ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

Is this AI? Your daughter wouldn't be bumped a year if she has a Sept. Bday. She would be bumped down. So she would play this year as u15 and next fall as well. Not pushed up two years

Seems like a distracted parent that misspoke because he/she/they hate the Rocket Money commercial.

[Guest]

Grad Year! PLEASE…. ;)

[Guest]

If I like the birth date I have can I keep it?

Yes you can keep your birthdate.

[Guest]

Yes you can keep your birthdate.

Thank you!!!!

[Guest]

Well, the Mormon Church holds a ton of weight when it comes to ECNL decisions. Soccer madness. Let’s see here, so now you got to brag about your team.But I don’t think this article is about bragging rites and not about the top teams you talking about but for all kids good or not so good to play with team mates in the same age group. And for for U12 to play on smaller field.I don’t get it why you running your mouth like that. Ya’ll be positive and say something good.

U12 already plays 9 v 9. I don’t get it.

[Guest]

Dear Fake USSF Guy,

Since you asked, I'll chime in. There are people in here who are so angry you changed from 8/1 the first time around, and are so bloodthirsty for a change back, they can't see the forest for the trees. What they are missing is that a change back will turn your entire ecosystem on its head. In an effort to correct perceived problems with the ecosystem, you'll be taking a blowtorch to it.

I waited 300 pages of this thread to weigh in, so apologies if it's long, but here's what they are missing: For club soccer, this isn't as simple as a shifting of a few Q4 kids from one age bracket to another. There will be MASSIVE player movement and disruption, with players switching not just from age bracket to age bracket, but from one level to another, from league to league, and from club to club. I'm guessing at least HALF of the kids in club soccer are moved, but regardless of how many move, ALL of them will be impacted. This is not good for the ecosystem. (Local town soccer is a little different story, but that's another topic.)

Let's look at an example. Let's use a U14 boys NAL team (somewhat modeled on my son's team, but also some made up for purposes of the example). NAL is a challenging league. Many players are even good enough to play MLSN but don't for a variety of reasons. Others--at this age--could be good enough once they mature physically. There are 18 on the roster, grouped as follows for purposes of this example:

Group A: 8 kids born 8/1 or later
Group B: 2 July kids
Group C: 1 June kid
Group D: 7 Jan-May kids

Impact on each of these groups:

Group A: None would move forward with the rest of the team and would stay at U14 for another year. Most kids would be thrilled to repeat U14 again next year as the oldest players in NAL and avoid being trapped players. At least 3 of these kids are regular starters on the current U14 team and would prefer to stay with the team if they could. It has been rumored that the club is not planning to have Aug-Dec kids "play up" on any of the NAL teams, but at U15 there isn't really a choice anyway. "Playing up" next fall would just mean these kids would be trapped players so they'll stay at U14 to avoid that (which is the whole point of creating this mess for everyone). In any event, all of these kids are "gone" next year (meaning playing with a different team than they are on this year), whether they wanted to or not.

Groups B&C: None of these kids has matured physically, but they are able to play at this level against bigger/faster developed kids because of very strong technical skills and excellent understanding of the systems of play being used. One of them is probably the most technical player on the team. This year he has found that strong technical skills alone sometimes aren't enough to beat bigger, faster kids who grew early in 1v1 situations. Until this year, he dominated in 1v1 situations. One of these kids also reclassed for private school last year and is a now a July kid 7th grade. So in a SY system he'll STILL be trapped. The only difference is that he'll now be among the youngest and suffering the effects of REA to add insult to injury. All of these kids would be in jeopardy of being displaced on next year's U15 team, whether by losing a roster spot, position, starting spot, or at least significant playing time. I included the June kid as a separate Group because he's physically underdeveloped. He'd be a candidate for biobanding if they gave him that option. A skilled player who could very well be out of luck in a SY system.

Group D: This group runs the gamut from top starters to end of the bench. The best of them would easily make an MLS roster, the worst are probably over their heads at the NAL level. While all would move forward to the U15 age bracket in a SY system, for sure some of them will be displaced on our club's U15 NAL roster next year.

For Groups B-D, the players who might be displaced, wouldn't just be displaced by current Aug-Dec U15 NAL players from our club who would be staying at U15. Rather there is a whole transfer portal-like tidal wave of players who could take a roster spot, position, starting spot, or at least significant playing time from them. Here are just some of the groups who could do that (non-exhaustive, just off the top of my head):

1) The Aug-Dec 2010 kids currently playing for our club's U15 NAL team.
2) The Aug-Dec 2010 kids from other clubs' current U14 teams in other leagues who see this as an opportunity to move up or laterally from their current league to NAL. This could include kids currently playing in leagues like ECNL, ECRL, EDP or even some NECSL players.
3) The Aug-Dec 2010 kids from other clubs' teams in ECNL or ECRL who see this as an opportunity to NAL to get away from the travel involved in ECNL and ECRL.
4) The Jan-Jul 2011 kids from other clubs' current (stronger) U14 NAL teams who get displaced from their current club's U15 NAL team next year, or are worried they will be displaced because of the change to SY or otherwise.
6) The Jan-Jul 2011 kids from our club's current U14 MLS team who get displaced from our club's U15 MLS team next year.
7) The Jan-Jul 2011 kids from other clubs' current U14 MLS teams who get displaced from their current club's U15 MLS team next year, or are worried they will be displaced because of the change to SY or otherwise.

I'm sure there are plenty of others I missed. In addition to the players displaced, other players will choose to leave for another team (thereby displacing someone in that club!) Across the ecosystem, pretty much every kid could either be displaced or choose to leave because of the change to SY. At a minimum, the team in the example would lose 8 of 18 and at least half of the other 10 will be displaced or leave for another team. Multiply this by the number of other teams out there and by the different age groups, and you have an absolute tsunami of player movement on your hands. Every team currently together, often after years of development, will be torn apart. Sure, there are changes every year. The movement from a change to SY is entirely different just on volume alone. But also, evaluations are far from perfect, even by a coach who has coached a kid for years. Evaluations based on seeing a kid at a few practices or even just a tryout will be much worse. There will be rampant misevaluations in what will be far from a "perfect market" of player movement. None of this is good for your ecosystem.

As an early October, my kid would be one of the so-called "winners" of the birthday lottery in a change to a SY system. He's also a kid who happened to grow already and isn't affected by RAE much anymore. We'd much rather stay BY and have him keep playing with his current team. Yes, he'll be a trapped eighth grader next year and he'll deal with issues again as a junior. All of that is so overblown. We already have a plan in place for how he'll deal with next fall as a "trapped" 8th and they don't actually "miss" any games so we're not that worried about it. College soccer isn't really in his plans, but if he changes his mind we're not concerned about connecting with coaches so they know about him. He's not going to fall off the radar because he's one of almost half the roster in that situation.

Thanks for listening.

Most clubs will run supplemental tryouts and remember new U14 soccer players do not grow on trees - each year your kid plays there are less at their age than the prior year. The world will change, but not that much.

Btw we’ve chosen to promote your son to MLSnext now. Your club will give you the details.

[Guest]

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U12 already plays 9 v 9. I don’t get it.

Correct! As coach, I run a 3-1-3-1 when I’m ahead. Having the CDM has been really helpful in preventing keeper punts from getting too far into our territory. Start of the game or if we need goals, we go to 3-3-2 for the extra striker. I keep my strongest players in the middle so they can help cover for some of the newer players on the sides

[Guest]

Correct! As coach, I run a 3-1-3-1 when I’m ahead. Having the CDM has been really helpful in preventing keeper punts from getting too far into our territory. Start of the game or if we need goals, we go to 3-3-2 for the extra striker. I keep my strongest players in the middle so they can help cover for some of the newer players on the sides

Why? Weakest players should play where they are most likely to be successful. Most players have an aspect of the games they excel at, but you need to commit to helping them find it. Most 11 vs 11 youth teams play a 4-3-3 to start. A good way to play 9 vs 9 to prep for that is a 2-5-1. The roles and responsibilities of the 4 5, 6, 8, 9, & 10 are pretty consistent, with the 7 & 11 playing a mid role, realistically covering both 2 & 7 and 3 & 11. Going this route will prepare your players for a fairly easy transition into the 11 vs 11 game. What I've also noticed is that the 2/7 and 3/11 roles are quite similar as well, and if you teach tactically, you can train in those overlapping runs earlier, and have players ready to fill both roles, switch positions on the fly, and all of that.

[Guest]

Why? Weakest players should play where they are most likely to be successful. Most players have an aspect of the games they excel at, but you need to commit to helping them find it. Most 11 vs 11 youth teams play a 4-3-3 to start. A good way to play 9 vs 9 to prep for that is a 2-5-1. The roles and responsibilities of the 4 5, 6, 8, 9, & 10 are pretty consistent, with the 7 & 11 playing a mid role, realistically covering both 2 & 7 and 3 & 11. Going this route will prepare your players for a fairly easy transition into the 11 vs 11 game. What I've also noticed is that the 2/7 and 3/11 roles are quite similar as well, and if you teach tactically, you can train in those overlapping runs earlier, and have players ready to fill both roles, switch positions on the fly, and all of that.

I've used various formations and almost always settled on a 3-3-2 as my base formation. I like this as it offers flexibility to move and flex players depending on their skill, game IQ, and the game situation. For example, my current team I'm training the weak side defender to push into the MF line and wingers up to the forward line when attacking, leading to a 2-4-2 in the middle of the field and 2-2-4 in the attacking 3rd. Last year my 9v9 team wasn't as strong so we kept this formation pretty much as is, trying to catch a quick counter with the 2 forwards. I tend to put my weaker players out and up, leaning on the central players to control the game as much as possible.

[Guest]

I've used various formations and almost always settled on a 3-3-2 as my base formation. I like this as it offers flexibility to move and flex players depending on their skill, game IQ, and the game situation. For example, my current team I'm training the weak side defender to push into the MF line and wingers up to the forward line when attacking, leading to a 2-4-2 in the middle of the field and 2-2-4 in the attacking 3rd. Last year my 9v9 team wasn't as strong so we kept this formation pretty much as is, trying to catch a quick counter with the 2 forwards. I tend to put my weaker players out and up, leaning on the central players to control the game as much as possible.

All of us over here went through the transition to 9s last year and had two seasons to try both 3:3:2 and 3:1:3:1 with two relatively different sets of girls. 3:1:3:1 was good for a team that was relatively more athletic and better all around — I could easily hide players on the wings because they were fast. Sometimes they’d miss the transitions but I’d still have about 4-5 players +GK back to defend. 3:3:2 was the better fit for a very inexperienced group that was still trying to maintain sides and shapes. Again, easier to hide players at left mid or left striker too as long as the spine is strong. I’ve probably said it before but the most notable change I saw from 7s is the relative lack of possession play — feels like 50/50s all day while a lot of attacking players that were trained to attack from the build out get caught out of position all the time when the goalie kicks it past them. Keep in mind there’s a big difference in age here. I had mixed teams of almost 10yos against almost 12yos, which can naturally lead to some big differences in boot power. I think that’s why some teams I saw were way more comfortable with chasing down a 40 yard gk punt than building out.

[Guest]

U12 already plays 9 v 9. I don’t get it.

Yes, because it wouldn't be a 2012 team, it would be a U13 team composed if kids born between August 1, 2011 and July 31, 2012. My daughter is a 2011, too, also on a 2011 ECNL team. My daughter's birthday is January, so she would stay on the same team, and I just checked the roster: only 3 of 25 players were born between Aug1-Dec31, and only one of those ever actually plays with the team (the other two just join trainings but play with the ECNL-RL team). At the top level, I don't think this is going to impact very many kids in the way it will affect yours. On the plus side for you, your kid will go from being one of the youngest to one of the oldest on their team. On the minus side for some of the current older kids, they'll no longer be the oldest once they inherit Fall/Winter babies into their teams. Icoach a mid-level travel team. I did 3-3-2 for my group when they moved up to 9v9. It was easy for them to learn as they got used to more players on the field, and pretty safe defensively. The three at the back learned quickly to work as a unit and I think it would have been tough with just 2 back there. The two wing players in the middle three were free to move as far up the field as they wanted but also understood that they needed to get back on defense. In the fall season I instructed the two at the top to stay in the opponent's half of the field - this helped them get a better sense of spacing, and then in the spring I gave them more freedom to have one player come closer to the action in our own half. I think it was the right place to start for them. This fall I'm planning to try a 3-2-3 to give us a little more offensive power - I think the players are ready now to manage when to keep the three up front and when to drop back.

[Guest]

I am pissed! I also have a Dec ‘15 baby and she’s playing her 2nd year in a 10U division. If this changes to more of the school year would she play in 10U again next fall or essentially start off in 12U in the 2nd year? She plays AYSO and has had 5 of the same kids on the team for 4 years now and they’ll be so sad having to split up.

[Guest]

I am pissed! I also have a Dec ‘15 baby and she’s playing her 2nd year in a 10U division. If this changes to more of the school year would she play in 10U again next fall or essentially start off in 12U in the 2nd year? She plays AYSO and has had 5 of the same kids on the team for 4 years now and they’ll be so sad having to split up.

What about kids that were redshirted, not for sports but for social/academic issues. He's be fine athletically, but the 8th grade/12th grade would be an issue. #MentalHealth! He'll be playing with 8th graders as a 7th grader, but in 8th grade, he won't have a team because his birthdate is for the high school team? And then when he's a senior, he won't be able to play soccer at all because his age making him too old? This could happen to my son. He has a July 11 birthdate.

[Guest]

As a parent of a December kid, I hope it doesn’t change. Keeping it by birth year makes for easy grouping. Going by grade year is still separating by 365 days, but some schools have different dates as cutoff for their grades. It would make it harder to verify proper age groupings at tournaments and for travel teams. Your proof is a kids report card; which brings in the concern an out kids who were held back or even advanced school years. Going by year is pretty much fool proof.

[Guest]

Yes you can keep your birthdate.

Wouldn't you want your December kid to be one of the older kids versus the youngest kid? The proof would still be birth certificate, it would just start the "year" in August instead of January