ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

Those 2 mediocre ECNL teams will get her where she needs to go. If she is a budding national team player, she will have a ball at her feet most every waking hour. If not, she may continue in her trajectory and get PART of her college paid for. I have no idea what kind of player your child is. I can tell you that parents of younger players often over estimate their child’s ability. Don’t take that personally.mit was a general statement. There are four pillars to a good soccer player - physical, tactical, technical and psychological. If any of those don’t develop as she ages, she may struggle. Those will all develop with time and within a team environment. For now, find the best team you can, even if it’s only a mediocre ECNL team and tell her to have fun. Burnout is real for these kids. High school, injuries, boys, puberty can all drastically change things for kids. Please don’t attach negativeness to this. It is all said with good intention. Just enjoy watching her as it will be over in a flash.

It's hard not to take comments negative when you talk down and call people's kids little Mias. I have absolutely no expectations for my daughter's future. She loves to play and wants to be challenged. Everything she does is ultimately her decision.

But, my daughter's specific circumstances are ultimately beside the point. Like I said, the general point I was making is that this change will affect different players in different ways and parents will need to weigh those affects when deciding where their kid will play. I think most kids will benefit from the change, but not all.

[Guest]

It's hard not to take comments negative when you talk down and call people's kids little Mias. I have absolutely no expectations for my daughter's future. She loves to play and wants to be challenged. Everything she does is ultimately her decision.

But, my daughter's specific circumstances are ultimately beside the point. Like I said, the general point I was making is that this change will affect different players in different ways and parents will need to weigh those affects when deciding where their kid will play. I think most kids will benefit from the change, but not all.

My D's name is Mia.

[Guest]

What an insightful comment! Sorry, I know you put a lot of effort into making this comparison, but, if it's not too much trouble, I have couple follow-ups...

Is her NEFC team good? Does she have other good players around her that will challenge her? Is she a young player who will be affected by this change? If so, will the new team she plays for have other good players around her who will challenge her? If not, should she and her parents be be concerned about this? Should she then look at what her options are after the change? Or, should her parents just relax and let her work on her leadership? Just sayin'

Nefc no longer has a YNT player. Last one was 06. From the DA days when the best players went to nefc. there is a reason they have no more.

[Guest]

My D's name is Mia.

Nice try Hannah's dad

[Guest]

Nice try Hannah's dad

Hannah is her sister.

[Guest]

Has anyone's club/coaches mentioned this potential switch away from birth year? Or is this an assumption everyone is making based off of the podcast and a post on twitter? It seems like this convo moved quickly from the ECNL saying there are some problems they encounter with BY, to everyone saying this change is imminent with a very specific timeline for this change- Fall 2025. Am I missing some other piece of info that people have heard?

We are with a GA club and been there long enough to be able to talk openly with the coaches. They are saying yes it’s happening and it’s not just ECNL who’s pushed for this, coaches and directors across the country have been unhappy with the birth year since the switch in 2017. If it takes ECNL to drive it as they are most popular and have a platform and influence to make change so be it. Our coaches are fully expecting an announcement from ECNL and GA etc by end of summer but the change will not fully be in place until end of next spring for tryouts and start of fall season for league games. 2025. Our coaches are already putting together a list of trapped players to begin giving that group and opportunity to train with 11s this fall so they are training and not a complete loss of season. Another poster said the trapped players will train with 11 girls and 11 boys giving the. 4-5 trainings a week with no games except if their town or middle school has them. Glad this is the last year of trapped 8th graders.

[Guest]

Has anyone's club/coaches mentioned this potential switch away from birth year? Or is this an assumption everyone is making based off of the podcast and a post on twitter? It seems like this convo moved quickly from the ECNL saying there are some problems they encounter with BY, to everyone saying this change is imminent with a very specific timeline for this change- Fall 2025. Am I missing some other piece of info that people have heard?

Not a peep from ours. My guess is they will wait until ECNL makes an official announcement.

[Guest]

We are with a GA club and been there long enough to be able to talk openly with the coaches. They are saying yes it’s happening and it’s not just ECNL who’s pushed for this, coaches and directors across the country have been unhappy with the birth year since the switch in 2017. If it takes ECNL to drive it as they are most popular and have a platform and influence to make change so be it. Our coaches are fully expecting an announcement from ECNL and GA etc by end of summer but the change will not fully be in place until end of next spring for tryouts and start of fall season for league games. 2025. Our coaches are already putting together a list of trapped players to begin giving that group and opportunity to train with 11s this fall so they are training and not a complete loss of season. Another poster said the trapped players will train with 11 girls and 11 boys giving the. 4-5 trainings a week with no games except if their town or middle school has them. Glad this is the last year of trapped 8th graders.

Oh ok, thank you for your response. That's what I was wondering. If coaches/clubs are actually talking about this too, or if parents heard the podcast and are speculating based off of that. Sounds like it is in the works then.

[Guest]

We are with a GA club and been there long enough to be able to talk openly with the coaches. They are saying yes it’s happening and it’s not just ECNL who’s pushed for this, coaches and directors across the country have been unhappy with the birth year since the switch in 2017. If it takes ECNL to drive it as they are most popular and have a platform and influence to make change so be it. Our coaches are fully expecting an announcement from ECNL and GA etc by end of summer but the change will not fully be in place until end of next spring for tryouts and start of fall season for league games. 2025. Our coaches are already putting together a list of trapped players to begin giving that group and opportunity to train with 11s this fall so they are training and not a complete loss of season. Another poster said the trapped players will train with 11 girls and 11 boys giving the. 4-5 trainings a week with no games except if their town or middle school has them. Glad this is the last year of trapped 8th graders.

This isn’t happening. It has to be done by USSF not league play . They don’t care about the league and to be honest the birth year in the fairest way. This is how the entire world does it and it affects the YNT’s, tournaments and so on . This has been a topic since the change 7 years ago every year!

[Guest]

This isn’t happening. It has to be done by USSF not league play . They don’t care about the league and to be honest the birth year in the fairest way. This is how the entire world does it and it affects the YNT’s, tournaments and so on . This has been a topic since the change 7 years ago every year!

I could be wrong but isn't ECNL not affiliated with USSF? Isn't that why "Academy guy" was convinced nwsl academies were going to happen. What USSF decrees has no relevance to ECNL.

[Guest]

I could be wrong but isn't ECNL not affiliated with USSF? Isn't that why "Academy guy" was convinced nwsl academies were going to happen. What USSF decrees has no relevance to ECNL.

Just think about this for a second. Just because an ecnl team is in the ecnl doesn’t mean that team only does ecnl showcase and league play . That would definitely make their team ineligible in anything other then ecnl . If it isn’t unified that it’s not happening. If the YNT system doesn’t it to happen it’s not happening !

[Guest]

Just think about this for a second. Just because an ecnl team is in the ecnl doesn’t mean that team only does ecnl showcase and league play . That would definitely make their team ineligible in anything other then ecnl . If it isn’t unified that it’s not happening. If the YNT system doesn’t it to happen it’s not happening !

Were you born after 2017?

[Guest]

Just think about this for a second. Just because an ecnl team is in the ecnl doesn’t mean that team only does ecnl showcase and league play . That would definitely make their team ineligible in anything other then ecnl . If it isn’t unified that it’s not happening. If the YNT system doesn’t it to happen it’s not happening !

Why would ECNL care? If nobody else followed along they’d just create more tournaments and showcases to make more money.

[Guest]

Just think about this for a second. Just because an ecnl team is in the ecnl doesn’t mean that team only does ecnl showcase and league play . That would definitely make their team ineligible in anything other then ecnl . If it isn’t unified that it’s not happening. If the YNT system doesn’t it to happen it’s not happening !

ECNL exists to sell parents the D1 dream for their daughters. Thinking that international play or the YNT means anything to 99% of the youth soccer consumers is the fundamental mistake USSF made with their failed DA program. Even if it did mean something players that are good enough for that discussion are going to get there regardless of how club soccer is configured. So if the college coaches tell ECNL they want grad year cohorts and ECNL is tired of dealing with trapped players on both ends of HS years then they are free to switch their system to whatever they want, they don't need USSF approval.

[Guest]

This isn’t happening. It has to be done by USSF not league play . They don’t care about the league and to be honest the birth year in the fairest way. This is how the entire world does it and it affects the YNT’s, tournaments and so on . This has been a topic since the change 7 years ago every year!

I love when the source is trust me bro. According to multiple sources and various coaches it’s happening. The only question is whether they are changing to August 1 cutoff or straight graduation year.