ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

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

It's difficult to say what GA will do. GA is close with US Soccer so it makes sense that they'd stay with birth year.

One thing I can guarantee is if school grade is the only determiner for ECNL competition level parents will start holding their kids back in school for competitive advantage.

If this happens ECNL will quickly become a joke because of allowed cheating. Imagine what would happen when the super player that was playing up is now also held back a year and destroying everyone.

[Guest]

GA will have to 2 years younger just to be competitive

[Guest]

Sounds like a change is imminent, GA would be foolish not to follow suit. Given their management, they won't get on board and make college recruiting even harder for their families.

[Guest]

As the parent of a 2010 I would immediately hold my daughter back a year if ECNL were to change back.

[Guest]

Sounds like a change is imminent, GA would be foolish not to follow suit. Given their management, they won't get on board and make college recruiting even harder for their families.

The president said they were aiming for the fall of 2025. Not imminent but not too far away.I suspect the ECNL now has enough juice to pull this off alone if need be. In youth soccer the worst case scenario is usually what occurs so you are correct. The two main leagues will have different metrics for recruits. This switch appears to be aimed at pleasing parents and classmates and making life easier for college scouts. I suspect the GA will hold out for a year but that year will be devastating as all of the later birth month players jump leagues. This change would be great for the local non national teams as classmates can become or remain teammates starting at very young ages straight through high school in some cases.

[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.

As a parent of a trapped player, my daughter will have been screwed over by the birth year rule twice by the time she graduates high school. Pathetic it took them this long to figure out all the issues with this

[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.

It’s hardly a no-brainer. The reason it switched in the first place was to stop 16 year olds from playing against 14 year olds. Birth year is the right answer except for the small population born late in the year. If you don’t like being the youngest now wait until you play against 8 year old first graders. And yes it will happen and yes that’s why the rule changed to begin with

[Guest]

It’s hardly a no-brainer. The reason it switched in the first place was to stop 16 year olds from playing against 14 year olds. Birth year is the right answer except for the small population born late in the year. If you don’t like being the youngest now wait until you play against 8 year old first graders. And yes it will happen and yes that’s why the rule changed to begin with

So what about adding Birth year plus grade level. Every state has a different cut off for when a student goes to the lower grade? Some states are Sept 1, some Oct 1 and some Nov 1, those are just examples. If a student is born after that date then they'd play for the younger age. If your child birth date is outside the cutoff, you'd have to play up. Unless you proved it was at a certain age, say 1st grade, to when you kept your child back. My D is a trapped player, I think I'd want her to stay with her current team.

[Guest]

So what about adding Birth year plus grade level. Every state has a different cut off for when a student goes to the lower grade? Some states are Sept 1, some Oct 1 and some Nov 1, those are just examples. If a student is born after that date then they'd play for the younger age. If your child birth date is outside the cutoff, you'd have to play up. Unless you proved it was at a certain age, say 1st grade, to when you kept your child back. My D is a trapped player, I think I'd want her to stay with her current team.

Thats 100% what they should do…Thats an easy solution.

[Guest]

What is the benefit for ECNL to change back? They are not losing customers under the current situation, and may create a future situation where they do lose customers. I don’t want to align in any way with Academy Guy, but in the mid range future NWSL academies are a possibility and they would almost certainly align with the international standard for age groups. ECNL would either have to change back or forego that market. They have currently squashed any real competition from GA but this change would be a back door entry point for viable business competition in the future. No business advantage. Potential business downside. Doesn’t make sense to do it.

[Guest]

I hope so I have an Aug birth month bitch

[Guest]

What is the benefit for ECNL to change back? They are not losing customers under the current situation, and may create a future situation where they do lose customers. I don’t want to align in any way with Academy Guy, but in the mid range future NWSL academies are a possibility and they would almost certainly align with the international standard for age groups. ECNL would either have to change back or forego that market. They have currently squashed any real competition from GA but this change would be a back door entry point for viable business competition in the future. No business advantage. Potential business downside. Doesn’t make sense to do it.

Hahaha hahaha hahaha...

Signed,
Academy Guy

Ps your people are too stupid to understand the implications of switching to school year.

[Guest]

just shifts the complainers by 3 months or so. Besides, states and localities have different cutoffs for schools years. NYC uses 12/31 as the cutoff, but Mass has 12/31 for some schools, but Anywhere between Aug 10th to Sept 13th

[Guest]

If this is done, will they leave the existing high school age teams alone and ‘grandfather’ them in? My daughter is a 2009 (freshman) and there are more than a few on her team that are completing 8th grade in a few weeks. I’d hate to see them get broken up after they’ve been together for a while.

[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.

No this includes AUGUST KIDS