Grad year announcement coming

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Some changes are unavoidable but other changes don’t need to be made. Someone needs to think about all the changes these kids have already had to endure and the new ones they will have to face and try to minimize changes as much as possible. Everyone talks about bringing fun back to sports and constant changes has ruined much of the fun.

Someone clearly has a January born kid here.

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I have a September and I would hate it if the change all the teams again. What a pain in the neck.

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I have a September and I would hate it if the change all the teams again. What a pain in the neck.

Her team is about to change anyway. Didn’t she adjust fine the last time? Pain in the neck for who? You?

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The problem with grad year is then you get the ass holes who hole their kids back just for an advantage. Most other sports do birth year. right? hockey, lax and field hockey all do.

There would still be an age cut-off. It just moves back to August 1 instead of Jan 1. Birthdate still matters; it just groups the kids differently so that the vast majority are playing with kids in their same grade. If someone holds their kid back in school, they would still have to play with their original age group.

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Someone clearly has a January born kid here.

... who's about to go from starter to bench player! The agenda is so obvious.

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There would still be an age cut-off. It just moves back to August 1 instead of Jan 1. Birthdate still matters; it just groups the kids differently so that the vast majority are playing with kids in their same grade. If someone holds their kid back in school, they would still have to play with their original age group.

exactly. it worked well before and can work well again. clubs will be dying to keep as many kids as they can so removing this obstacle could mean keeping a few extra cash paying families.

the vast, vast majority of players will never be on the nt or go pro anyway. they should be playing and learning the game, having fun with their classmates. college coaches will appreciate going back to a simpler system - grade based.

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What I don’t understand is why ECNL is birth year. Isn’t their entire selling point that it’s the best league for college recruitment? Isn’t college recruitment made much easier when kids are grouped by grade? Makes no sense.

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What I don’t understand is why ECNL is birth year. Isn’t their entire selling point that it’s the best league for college recruitment? Isn’t college recruitment made much easier when kids are grouped by grade? Makes no sense.

They were forced into it before. Now is their chance to change it.

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... who's about to go from starter to bench player! The agenda is so obvious.

Nope - April so it’s kind of a wash and not worried in the slightest about their spot. I personally think every player should be constantly fighting for playing time. I just know my kid said they are tired of all the changes in the past years beyond coaching and player changes that are usual each year.

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What I don’t understand is why ECNL is birth year. Isn’t their entire selling point that it’s the best league for college recruitment? Isn’t college recruitment made much easier when kids are grouped by grade? Makes no sense.

I would not be surprised if this change happens now that US Soccer is out of the picture when it comes to youth soccer. Some Stars coaches were talking about the possibility earlier this year...

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What I don’t understand is why ECNL is birth year. Isn’t their entire selling point that it’s the best league for college recruitment? Isn’t college recruitment made much easier when kids are grouped by grade? Makes no sense.

ECNL was forced to do it. They will switch now to grade based teams when soccer finally returns. Graduation year by far works the best for college recruiting. Colleges don’t care what month a player was born, colleges recruit by grad year. Grad year also enables everyone to have a team at 8th & 9th grade and also at 11th & 12th grade. The 11th & 12th grade has become very important now that the recruiting timeline has been pushed back to the summer before 11th grade. Having to make composite teams at 11th and 12 grade has been a cluster for ECNL and everyone else.

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I would not be surprised if this change happens now that US Soccer is out of the picture when it comes to youth soccer. Some Stars coaches were talking about the possibility earlier this year...

It should absolutely happen.

Still laughing at whoever said her kids have to "endure" all this change.

For uLittles I agree, that it's best to keep them together, and that is exactly why grade year is better: 4th graders want to be with 4th graders. As you move to HS, the lower level teams will mostly stay together and the higher level teams will have movement like they always do. The big difference is that everyone will be playing by recruiting class which just makes sense

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Nope - April so it’s kind of a wash and not worried in the slightest about their spot. I personally think every player should be constantly fighting for playing time. I just know my kid said they are tired of all the changes in the past years beyond coaching and player changes that are usual each year.

Get over it. That’s life. Stop coddling your kid. The same arguments were made before the change happened, and the kids adjusted fine, didn’t they?

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Get over it. That’s life. Stop coddling your kid. The same arguments were made before the change happened, and the kids adjusted fine, didn’t they?

Right now kids are grappling with much bigger stressors in their lives than having a few teammates switch teams.

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ECNL was forced to do it. They will switch now to grade based teams when soccer finally returns. Graduation year by far works the best for college recruiting. Colleges don’t care what month a player was born, colleges recruit by grad year. Grad year also enables everyone to have a team at 8th & 9th grade and also at 11th & 12th grade. The 11th & 12th grade has become very important now that the recruiting timeline has been pushed back to the summer before 11th grade. Having to make composite teams at 11th and 12 grade has been a cluster for ECNL and everyone else.

Where did you find saying that ECNL is going to switch back to grad year??