ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

I think USMNT trying to become more competitive on the world stage by keeping it calendar year is laughable, without addressing the ridiculously expensive pay to play model that is the true cancer in US youth soccer.

I wonder if it would help more to lobby our government for a law that any college who takes federal funds cannot give athletic scholarships to non-US citizens. Why are our tuition and tax dollars funding the consolation prize for the rest of the world’s academy drop-outs? Seems to be a bigger issue in men’s soccer than women’s.

[Guest]

I think USMNT trying to become more competitive on the world stage by keeping it calendar year is laughable, without addressing the ridiculously expensive pay to play model that is the true cancer in US youth soccer.

So true…

[Guest]

You are joking, right? They all know this is being discussed. JD of Stars is on ECNL board. No way he is not in on any planning.

They all know is a big statement. Lots of ECNL clubs that don’t have people on the board. I’m from the west coast our director hasn’t heard anything about it. If JD from Stars told you something please share it?….

[Guest]

They all know is a big statement. Lots of ECNL clubs that don’t have people on the board. I’m from the west coast our director hasn’t heard anything about it. If JD from Stars told you something please share it?….

Saucy nuggets…

[Guest]

Unless you have an ECNL player caught in the birth year, you are forbidden from commenting on it. BC Mom has set the rules.

[Guest]

[QUOTE=Guest;n4671657]

Amazing that a dip would coincide with the last 5 years of miserable USWNT and USMNT play.

Also amazing that you blame BY when the only group that has played BY their whole club career are 14yo and younger. Is the drop exclusive to young kids while the group that started as GY has kept the numbers up? Also amazing that you don’t acknowledge the growth of other sports since 2017.

[/QUOTE

That's some pretty impressive mental gymnastics. The drop off occurred when kids 14 and under stopped joining club soccer because they can't play with kids in their grade year. This miraculously coincides with a near identical increase in sports where kids can play grade year. I cannot fathom how insufferable you must be in real life.

[Guest]

Parent of trapped, eighth grader here we have absolutely no concerns about her being trapped from club soccer this fall. That is not a real reason to switch from birth year to grade year however, we are concerned since our player is a serious soccer player and plans to play in college at some level that her junior year could be a real challenge in terms of recruiting and she will essentially Lose a year of recruiting her senior year if she doesn’t have a team to be seen on, so even though we figured out what to do for her as a trapped eighth grader this fall, we don’t know what to do to help her have good chances, any other kid with the same skill set and talent and grades as her but one less year of recruiting Opportunities . So we are counting on the switchback to happen, but we are hopeful.

[Guest]

Parent of trapped, eighth grader here we have absolutely no concerns about her being trapped from club soccer this fall. That is not a real reason to switch from birth year to grade year however, we are concerned since our player is a serious soccer player and plans to play in college at some level that her junior year could be a real challenge in terms of recruiting and she will essentially Lose a year of recruiting her senior year if she doesn’t have a team to be seen on, so even though we figured out what to do for her as a trapped eighth grader this fall, we don’t know what to do to help her have good chances, any other kid with the same skill set and talent and grades as her but one less year of recruiting Opportunities . So we are counting on the switchback to happen, but we are hopeful.

on the other hand, your kid gets an early year being seen by recruiters. Get out in front of it. If you wait till senior year, then that’s kind of creating the problem isn’t it?

[Guest]

on the other hand, your kid gets an early year being seen by recruiters. Get out in front of it. If you wait till senior year, then that’s kind of creating the problem isn’t it?

Spot on.

While coaches won't be able to communicate, they will be watching and that extra year will be huge if you address it correctly. Coaches absolutely DO watch players for a year, even two or three years prior. They will watch your progress so that extra year essentially at a higher level than your peers will be a big benefit.

[Guest]

Spot on.

While coaches won't be able to communicate, they will be watching and that extra year will be huge if you address it correctly. Coaches absolutely DO watch players for a year, even two or three years prior. They will watch your progress so that extra year essentially at a higher level than your peers will be a big benefit.

OP here. We are new to this. If we have a trapped 8th grader what do we do to get her seen early beyond club games and hopefully showcases? Isn’t it young to attend ID clinics? I just think she’s going to change a lot as a Player both in experience, maturity and size over the next four years I mean not to sound weird but she isn’t even done growing or puberty yet so it just feels a little premature to put her out there in front of coaches early clinics when I don’t think she would be able to keep up with the juniors out there that are on the other side of growing and puberty you know what I mean? I don’t know if it’s actually an advantage to be seen when your kid is still developing. I feel like the eighth graders really don’t have an advantage as some suggest losing their senior year and being seen early if they aren’t ready.

[Guest]

Spot on.

While coaches won't be able to communicate, they will be watching and that extra year will be huge if you address it correctly. Coaches absolutely DO watch players for a year, even two or three years prior. They will watch your progress so that extra year essentially at a higher level than your peers will be a big benefit.

Meh having watched this play out coaches are predominantly looking at juniors and tell the few sophomores that they will circle back next year. Next year when player is a junior their majority senior team is committed and barely traveling. When they do travel college coaches are on other side of the complex looking at the teams comprised of mostly juniors. See how easily grade year solves this problem! And yes I understand some unicorn sophomores are recruited June 15th post sophomore year but that is by far the exception. It's absolutely astonishing to me that parents are fighting the switch back to graduation year. What possible reason could you have to fight the return to grade year other than 1. I don't want to you can't make me or 2. my Q1 kid might not make a national team playing grade year? I am genuinely asking why do we have 134 pages of posts on the simplest scenario in the history of US soccer. US girls club soccer is 99.9% for college recruitment. College recruitment happens based on graduation year. Have kids in the same graduation year play together. Period. And NO ONE wants to hear about how your kid anecdotally did fine during recruiting as a trapped player. We do not care. 30% of players are negatively impacted irrespective of your individual experience. Club soccer numbers are plummeting this is the easiest and fastest fix. A fix that also helps a large percentage of players.

[Guest]

Dumbtwat, the q4 kids are playing up a grade already AND on the A team. What do you think happens when the q4 play their actual grade? They push the weaker grade year kids down to B. Your child and others like that have the most to lose as a q1-q2 roster clinger. But we will still hear you running your mouth on the ECRL teams telling the world about your kid who plays ECNL.

You couldn’t be dumber could you. But you don’t get it because you have no idea what I’m talking about. You are a b team
parent hoping this will all of a sudden be that secret sauce, new flash it won’t. A few months is nothing, unless you’re taking ulittle which this moron obviously is. Ulittle parents are the biggest idiots in this board

[Guest]

OP here. We are new to this. If we have a trapped 8th grader what do we do to get her seen early beyond club games and hopefully showcases? Isn’t it young to attend ID clinics? I just think she’s going to change a lot as a Player both in experience, maturity and size over the next four years I mean not to sound weird but she isn’t even done growing or puberty yet so it just feels a little premature to put her out there in front of coaches early clinics when I don’t think she would be able to keep up with the juniors out there that are on the other side of growing and puberty you know what I mean? I don’t know if it’s actually an advantage to be seen when your kid is still developing. I feel like the eighth graders really don’t have an advantage as some suggest losing their senior year and being seen early if they aren’t ready.

My D went to first ID Clinic as an 8th-grader. Now, I am not suggested anyone else do that. We decided to because:

1) She was physically capable and truthfully, you couldn't tell she was an 8th-grader or a senior in HS
2) There were multiple colleges there
3) We knew the guy running it, so we went on the cheap
4) It enabled her to get the nerves out of the way and to understand the process, before it mattered.

What I meant is that if she is younger than most of their teammates, and a year behind, she will be at showcases with her teammates when they go for the first time. When her teammates are Sophomores, she will still be a Freshman for example. So, she could get an extra year of looks from colleges. That's how it worked for my D's teammate. She was looked at with the rest of the team all along, and she committed pretty closely behind the rest (i.e. pretty much as soon as they were able to).

On the flip side, she had a teammate who wasn't as proactive early and when she decided to really dive in, she was caught in the "I'm a senior and the players getting communicated to are juniors" trap.

[Guest]

OP here. We are new to this. If we have a trapped 8th grader what do we do to get her seen early beyond club games and hopefully showcases? Isn’t it young to attend ID clinics? I just think she’s going to change a lot as a Player both in experience, maturity and size over the next four years I mean not to sound weird but she isn’t even done growing or puberty yet so it just feels a little premature to put her out there in front of coaches early clinics when I don’t think she would be able to keep up with the juniors out there that are on the other side of growing and puberty you know what I mean? I don’t know if it’s actually an advantage to be seen when your kid is still developing. I feel like the eighth graders really don’t have an advantage as some suggest losing their senior year and being seen early if they aren’t ready.

You do nothing because for fall of 2025 ECNL and GA are both switching back to graduation year. It is happening. This entire thread is insanity. Point blank ask your coach and they will tell you it's happening. That is not hyperbole. If you play on a high level team at a high level organization ask your coach.

[Guest]

You couldn’t be dumber could you. But you don’t get it because you have no idea what I’m talking about. You are a b team
parent hoping this will all of a sudden be that secret sauce, new flash it won’t. A few months is nothing, unless you’re taking ulittle which this moron obviously is. Ulittle parents are the biggest idiots in this board

Well, there is a difference between an idiot and unexperienced. I'd be willing to say every one of us went into this journey with an expectation, and for everyone it went differently. Maybe it was better, maybe it was worse...but it was absolutely different.

The reward for suffering is experience.