ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

"try another sport" is accurate - come on (not a parent of a kid at the bottom half of rosters)

[Guest]

I understand there are people here who have a variety of motivations to change the cutoff, and there are others who have motivations to keep the current cutoff. I don't understand why there appears to be so much animosity and meanness directed at the people who want to change the cutoff. Under the guise of being "realistic," without knowing individual kids at all, a lot of the keep-the-current-cutoff group seems to be comfortable telling the other group that their kid just sucks, and in many cases the trapped kids should just feel free to quit en masse. Not a good look.

[Guest]

I understand there are people here who have a variety of motivations to change the cutoff, and there are others who have motivations to keep the current cutoff. I don't understand why there appears to be so much animosity and meanness directed at the people who want to change the cutoff. Under the guise of being "realistic," without knowing individual kids at all, a lot of the keep-the-current-cutoff group seems to be comfortable telling the other group that their kid just sucks, and in many cases the trapped kids should just feel free to quit en masse. Not a good look.

I think the issue is parents making excuses for their kids. I agree on motivations from both sides as I have one trapped and one not and it would be great if my trapped played down and my older one didn't face a change. Maybe i'd feel different if I only had a trapped child, but I don't like giving them a crutch or an easy out when things don't work out. There are always going to be kids right at whatever cutoff and someone has to be the oldest and someone the youngest. I think she actually has extra confidence by being the youngest on her team and that helps her a lot on the field.

[Guest]

Incorrect. There are still 2025s committing this summer. Not P4, but plenty of mid-majors. In the past few days I’ve seen Holy Cross, Lehigh, Providence….

There’s always a long tail.

[Guest]

For anyone still confused let me map it out. Any late 08 on an ECNL or GA team is a rising sophomore on a team full of Juniors. This year will be packed with showcases. College coaches are there to look at the JUNIORS. Even if a sophomore catches their eye they might make a note to revisit them next year. So all the juniors get committed. Fast forward next year 25/26 the 08 is now a junior on a team full of committed seniors. They go to almost no showcases even if there are showcases available. The coach who noticed 08 the year prior is still on the original field now watching the YOUNGER 09 team that is predominantly Juniors and doesn’t come to see the team of 80% committed seniors. Now fast forward another year the 08 is a senior WITHOUT A TEAM. Do NOT tell me there isn’t a huge problem for trapped players. The only thing that eliminates all of this is to have a system based solely on graduation year. That way the coaches can just park on the field full of Juniors year after year and no one is overlooked.

This just isn’t true. The rising sophomore just had a spring full of showcases as a freshman when college coaches were focused on Sophomores in advance of 6/15. Next year they should be on more coach watch lists than their grademates. Now next spring when they are in prime time they will be at showcases as sophomores playing with their junior committed teammates who are all being watched ny their to-be college coaches. That rising sophomore is in the catbird seat.


now, if shes not an an ecnl team, diff story

[Guest]

So when will we see the ECNL and GA rosters online for the new season?

[Guest]

I think the issue is parents making excuses for their kids. I agree on motivations from both sides as I have one trapped and one not and it would be great if my trapped played down and my older one didn't face a change. Maybe i'd feel different if I only had a trapped child, but I don't like giving them a crutch or an easy out when things don't work out. There are always going to be kids right at whatever cutoff and someone has to be the oldest and someone the youngest. I think she actually has extra confidence by being the youngest on her team and that helps her a lot on the field.

But doesn't everyone understand that the parent delusions can run both ways? Many early-developing kids' parents believe them to be superstars and lash out at everyone (especially at their club coaches) when the other kids catch up to them. Certainly it could be true that some parents of young players are really hoping to rationalize a change, but their real hope is that their kid falls on the other end of the cutoff and becomes an overnight star. In the same way, there are some parents who refuse to acknowledge beyond a subconscious level that their current status is dependent on that cutoff. Parent bias and delusion isn't exclusive to certain birthdays.

My ultimate point is that it says a lot about the quality of each side's position that one side has devolved into saying the other side's kids just suck. If I'm a debate judge and one side keeps making the same arguments, and the other side just keeps responding with personal insults based on assumptions about their situation outside the debate, I know which side I'm declaring the winner.

[Guest]

I have two in college and one starting high school and I have heard lots of complaints and issues over the years about the trapped 8th grader situation (varies a lot by club and how they handle this), but outside of this board I never hear about issues with college recruiting.

I've honestly never even heard of the trapped 8th grade year. Is it something native to the Northeast? Does it depend on when your state plays their school soccer season?

[Guest]

But doesn't everyone understand that the parent delusions can run both ways? Many early-developing kids' parents believe them to be superstars and lash out at everyone (especially at their club coaches) when the other kids catch up to them. Certainly it could be true that some parents of young players are really hoping to rationalize a change, but their real hope is that their kid falls on the other end of the cutoff and becomes an overnight star. In the same way, there are some parents who refuse to acknowledge beyond a subconscious level that their current status is dependent on that cutoff. Parent bias and delusion isn't exclusive to certain birthdays.

My ultimate point is that it says a lot about the quality of each side's position that one side has devolved into saying the other side's kids just suck. If I'm a debate judge and one side keeps making the same arguments, and the other side just keeps responding with personal insults based on assumptions about their situation outside the debate, I know which side I'm declaring the winner.

You amazingly captured the whole situation!! Relative Age Effect (RAE) and where you fall is powerful and is the only thing you cannot change. You can work harder, buy better training, get on a better team, promote yourself better, but you cannot change RAE. I’d guess that upwards of 80% of teams based on the research are full of kids whose only skill differentiation is RAE and it’s compounding effects. That’s a sobering reality. Look at the charts on Wikipedia if unfamiliar. In fact we are only just seeing the power of RAE with 2009
and more recent birthdays because all prior players experienced a different calendar which benefited different players and the change to BY interrupted the compounding effect of RAE and reset it for those players.

[Guest]

I prefer the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mantra.

You’re throwing a lot of ‘if’s’ into something that you are stating as a fact. How about: if my trapped player hadn’t been on this college’s radar early, my player wouldn’t have been seen so many times, and she wouldn’t have had an offer on June 15th immediately after her Sophomore year.

Just because it’s not broken for you doesn’t mean it’s not broken. But time will tell how you feel when they mix it up.

[Guest]

For me, it is hard to understand becuase I went through this with my daughter. I guess for those without real world experience I can see why conceptually you think it makes a difference, but in reality it doesn't.

Well we’ll all find out what kind of difference it makes soon enough.

[Guest]

You amazingly captured the whole situation!! Relative Age Effect (RAE) and where you fall is powerful and is the only thing you cannot change. You can work harder, buy better training, get on a better team, promote yourself better, but you cannot change RAE. I’d guess that upwards of 80% of teams based on the research are full of kids whose only skill differentiation is RAE and it’s compounding effects. That’s a sobering reality. Look at the charts on Wikipedia if unfamiliar. In fact we are only just seeing the power of RAE with 2009
and more recent birthdays because all prior players experienced a different calendar which benefited different players and the change to BY interrupted the compounding effect of RAE and reset it for those players.

When your daughter gets to college (and even more so if she is gifted/lucky enough to play professionally), especially early on, she's going to be competing with girls older than her for playing time. Might as well get used to it now. It's ultimately your fault for conceiving when you did. Poor planning.

[Guest]

This just isn’t true. The rising sophomore just had a spring full of showcases as a freshman when college coaches were focused on Sophomores in advance of 6/15. Next year they should be on more coach watch lists than their grademates. Now next spring when they are in prime time they will be at showcases as sophomores playing with their junior committed teammates who are all being watched ny their to-be college coaches. That rising sophomore is in the catbird seat.


now, if shes not an an ecnl team, diff story

You are incorrect. The college coaches want the change because they want to know what recruiting year they are looking at when evaluating players. At this point this thread has been exhausted. The coaches want graduation year. They will get it. We’ll all hear soon enough.

[Guest]

You are incorrect. The college coaches want the change because they want to know what recruiting year they are looking at when evaluating players. At this point this thread has been exhausted. The coaches want graduation year. They will get it. We’ll all hear soon enough.

This was not referenced in the ECNL podcasts. You either have another source or are inserting your own opinions. If you have a source, share it.

[Guest]

I've honestly never even heard of the trapped 8th grade year. Is it something native to the Northeast? Does it depend on when your state plays their school soccer season?

It is unique to regions whose high school season runs concurrently with a club season. Other parts of the country do not have this issue. One specific example is CA which runs a full fall club season, runs high school in the winter, and then runs another full club season in the spring.

Outside of our region, people do not put this kind of thought into it. It’s a non-issue.