Another calender year thread.

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They I hope US Soccer just gets rid of the U-whatever altogether like hockey did a few years ago.

This just makes the most sense. Drop the uXX and just call it exactly what it is 02, 03, etc.

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Not all 2002s are in HS next year - if you're Aug-Dec you're in 8th grade next year. That's nearly half the players.

The point still stands as when the kids were 7th graders they were playing middle school ball against 7th and 8th graders, meaning that they were playing with kids that were up to 11 months older than the ones currently on their club teams. The US Soccer mandate has them playing kids only up to 7 months older than the ones on their current club teams.

[Unregistered]

There has been a lot on this topic already, but in the next week or so is where the rubber meets the road. I have noticed a couple of clubs are taking there U13 teams and moving them to U15 calendar year, essentially skipping U14 to keep the team together. Is your son/daughter skipping a year to move up with the team or are they staying "down" with there calendar year team.

My U11 daughters team (04's and 05's all 5th graders) is disbanding. The 04's including my daughter will be changing clubs and going to U13 next year and the 05's will play as U12 also at other clubs. Team coaches discussed staying together and playing up, but there were many more 05's than 04's and it wasn't fair to make all of them skip U12 where they still play 9v9. Small club, so not enough numbers to make it work.

South Shore Select (not our club) is moving all current U12 and younger players to the birth year team in the fall and giving current U13 and older players the chance to play up as required so existing teams can stay together. It's published in their info packet.

[Unregistered]

My U11 daughters team (04's and 05's all 5th graders) is disbanding. The 04's including my daughter will be changing clubs and going to U13 next year and the 05's will play as U12 also at other clubs. Team coaches discussed staying together and playing up, but there were many more 05's than 04's and it wasn't fair to make all of them skip U12 where they still play 9v9. Small club, so not enough numbers to make it work.

South Shore Select (not our club) is moving all current U12 and younger players to the birth year team in the fall and giving current U13 and older players the chance to play up as required so existing teams can stay together. It's published in their info packet.

Just curious.. are all the 04's on your daughter's team going together to the same new club? And if so,do they know they will be guaranteed to be placed together? My daughter is also from a small club. They are planning to have teams at each age group next year but I guess we will see at try outs...

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Just curious.. are all the 04's on your daughter's team going together to the same new club? And if so,do they know they will be guaranteed to be placed together? My daughter is also from a small club. They are planning to have teams at each age group next year but I guess we will see at try outs...

Not sure what club yet. There's only three 04's on the current team and a difference of opinion among players and parents as to where they want to go based on prior tryout experience and some guest practices so far. Tryouts next week among a couple clubs under consideration at the same date/time so we have to take our chance and only go to one tryout for each or pick one first choice club before tryouts and just go there and hope for the best. We have not been promised any guarantees on team placement or staying together. I've heard the 05's are also in a similar situation.

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Not sure what club yet. There's only three 04's on the current team and a difference of opinion among players and parents as to where they want to go based on prior tryout experience and some guest practices so far. Tryouts next week among a couple clubs under consideration at the same date/time so we have to take our chance and only go to one tryout for each or pick one first choice club before tryouts and just go there and hope for the best. We have not been promised any guarantees on team placement or staying together. I've heard the 05's are also in a similar situation.

The whole thing is kind of a bummer. My daughter is on an 03/04 team now. She is actually an 04 and similar to you they only had 3 03's on the current team. So she's in a pretty good spot but we just feel bad that the team will most likely be broken up. The majority of them have been together at least 3 years and they have been playing well together. Oh well..if this is the hardest thing they have to deal with I will count our blessings!

Best of luck to your daughter and her teammates! Hope it all works out for the best.

[Unregistered]

The whole thing is kind of a bummer. My daughter is on an 03/04 team now. She is actually an 04 and similar to you they only had 3 03's on the current team. So she's in a pretty good spot but we just feel bad that the team will most likely be broken up. The majority of them have been together at least 3 years and they have been playing well together. Oh well..if this is the hardest thing they have to deal with I will count our blessings!

Best of luck to your daughter and her teammates! Hope it all works out for the best.

Same. Breaking up after 3+ years together is a bummer. Cost and convenience of current club were fantastic. All the new club options are further away and more money. Agreed, in the grand scheme of things this is trivial at best.

[Unregistered]

This just makes the most sense. Drop the uXX and just call it exactly what it is 02, 03, etc.

Agreed - The Uxx designation is a large part of making people crazy.

[Unregistered]

Agreed - The Uxx designation is a large part of making people crazy.

You need Uxx designations because the rulebooks have to use something other than birth year otherwise they would need to be re-written every year. Plus all international youth competitions continue to use the Uxx designation.

[Unregistered]

To make this simpler, the team that is currently U13 that will be U15 next year is only facing players up to 7 months older than they are currently facing. In all but the top tiers of soccer where teams are stuffed with the very oldest kids possible this isn't going to be a big deal.

Besides, those 2002's are going to be high school where they are facing players up to three years older than them so the 7 month jump in club play is almost nothing compared to that.

No u 13 will be u 14. The Change is August to dec 02 birth kids have to play u 15. Not a big deal.

[Unregistered]

No u 13 will be u 14. The Change is August to dec 02 birth kids have to play u 15. Not a big deal.

Except that those kids basically have no team to play on in the fall. Moving the line in the sand isn't a big deal - it's just a different set of 12 months. But the issue of trapped kids still hasn't gone away and no one seems to be offering solutions. At least most leagues seem to be doing a U18/19 group so the seniors caught have teams to play on. My son's 03 team has a few 02 kids caught in this mess. Club has offered that they can train with the 03s while HS is running but obviously they can't play games. Leagues should give 8th graders in this trap an exemption for the fall. Then when hs is over the younger 02s move onto the full 02 squad.