ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

Just for you, the soccer gods will make it Sept 1 - August 31. Then you'll still have a daughter born in the youngest month.

True karma.

[Guest]

Oh I agree I think it should be like town soccer where you literally play with your grade period. I’m just thinking of the 08/09 girls in both the ECNL and GA. Both leagues have incredibly talented 09s who have played up for years and dominate. I can’t imagine these girls now playing with current 2010s. Again the experience/talent gap just seems tremendous.

Those "incredibly talented 09s" can still play up if they want. Nothing stopping them.

[Guest]

Oh I agree I think it should be like town soccer where you literally play with your grade period. I’m just thinking of the 08/09 girls in both the ECNL and GA. Both leagues have incredibly talented 09s who have played up for years and dominate. I can’t imagine these girls now playing with current 2010s. Again the experience/talent gap just seems tremendous.

Remember though, the current 2010s will not all be 2010s once the change is made. The ones with later birthdays will move to 2011s and so on and so on. So, the teams are all going to look pretty different that first year. But, I guess it was the same when they initially moved to BY.

I'm kind of on the fence because my daughter is an October birthday and has always been a younger player playing with older girls. She's also always been one of the top players on her team. Having a team where she is now one of the older players, she may not get the same level of competition playing with younger players. But, ultimately, I think it is the right move.

[Guest]

Remember though, the current 2010s will not all be 2010s once the change is made. The ones with later birthdays will move to 2011s and so on and so on. So, the teams are all going to look pretty different that first year. But, I guess it was the same when they initially moved to BY.

I'm kind of on the fence because my daughter is an October birthday and has always been a younger player playing with older girls. She's also always been one of the top players on her team. Having a team where she is now one of the older players, she may not get the same level of competition playing with younger players. But, ultimately, I think it is the right move.

We also have a fall birthday kid. Wasn’t looking forward to her being trapped but do think she’s a better player for playing essentially up with the grade above her. It needs to happen though as I keep hearing stories of high school trapped seniors and that too bad. I also think even though my player is good she doesn’t get picked to start over the older taller girls. It affects her confidence. Having the opportunity to be able to be a leader and increased confidence might be a benefit over playing up.

[Guest]

Those "incredibly talented 09s" can still play up if they want. Nothing stopping them.

Depends on whether clubs want to let them, or if they prefer to reshuffle the teams to make the updated "2010" teams stronger

[Guest]

Just for you, the soccer gods will make it Sept 1 - August 31. Then you'll still have a daughter born in the youngest month.

We’d actually prefer that because then she’d be able to play with her grade. It’s sort of a win-win for the August kids regardless of where the cut off is.

[Guest]

New podcast out - just listened to the intro + few minutes and they brought it up again around 3:30 - They don't know for "sure" but strong momentum and they will talk about it more when the time is appropriate.

[Guest]

https://open.spotify.com/episode/44H...7e1c201e624868

[Guest]

It’s too late for the kids this year in both high school and 8th grade. But hey I’m glad they are “talking about it.” Trying talking to all the familes losing out this current year. They should make the change this summer. No need to put it off.

[Guest]

Just for you, the soccer gods will make it Sept 1 - August 31. Then you'll still have a daughter born in the youngest month.

It should be Sept. No school has an August cut off date.

[Guest]

It should be Sept. No school has an August cut off date.

Across the country, there are definitely a few with Aug 1 (or July 31) cutoff. But yes, the vast majority are Sept 1.

[Guest]

Across the country, there are definitely a few with Aug 1 (or July 31) cutoff. But yes, the vast majority are Sept 1.

Ok that makes more sense. So the new team groupings are likely Sept. 1-Aug 30th. No longer called 2009s. Need to call them something else .Guess we call them 2009/10, 2010/11s, 2011s/12s
and people will adjust their minds and know it means players born between Sept 1, 2009- Aug 30 2010, Sept 1, 2010-Aug 30 2011… I think we can all handle that.

[Guest]

As the parent of an Oct born daughter, I will say that I'm for a change that keeps kids primarily with their school grade. Unfortunately for my family it comes too late as she will be a Junior next year so the change will be implemented as she's a rising Senior. We went through the mess of being a trapped 8th grader, are dealing with the mess that is the missing U18 group, and now have to look forward to another mess as the combined birth year teams get re-shuffled into U18 and U19 teams. They should have never made this change in the first place and it needs to be fixed but it sucks if your kid gets doubly screwed while they figure things out.

She is not targeting D1 but would like to play in college if she can find the right fit; which is most likely a local D3 school (academics first, soccer second). Will U19 actually be a thing at the ECRL level? Will any coaches (D2/3) be watching U19 even if it is a thing?

[Guest]

As the parent of an Oct born daughter, I will say that I'm for a change that keeps kids primarily with their school grade. Unfortunately for my family it comes too late as she will be a Junior next year so the change will be implemented as she's a rising Senior. We went through the mess of being a trapped 8th grader, are dealing with the mess that is the missing U18 group, and now have to look forward to another mess as the combined birth year teams get re-shuffled into U18 and U19 teams. They should have never made this change in the first place and it needs to be fixed but it sucks if your kid gets doubly screwed while they figure things out.

She is not targeting D1 but would like to play in college if she can find the right fit; which is most likely a local D3 school (academics first, soccer second). Will U19 actually be a thing at the ECRL level? Will any coaches (D2/3) be watching U19 even if it is a thing?

Thanks for sharing your experience. Those are great questions.
You should send your questions and concerns / comments to info@theecnl.com
They will address them at the next podcast

[Guest]

It’s too late for the kids this year in both high school and 8th grade. But hey I’m glad they are “talking about it.” Trying talking to all the familes losing out this current year. They should make the change this summer. No need to put it off.

agree with this. Add my daughter to the list of many kids who have been screwed over by this birth year disaster. It has hurt her in many ways. She didn’t have a team to play on in 8th grade while her entire team was playing high school. The club let her practice with the team below but did not allow her to play games. Now, as a rising junior, we can expect no college coaches to be watching games as the majority of her team is rising seniors and already committed. Then again when she is a rising senior and has to go to a whole new team. Please make this birth year thing end. It was the worst thing to happen to youth soccer.