ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

These are excellent points.

Agreed. For all the "want to play with classmates" talk, there is very little of that. For my D's last 5 years of club soccer she only played with one classmate.

[Guest]

HS Soccer WINS, again.

[Guest]

For town based programs this makes sense but if playing higher-level club are you really expecting to play with your classmates? If not you have to meet mostly new teammates anyway

the mismatch between 8th grade and high school seasons seems like a bigger deal. The “trapped player” rules seem to help in fall of 8th grade but a lot of the younger year parents grumble about this.

Going to Aug or Sept cutoff also has its complications. Now you have another arbitrary date that doesn’t fit all schools nationally. Won’t this just make a different set of parents unhappy?

Every kid starts playing soccer in town-based programs. Using birth year, many young kids end up not playing soccer because they are shy about playing with kids in a different grade (eg. a 1st grader is too shy or timid to play on a team full of 2nd graders). So right off the bat, you lose some portion of players.

And yes, the 8th grade and high school seasons thing is the most significant issue...this is the "trapped player" issue where 8th graders born late in the year don't have a fall club season (because they are U15 and the rest of the team is in their high school season) and they don't have a meaningful fall soccer experience because middle school soccer is a joke. And for the players with college soccer aspirations, these trapped players also have complications in the recruiting process because when they are high school juniors, their club team is full of seniors who are probably already college-committed and don't have motivation to go to showcases and such when that is the most critical year for doing that as a junior.

And also yes, going to Aug cutoff also has its complications...it is not perfect, but it causes issues for fewer players than birth-year...that is why the point being made in this thread is about minimizing the complications, not eliminating them.

[Guest]

Agreed. For all the "want to play with classmates" talk, there is very little of that. For my D's last 5 years of club soccer she only played with one classmate.

It's mostly an issue at the youngest U-little ages (U7, U8) where kids are getting started in the sport. It can be very intimidating for a 1st grader to be put on a team with a bunch of 2nd graders, especially when that 1st grader's classmates are all playing together on another team. It can be a big deterrent for some young players to try soccer at all.

[Guest]

1st graders playing in fall of their first year don't even know who their classmates are at that point.

[Guest]

It's mostly an issue at the youngest U-little ages (U7, U8) where kids are getting started in the sport. It can be very intimidating for a 1st grader to be put on a team with a bunch of 2nd graders, especially when that 1st grader's classmates are all playing together on another team. It can be a big deterrent for some young players to try soccer at all.

My D took swimming lessons at the Y one town over. Didn't know anybody. She learned to snowboard, so she was grouped at a ski area with other similarly-skilled riders - some older, some younger, but she didn't know anybody. She went to the B&G Club for summer camp, which was based in the city nearby, she didn't know anybody. She went to horse camp for a few years - didn't know anybody.

Even when starting out playing soccer, her first few years she was a B-teamer and her only classmates were on the A-team, so everyone she played with were not her classmates.

The earth kept spinning.

[Guest]

For town based programs this makes sense but if playing higher-level club are you really expecting to play with your classmates? If not you have to meet mostly new teammates anyway

the mismatch between 8th grade and high school seasons seems like a bigger deal. The “trapped player” rules seem to help in fall of 8th grade but a lot of the younger year parents grumble about this.

Going to Aug or Sept cutoff also has its complications. Now you have another arbitrary date that doesn’t fit all schools nationally. Won’t this just make a different set of parents unhappy?

I’m the parent of a “trapped” player who is now recruiting age. A couple of things:

I looked at this thread because my kid is an ECNL player—the title is specific to what ECNL wants to do—move to grad year. This is a league where the vast majority of kids are looking to play college soccer. On the girls side, 72% of 2025 D1 commits so far play in the ECNL. Grad year removes some recruiting headaches for college coaches. It’s a smart move for a league that is very college recruiting focused.

Currently, the trapped 8th grade year is a pain, but many clubs try to put training groups together for those trapped kids. The trapped player rules (I can only speak about ECNL) allow for a max of 2 trapped players to play in any game at the younger age. Some clubs may utilize this rule, but my kid’s never did (probably more trouble than it’s worth when you pretty much always have more than 2 trapped players).

What the pro birth year parents aren’t realizing is that while 8th grade only impacts those fall-born kids, junior/senior year, birth year can potentially affect any kid. This years oldest age group for club soccer is 05/06. That means that the trapped 05s are now essentially in the 2006 age group. That’s likely 5-8 kids who will come in and compete for a spot on that 06 team (and this will happen to every team). Some of those 06 kids then get dropped from a team they may have played on for years.

Grad year makes the most sense overall for players, clubs and college coaches (again, I’m being specific to ECNL because that is the league considering this and the one I have direct experience with).

[Guest]

My D took swimming lessons at the Y one town over. Didn't know anybody. She learned to snowboard, so she was grouped at a ski area with other similarly-skilled riders - some older, some younger, but she didn't know anybody. She went to the B&G Club for summer camp, which was based in the city nearby, she didn't know anybody. She went to horse camp for a few years - didn't know anybody.

Even when starting out playing soccer, her first few years she was a B-teamer and her only classmates were on the A-team, so everyone she played with were not her classmates.

The earth kept spinning.

Good for your kid. She's more the exception than the rule.

[Guest]

I’m the parent of a “trapped” player who is now recruiting age. A couple of things:

I looked at this thread because my kid is an ECNL player—the title is specific to what ECNL wants to do—move to grad year. This is a league where the vast majority of kids are looking to play college soccer. On the girls side, 72% of 2025 D1 commits so far play in the ECNL. Grad year removes some recruiting headaches for college coaches. It’s a smart move for a league that is very college recruiting focused.

Currently, the trapped 8th grade year is a pain, but many clubs try to put training groups together for those trapped kids. The trapped player rules (I can only speak about ECNL) allow for a max of 2 trapped players to play in any game at the younger age. Some clubs may utilize this rule, but my kid’s never did (probably more trouble than it’s worth when you pretty much always have more than 2 trapped players).

What the pro birth year parents aren’t realizing is that while 8th grade only impacts those fall-born kids, junior/senior year, birth year can potentially affect any kid. This years oldest age group for club soccer is 05/06. That means that the trapped 05s are now essentially in the 2006 age group. That’s likely 5-8 kids who will come in and compete for a spot on that 06 team (and this will happen to every team). Some of those 06 kids then get dropped from a team they may have played on for years.

Grad year makes the most sense overall for players, clubs and college coaches (again, I’m being specific to ECNL because that is the league considering this and the one I have direct experience with).

Yep. Birth year system causes so many unnecessary problems. Aug 1 cut-off causes fewer problems. The only benefit of birth year is to help USSF align its YNT call-up process to align with the rest of the world. For 99+% of the population, this isn't even on their radar. No reason not to switch back to Aug 1.

[Guest]

Good for your kid. She's more the exception than the rule.

How do you know that?

Kids are much more resilient than most realize. All it takes is a parent to get out of the way.

[Guest]

How do you know that?

Kids are much more resilient than most realize. All it takes is a parent to get out of the way.

As a town youth soccer coach, I see it every year...1st graders who show up on a team full of 2nd graders and quit after 3 weeks.

[Guest]

As a town youth soccer coach, I see it every year...1st graders who show up on a team full of 2nd graders and quit after 3 weeks.

Sad.

As a youth councilor, I see it every year. 1st graders show up and panic because mom is dropping them off. 15 minutes of activity and all is well.

[Guest]

Comes down to the philosophical question: Do you want to cater to the weak or the strong?

This doesn't affect me, personally, my kid is past this currently if that matters

[Guest]

Sad.

As a youth councilor, I see it every year. 1st graders show up and panic because mom is dropping them off. 15 minutes of activity and all is well.

Probably because they see kids from their class they are familiar with.

[Guest]

Comes down to the philosophical question: Do you want to cater to the weak or the strong?

This doesn't affect me, personally, my kid is past this currently if that matters

No the issue isn’t really about catering to anyone. It’s about making problems for fewer people instead of more people.