs even in the current system and everyone is fine. In fact,this change will be rejoining many Jan-July Bffs who were split to the A & B team last year and the year before. For every player this effects negatively, there is at least one it effects positively. Seriously though, ALL the kids will be fine. The players who have to move up are with all the other Aug-Dec kids so there will be other current teammates & friends in the same boat which will make it much easier. When it happened at tryouts in the past, the player who got "demoted" was often the only one. MUCH harder to deal with.

Not always. Last year my Oct son made the ODP team while a couple of his Spring bday teammates and good friends made the younger ODP team, since he didn't have any friends or classmates on his older ODP team (they were all on the year below), he decided not to do ODP. This year, a couple of teammates/friends with Fall bdays on his club team are doing ODP, so he was more into it and wanted to do it this year. I think we forget that while our kids may really enjoy the game and competing, most of them find the most enjoyment getting to play with their friends and classmates. This birth year change, may benefit .1% of the kids playing soccer, but it mostly diminishes the experience for the other 99.9%. If youth soccer's goal (not USMNT) in general is to keep as many kids interested in and playing organized soccer, this change might work against goal.

[Unregistered]

I think we forget that while our kids may really enjoy the game and competing, most of them find the most enjoyment getting to play with their friends and classmates. This birth year change, may benefit .1% of the kids playing soccer, but it mostly diminishes the experience for the other 99.9%. If youth soccer's goal (not USMNT) in general is to keep as many kids interested in and playing organized soccer, this change might work against goal.

This is widely understood. A fee increase will offset the loss in numbers.

[Unregistered]

This is widely understood. A fee increase will offset the loss in numbers.

So the powers that be would rather have less kids competing for the small chance of picking up an extra player or two for the MNT? Maybe we pushed some of these potential Nat team players into other sports that allow them to play with their classmates, so we never see them. Who is going to watch the games as less of the population will be interest in soccer?

[Unregistered]

Give the kids more credit. Let's say age groups stayed the same and next try outs your kid makes the A team & an elite PDP/ODP/National pool but their BFF doesn't or vice-versa. 99.9% of the players will be very sad they aren't with their friend anymore but they move on without them. Guess what? They still really like each other & remain friends even if they don't see each other as much anymore. This has been happening to Bffs even in the current system and everyone is fine. In fact,this change will be rejoining many Jan-July Bffs who were split to the A & B team last year and the year before. For every player this effects negatively, there is at least one it effects positively. Seriously though, ALL the kids will be fine. The players who have to move up are with all the other Aug-Dec kids so there will be other current teammates & friends in the same boat which will make it much easier. When it happened at tryouts in the past, the player who got "demoted" was often the only one. MUCH harder to deal with.

Truth. Teams always change. Kids will adjust. Even the Aug-Dec kids will adjust despite losing their advantage. 58% of the players (Jan-July bdays) will actually benefit from this change. I would also argue the good Aug-Dec players will also benefit because they will get to play with & against their birth year peers in league, just like they must on all elite teams/pools. This will increase the numbers of the younger kids (Aug-Dec) who are successful at the elite level. That is one of the big reasons US Soccer is doing this mandate. The Aug-Dec players who only made the A teams or were starters because of their age/size advantage...well, they might have to step up their game now like the current younger ones have to. It always hurts when the shoe is on the other foot.

[Unregistered]

What you all need to understand is that nobody cares about girls youth soccer. You are here to help fund the men's national team and hefty salaries for guys at the top. Everyone knows this change is bad for kids but nobody, I mean nobody cares.

The funny thing is that when the numbers of kids playing goes down, they will just raise fees to offset. And laugh about it.

Read this ^^^

[Unregistered]

Its OK

As a parent of a an 01 boy that will become an 00 boys I have to say Im not too bothered.

My son is going to have to play against better boys to make him develop as a player I mean isn't that what we are trying to do at premier level?

My son is very determined sometimes too much, so I like the fact he will have some bigger and stronger defenders to push him harder, we shall see if he thrives or not better to find out now rather than later after a whole lot more money spent.

[Unregistered]

As a parent of a an 01 boy that will become an 00 boys I have to say Im not too bothered.

My son is going to have to play against better boys to make him develop as a player I mean isn't that what we are trying to do at premier level?

My son is very determined sometimes too much, so I like the fact he will have some bigger and stronger defenders to push him harder, we shall see if he thrives or not better to find out now rather than later after a whole lot more money spent.

How is an 01 boy going to be an 00 boy? Current 01's would be 01 or 02.