ECNL wants to switch back to school year from birth year

[Guest]

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

Oh I see what you mean. What about the ones in their senior year but held back or Aug birthdays, will they still be allowed on U18?

U15 = freshmen
U16 = sophomores
u17 = juniors
u18 = seniors

There will be no U19

Someone correct me if I'm wrong please?

[Guest]

It’s a conspiracy, I don’t like it. My son is an August birthday but we decided in Kindergarten that he was ready for first grade. He is one of the youngest in his grade so it would put him at a disadvantage. He’s still fourteen while some kids are sixteen. Unselfishly, I still don’t like it. If the change happens, – similar to hockey and lacrosse – parents will hold back their child. This will happen much more often. This is the scenario where youth sportstrumps academics. Also, each State has its own cutoff. For example, some States use September 1st as their cutoff while others use January 1st. This matters.Lastly, the current is working. I think it levels out the playing field a little more. It aligns with our U.S. Youth National teams. I think we have a system that works. Sure, there are trapped players but there are options for a small percentage of them. By organizing athletes within the same birth year, there’s less swings in growth, maturity, and development.

[Guest]

It’s a conspiracy, I don’t like it. My son is an August birthday but we decided in Kindergarten that he was ready for first grade. He is one of the youngest in his grade so it would put him at a disadvantage. He’s still fourteen while some kids are sixteen. Unselfishly, I still don’t like it. If the change happens, – similar to hockey and lacrosse – parents will hold back their child. This will happen much more often. This is the scenario where youth sportstrumps academics. Also, each State has its own cutoff. For example, some States use September 1st as their cutoff while others use January 1st. This matters.Lastly, the current is working. I think it levels out the playing field a little more. It aligns with our U.S. Youth National teams. I think we have a system that works. Sure, there are trapped players but there are options for a small percentage of them. By organizing athletes within the same birth year, there’s less swings in growth, maturity, and development.

What is the conspiracy Marjorie Taylor Greene? It’s birth year all the way. It is logic. I see three scenarios - 1) we play the final early, 2) the ECNL team is not announced until after the NPL tryouts, or 3) nothing changes, the ECNL roster is announced 48 hours after tryouts, and we finish out the year training for week after that and playing in the League Cup Final. If your daughter is not selected for the ECNL roster, there is a chance that some (or all) may want to just be done for the year. I would completely understand that and respect any decision made. If that somehow leaves us short for the final, don’t sweat it. If turnover is great, and we end up not having enough interest to even field a team for the final, don’t worry about it. Honestly. I’m telling you right now, in advance, you’re not leaving the team hanging and there will be absolutely zero ill-will from me. If we need to fill the roster with 2010s, we’ll do it. If we can’t fill the roster, we’ll forfeit. The game is meaningless to me when measured up against the girls’ feelings. All I ask is that you mark availability in BYGA so plans can be made. You see how this **** all points back to parents needing to be informed about the choices we make for our children (or daughters in this case) and doing the necessary research. Although ECNL seems like it can be an amazing opportunity for girls, there are also many different amazing opportunities from great non-ECNL clubs. ECNL is not the only way to get a college scholarship and can be cost prohibitive for many families due to the extensive travel. Obviously the needs and desires of each child and family differ and what is right for your child may be different than what is right for mine. The good news is there are plenty of great choices…

[Guest]

Let me ask you this; how does birth year accomplish the following ECNL goals?

1. increase the frequency with which the top players in the country have the opportunity to compete against each other;
2. decrease the number of uncompetitive games for the top players in the country so that these players can train more frequently;
3. increase the collegiate recruiting exposure for top players;
4. provide an alternative identification program for these players to be identified for US Soccer Youth National Teams.

[Guest]

Even with the change you will still have trapped players because the cut off month can vary from state to state or even cities. I assume that is the main reason for the change. I prefer birth year, but I really don't care at the end of the day. At my kids age even those born in the later months could technically just "play up" and stay with the team. Also if the skill and physical development isn't there for those born in the later months it may be a good opportunity to play their new age group.

Did Trump appoint Barry Ritson as President, Development Player League?

[Guest]

Let me ask you this; how does birth year accomplish the following ECNL goals?

1. increase the frequency with which the top players in the country have the opportunity to compete against each other;
2. decrease the number of uncompetitive games for the top players in the country so that these players can train more frequently;
3. increase the collegiate recruiting exposure for top players;
4. provide an alternative identification program for these players to be identified for US Soccer Youth National Teams.

Why the proposed change?

Most of the world uses January 1 as the age cutoff for their youth soccer programs. So, if a kid is born in 2018, at any point in the year, they play youth soccer with kids also born in 2018.
It is a fairly simple system.

Yes, in any date specific system, there are older kids and younger kids - regardless of the cutoff date. Does that make a difference? Yes. There is no doubt that older kids have an advantage. They tend to be bigger, faster, more mature for their age, and this is particularly apparent at younger ages. A kid born on, and turning 9 on January 2 could be playing against a kid turning 9 on December 31. Of course the extra year of growth and maturity matters. But — you will have that regardless of what cutoff date is chosen if you divide things by birth year. If you make your new date cutoff August 1, then a kid born on August 2 will be a year older than kids born on July 31.

Why care then? If you divide kids up in one year increments, does it make a difference what date is chosen as the dividing date? Some kids will benefit and some will be hurt.

You care because of the US soccer system. The huge elephant in the room is college soccer, and to a lesser extent, high school soccer. We play school soccer in the US in a way that no other country does in the world.

Last year, 467,483 boys and 383,895 girls played high school soccer. No other country in the world has anywhere close to those numbers of kids playing school soccer. Those teams are not formed based on age, but by school grade. (Those numbers do not include middle school programs.)

At our higher levels of youth soccer the focus shifts to playing in college. Yes, certainly, as many as 30-40 kids a year look to try their hand at going pro and not play in college, but 3,000 or so look to play in one of the hundreds of college soccer programs that we have in the US. Again, no other country has anything like our college soccer programs.

Those several hundred teams look to get players graduating from high schools in the Spring of their Senior years, and start College a few months later. Those school start and end dates have no relationship to January 1. But, school start and end dates are the key dates for thousands of American youth soccer players.

Simply put - college coaches don’t give a rats ass how old a kid is on January 1 that they are looking to recruit. They want to know when will you graduate high school and can start their college program.

Will it make things harder to put together a youth national team? Yes. Your top u16s more than likely will be born within 3 months of the cutoff date. Oh well. Coaches looking to put together an international team will have to look at birthdates.

[Guest]

I don’t know gentleman and scary lady. My youngest has a 7/30 birthday so this would suck for him lol. More generally I think 7/1 would be more in line with the local school grade arrangement. But overall I think matching to school year is a more sensible and useful target than calendar year. So what the fixk? If they did something like offer half-year increments to reduce age discrepancies that would be a more meaningful change, particularly among younger ages. I see a lot of 6-8yos getting bounced around in a crowd of kids literally twice their size.

[Guest]

I don’t know gentleman and scary lady. My youngest has a 7/30 birthday so this would suck for him lol. More generally I think 7/1 would be more in line with the local school grade arrangement. But overall I think matching to school year is a more sensible and useful target than calendar year. So what the fixk? If they did something like offer half-year increments to reduce age discrepancies that would be a more meaningful change, particularly among younger ages. I see a lot of 6-8yos getting bounced around in a crowd of kids literally twice their size.

I went and looked it up and 25 states had an Aug 31 or Sept 1 cutoff. Only 7 had cutoffs of Aug 1 or 15 and around 12 had Sept 15, 30 or later (I think only Vermont) cutoffs. The rest unspecified. So I can see why Aug 1 is chosen. But there’s going to still be issues either way. They can’t please everyone.

[Guest]

Page #305! Congratulations Massachusetts Soccer Parents! Keep up the good work, only 1,000 pages to go.

[Guest]

How would the change to GY/July 31//Aug 31 impact ODP? Would ODP stay BY?

[Guest]

Page #305! Congratulations Massachusetts Soccer Parents! Keep up the good work, only 1,000 pages to go.

Not even halfway to the 2006 FC Bucks thread. Still have some work to do

[Guest]

Page #305! Congratulations Massachusetts Soccer Parents! Keep up the good work, only 1,000 pages to go.

This thread has been way beyond Mass. only for a while.

[Guest]

ODP is a dinosaur.

[Guest]

Sept 1 makes the most sense.

[Guest]

Should be noted that the state cut offs cited are usually minimum age to start kindergarten, not maximum. It's extrapolated that the maximum is a year from that, but summer kids have the option to do either. That shouldn't be considered "redshirting".