ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

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. This would be very impactful to a lot of kids but especially impactful for the trapped or soon to be trapped 2010 and 2011 players.

[Guest]

It's long overdo & should have been done years ago. The Birth Year Rule creates issues & offers no benefits.

[Guest]

Birth year sync’s up for the youth national teams but that literally impacts about 50 kids per age group out of possibly a million. Plus the kids good enough to make the national teams are almost certainly playing up a year or two so it really doesn’t impact them at all. College coaches really want this to happen. I suspect all the other leagues will follow suit if the ECNL switches back and the feedback is extremely positive,which it will be. I am here supporting this as a lower league parent.

[Guest]

As a parent of a November kid, it makes a lot of sense. But man, my kid will be devastated to lose her strong friendships with her current team if this happens.

[Guest]

As a parent of a November kid, it makes a lot of sense. But man, my kid will be devastated to lose her strong friendships with her current team if this happens.

Your kid can stay on the same team if they're not pushed out by the September - December kids a year older. I'm guessing if your November kid is good enough to be on the team, they'll still be able to stay on the team.

[Guest]

I've always hated this for my 2010. I believe this only got implemented a couple years before she started soccer in 1st grade. She's never played with girls in her own grade, always on a team a school year up. 6th grade elementary, when her teammates were in 7th. Now, will be in 8th grade next year, when her teammates will almost all be in high school. I'll be happy for her to join her school class when high schools starts if this happens.

Also happy for the young kids just starting out, for them to play with their school class age friends, not like my daughter for her elementary and middle school years.

[Guest]

And now you will have the September- December players really happy and the January - August kids left at the disadvantage. There trading one problem for another.

[Guest]

I've always hated this for my 2010. I believe this only got implemented a couple years before she started soccer in 1st grade. She's never played with girls in her own grade, always on a team a school year up. 6th grade elementary, when her teammates were in 7th. Now, will be in 8th grade next year, when her teammates will almost all be in high school. I'll be happy for her to join her school class when high schools starts if this happens.

Also happy for the young kids just starting out, for them to play with their school class age friends, not like my daughter for her elementary and middle school years.

So now you want to go back to parents holding their kids back so they have an advantage in sports. Agree with the college recruiting solution but I’d rather it stay where it is.

[Guest]

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. This would be very impactful to a lot of kids but especially impactful for the trapped or soon to be trapped 2010 and 2011 players.

Source? Or is this second hand?

[Guest]

Source? Or is this second hand?

The ECNL podcast is hosted by the leagues president and number two plus another member of leadership. In the last episode about tryouts they have a discussion about switching back to school year from birth year. This is firsthand information and they seem dead serious about doing it. The episode is easy to find and it’s in the first segment.

[Guest]

It's long overdo & should have been done years ago. The Birth Year Rule creates issues & offers no benefits.

Everything has issues/tradeoffs, but birth year is the more logical metric as it's related to physical age and development, which are directly relevant for sports.

School year is much more arbitrary and based on things like which school district/which school you attend and parental preferences for schooling, which are much less relevant for sports.

[Guest]

If ECNL is going to do this it's to reinforce the youth club to college team player pipeline.

Choosing to align with birth year aligns with the USWNT only.

Basically by making this change ECNL would be saying FU to US Soccer and the USWNT and embracing college coaches.

[Guest]

Everything has issues/tradeoffs, but birth year is the more logical metric as it's related to physical age and development, which are directly relevant for sports.

School year is much more arbitrary and based on things like which school district/which school you attend and parental preferences for schooling, which are much less relevant for sports.

Exactly, if you do school year alone you'll have parents holding their kid back so their kid can be the biggest fastest on the team.

18 year old freshman in high schools.

[Guest]

If ECNL is going to do this it's to reinforce the youth club to college team player pipeline.

Choosing to align with birth year aligns with the USWNT only.

Basically by making this change ECNL would be saying FU to US Soccer and the USWNT and embracing college coaches.

Wonder what GA will do? Probably the same.
when does this all take place?

[Guest]

This would be great news for kids born in august or later. They would no longer be on the younger side but more importantly they wouldn’t lose a half of a season in 8th grade and they also wouldn’t get bumped down to a lower team as two age groups combine during their senior year. I know there is a trade off but thousands of kids play college soccer. A few dozen play for the national team. It’s a no brainer.