ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

To “It’s Happening” poster. Please stop with the BY Crackhead comments it shows a very low level of comprehension.
No one has defended BY. In fact many posts have stipulated we should switch back. The only pushback on this thread is that there is nothing beyond the podcast to substantiate it, and that it has not and will not be the primary reason a girl is not recruited.

[Guest]

I’m not looking for proof like I’m a detective. But this forum is at 142 pages and no “real” proof. I want people to name names.

No one in the history of club sports is going to direct quote their coach or club director on a random youth soccer website. Ask yourself in all honesty would there really be 142 pages if it wasn't happening? I know what I have been told and you know but won't admit where there is smoke there is fire. 142 pages is a lot of smoke. The question isn't if it is when. The question how is either birthdate to mimic grade year which complicates things or straight graduation year which is definitive and is what college coaches want. Based on my conversations with people I trust it will be graduation year in fall of 2025. ECNL will do what they want and GA will do the same. USSF just isn't the driver in girls US club soccer. Then VAST majority of club soccer players want to play in college not professionally. ECNL will do whatever helps players reach that goal and in this situation that is a return to graduation year as soon as possible.

[Guest]

No one in the history of club sports is going to direct quote their coach or club director on a random youth soccer website. Ask yourself in all honesty would there really be 142 pages if it wasn't happening? I know what I have been told and you know but won't admit where there is smoke there is fire. 142 pages is a lot of smoke. The question isn't if it is when. The question how is either birthdate to mimic grade year which complicates things or straight graduation year which is definitive and is what college coaches want. Based on my conversations with people I trust it will be graduation year in fall of 2025. ECNL will do what they want and GA will do the same. USSF just isn't the driver in girls US club soccer. Then VAST majority of club soccer players want to play in college not professionally. ECNL will do whatever helps players reach that goal and in this situation that is a return to graduation year as soon as possible.

Needs to happen soon. Each year they wait is another messed up year for the trapped juniors. ECNL and GA need to do this together BTW. Up here ECNL folk call GA B league. But GA still has massive respect and great players in other parts of our country.

[Guest]

No regional or white national will get moved to a Stars Blue National team. Better chance of the patriots winning this years Super Bowl.

People saying there won't be movement between Blue/White National and Blue Regional teams are delusional. That is the second biggest motive for the change. There are lots of Q4 players on WN/BR or pre-GA teams who would be impact National players in their grade year. The reality is entire clubs are built around the best 5-6 players on the top teams. The majority of other very talented players are interchangeable. The switch back to grade year is going to level the playing field, hopefully make the teams more socially cohesive which will greatly improve team chemistry and significantly reduce the annual churning of rosters. After the massive initial upheaval things will settle down quickly.

[Guest]

People saying there won't be movement between Blue/White National and Blue Regional teams are delusional. That is the second biggest motive for the change. There are lots of Q4 players on WN/BR or pre-GA teams who would be impact National players in their grade year. The reality is entire clubs are built around the best 5-6 players on the top teams. The majority of other very talented players are interchangeable. The switch back to grade year is going to level the playing field, hopefully make the teams more socially cohesive which will greatly improve team chemistry and significantly reduce the annual churning of rosters. After the massive initial upheaval things will settle down quickly.

If you are on White, you are at best the 25th ranked player in your age group at Stars. If you are on Blue Regional, you are the 50th best player. If you break it down by position using general DEF, MF, FWD categories, you are the 9th and 17th best, respectively at your position. The age below you also has 8 kids ahead of you. If parents really believe what you say, and you think that is the reason for the change, then you are not realistic and will be very disappointed. There may be the rare Stars White kid who cracks the top 8 in a position, but once you are in White, they are not moving you to Blue to be a bench anchor. At least we now have an honest answer as to who is driving this thread forward.

[Guest]

its official

[Guest]

If you are on White, you are at best the 25th ranked player in your age group at Stars. If you are on Blue Regional, you are the 50th best player. If you break it down by position using general DEF, MF, FWD categories, you are the 9th and 17th best, respectively at your position. The age below you also has 8 kids ahead of you. If parents really believe what you say, and you think that is the reason for the change, then you are not realistic and will be very disappointed. There may be the rare Stars White kid who cracks the top 8 in a position, but once you are in White, they are not moving you to Blue to be a bench anchor. At least we now have an honest answer as to who is driving this thread forward.

Agree mostly. Exception to this would be the occasional 3rd or 4th ranked player in a position who chose to play for White to get more playing time. Those players, if trapped players, may be the starter in the year below.

[Guest]

Agree mostly. Exception to this would be the occasional 3rd or 4th ranked player in a position who chose to play for White to get more playing time. Those players, if trapped players, may be the starter in the year below.

This is my kid, second team center half number 5 overall. 1st team center half is national team kid with Januarybday. My kid is September. Do the math.

[Guest]

This is my kid, second team center half number 5 overall. 1st team center half is national team kid with Januarybday. My kid is September. Do the math.

4 and 8. Did I pass?

Actually, I’ll need to take an incomplete as I can’t do all of the math since you failed to state the birth month of the other 3 ahead of her, or where she ranks relative to the birth year younger.

[Guest]

A 5 won't become a #1 with the move, but they also won't stay #5 or move down lower playing grade year. The #5 likely becomes 2 or 3.

[Guest]

A 5 won't become a #1 with the move, but they also won't stay #5 or move down lower playing grade year. The #5 likely becomes 2 or 3.

I think this depends on what age ranges you guys are talking about. At U13-15, if you are #5 in your whole birth year as a trapped player, there is a good chance you could become #1-2. There are many cases in that age range where the RL team from the year ahead can beat the NL team from the year behind by 2 or more goals. If you're the best player on your RL team as a trapped player, and your team is quite a bit better than the NL team behind, you've got a good chance of jumping all the way from about #10-20 in your birth year to top 5 in your grade year. At U16+ this seems super unlikely, unless it's a special situation where a class ahead is just really stacked and deep compared to the class behind. On the flip side, there are of course plenty of cases even in U13-15 where the team behind is stacked and deep, can easily beat the RL team ahead, so the move isn't going to improve your ranking at all.

[Guest]

This is my kid, second team center half number 5 overall. 1st team center half is national team kid with Januarybday. My kid is September. Do the math.

Typical.
Blaming a handful of months.

News flash: your kid just isn’t good enough.

[Guest]

Agree mostly. Exception to this would be the occasional 3rd or 4th ranked player in a position who chose to play for White to get more playing time. Those players, if trapped players, may be the starter in the year below.

THIS! It happens all the time. People over simplify team selection. And sometimes, they can actually be very equal in skill yet one player has been with a coach for awhile.

[Guest]

Again while there is no denying that there are many talented kids on say a Blue National team once you get outside the top 5 players Blue National players there isn't a wildly different skill level between the remaining BN players and the top White National/top Blue Regional players. While you will scream "fake news" a decent number of Blue Regional players have turned down White National contracts. You stomping your feet doesn't make it not true. A switch to school year will absolutely move top White National and Blue Regional players to other levels in their appropriate graduation year.

[Guest]

Typical.
Blaming a handful of months.

News flash: your kid just isn’t good enough.

See you at tryouts.

:)