ECNL Girls playing up a year

[Guest]

Bio banding is absolutely plausible and happening in Europe. It's another reason why Europeans have passed U.S. women's soccer. U.S. youth clubs tend to use size as a competative advantage to win now and increase ranking to recruit. The reality is, size is not a reliable factor in talent identification especially when it is attributable to early growth. Most of the "big girls" I have seen dominating at younger ages fizzle out by U13-U14 when the girls with skill, touch, IQ, catch up in the growth department.

Something that has been in use for such a short period isn't amongst the reasoning that can be applied to justify why you think Europeans have passed US women's soccer.

[Guest]

Bio banding is absolutely plausible and happening in Europe. It's another reason why Europeans have passed U.S. women's soccer. U.S. youth clubs tend to use size as a competative advantage to win now and increase ranking to recruit. The reality is, size is not a reliable factor in talent identification especially when it is attributable to early growth. Most of the "big girls" I have seen dominating at younger ages fizzle out by U13-U14 when the girls with skill, touch, IQ, catch up in the growth department.

Tell us again how this is going to benefit the girls?

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/202...lented-players

Furthermore, even though it was discovered that girls are maturing quicker than boys, the girls academies had far more late developers than on the boy’s side. “That’s something that we’re working with our expert group here and our expert panels across the world,” Bunce said. “We are used to seeing youth sport rosters dominated by early maturing players so to see the complete opposite on the girls program is fascinating and also begs a lot of questions that we will continue to dig deeper to find the answers for.”

[Guest]

Tell us again how this is going to benefit the girls?

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/202...lented-players

Furthermore, even though it was discovered that girls are maturing quicker than boys, the girls academies had far more late developers than on the boy’s side. “That’s something that we’re working with our expert group here and our expert panels across the world,” Bunce said. “We are used to seeing youth sport rosters dominated by early maturing players so to see the complete opposite on the girls program is fascinating and also begs a lot of questions that we will continue to dig deeper to find the answers for.”

Bio-banding is a abuot as ridiciulously woke as you can get when it comes to youth sports. My son is smaller and weaker than others his age so he should get to play with younger boys...what a crock of bs. Sorry, but some kids are bigger and stronger than others, that is life. Some kids develop later than others and some don't develop at all. If your kid is small he'll have to work harder, but that doesn't mean he should take the easy way out by playing down an age. No one talks about taking IQ or maturity tests and forming teams by those metrics but all the parents with smaller/weaker kids love to blame that lack of size. Give up the excuses and just play with kids your age.

[Guest]

Bio-banding is a abuot as ridiciulously woke as you can get when it comes to youth sports. My son is smaller and weaker than others his age so he should get to play with younger boys...what a crock of bs. Sorry, but some kids are bigger and stronger than others, that is life. Some kids develop later than others and some don't develop at all. If your kid is small he'll have to work harder, but that doesn't mean he should take the easy way out by playing down an age. No one talks about taking IQ or maturity tests and forming teams by those metrics but all the parents with smaller/weaker kids love to blame that lack of size. Give up the excuses and just play with kids your age.

How do you even measure maturity? Granted they don't mean mentally but physically but even then I call bs. Everyone is unique.

Have seen what one would call "slow"/"smaller" players dominate games by putting themselves in the right position all game long/using soccer smarts and not some over the top physical abilities.

[Guest]

Bio-banding is a abuot as ridiciulously woke as you can get when it comes to youth sports. My son is smaller and weaker than others his age so he should get to play with younger boys...what a crock of bs. Sorry, but some kids are bigger and stronger than others, that is life. Some kids develop later than others and some don't develop at all. If your kid is small he'll have to work harder, but that doesn't mean he should take the easy way out by playing down an age. No one talks about taking IQ or maturity tests and forming teams by those metrics but all the parents with smaller/weaker kids love to blame that lack of size. Give up the excuses and just play with kids your age.

AJAX has been tracking biological age and making adjustments in their player analysis for decades. This is not a woke concept and nothing new in Europe. You might want to educate yourself on player development and how clubs with a track record of doing so operate before claiming parents of weaker/smaller kids are just making excuses.

[Guest]

How do you even measure maturity? Granted they don't mean mentally but physically but even then I call bs. Everyone is unique.

Have seen what one would call "slow"/"smaller" players dominate games by putting themselves in the right position all game long/using soccer smarts and not some over the top physical abilities.

There is a way to measure "bone age". They do this with small kids to see if they have actual growth issues (and therefore might benefit from growth hormone treatment) vs. simply being slow developers and will likely grow later. My younger D was very small for a long time, she underwent this test and was determined to be a slow-grower (her bone age was 2 years younger than her actual age), and it tracked pretty accurately until she was 2 years past puberty.

[Guest]

There is a way to measure "bone age". They do this with small kids to see if they have actual growth issues (and therefore might benefit from growth hormone treatment) vs. simply being slow developers and will likely grow later. My younger D was very small for a long time, she underwent this test and was determined to be a slow-grower (her bone age was 2 years younger than her actual age), and it tracked pretty accurately until she was 2 years past puberty.

but according to ******* dad above, you are just making excuses for your D. She should just play her age and there should be no thought given to her biological age, if shes not good enough cut her... and we wonder why talent gets missed.

[Guest]

but according to ******* dad above, you are just making excuses for your D. She should just play her age and there should be no thought given to her biological age, if shes not good enough cut her... and we wonder why talent gets missed.

but in NJ, the way it currently works is the big kid who is dominating at their age, because biologically they are 1-2 years older, is looked at as the clubs crowned jewel. Clubs cater to these kids and develop them more than the small weak kids which is a fundemental issue in the way the system is currently functioning. The reality is the early bloomer will not be the best once the others catch their biological age.

[Guest]

Something that has been in use for such a short period isn't amongst the reasoning that can be applied to justify why you think Europeans have passed US women's soccer.

Biological age is a concept which has been used in europe for decades. Read more.

[Guest]

This is just a ton of bulls@#t especially in the sport of soccer. Messi was tiny - even had to be on HGH to increase stature size. But was his stature ever used to gain him special treatment? NO. Soccer is the rare sport, where your footskills, speed matter - size is secondary especially for field players. Infact I can argue that it is harder to be playing this sport if you are that tall, lanky kid, who keeps growing and loses touch with his/her stride and footskills. Shorter stature is an advantage in this sport especially in the younger years

[Guest]

This is just a ton of bulls@#t especially in the sport of soccer. Messi was tiny - even had to be on HGH to increase stature size. But was his stature ever used to gain him special treatment? NO. Soccer is the rare sport, where your footskills, speed matter - size is secondary especially for field players. Infact I can argue that it is harder to be playing this sport if you are that tall, lanky kid, who keeps growing and loses touch with his/her stride and footskills. Shorter stature is an advantage in this sport especially in the younger years

This and most girls are done growing by 14. If your D has started playing ECNL already, she's 12 (or close to 12), so she is going to grow 1-4 inches based on her growth curve and on when puberty started.

[Guest]

This and most girls are done growing by 14. If your D has started playing ECNL already, she's 12 (or close to 12), so she is going to grow 1-4 inches based on her growth curve and on when puberty started.

My D grew 5 inches between the start of 9th grade and graduation. Late bloomer for sure.

[Guest]

This is just a ton of bulls@#t especially in the sport of soccer. Messi was tiny - even had to be on HGH to increase stature size. But was his stature ever used to gain him special treatment? NO. Soccer is the rare sport, where your footskills, speed matter - size is secondary especially for field players. Infact I can argue that it is harder to be playing this sport if you are that tall, lanky kid, who keeps growing and loses touch with his/her stride and footskills. Shorter stature is an advantage in this sport especially in the younger years

Do you live in Argentina? No, you live in the US. Size does matter where you live. How many girls under 5 foot 4 are on the Uswnt? Maybe 1. Love when parents use Messi as their logic but don’t look at the majority of US women players. To make the analysis easier just open your eyes and look around your club.

[Guest]

“The average height of a professional soccer player in top leagues ranges from 5'11” to 6'0″, while the average height of a female soccer player is around 5'5″ to 5'7″.”

[Guest]

“The average height of a professional soccer player in top leagues ranges from 5'11” to 6'0″, while the average height of a female soccer player is around 5'5″ to 5'7″.”

So based on this back of the envelope analysis, when compared to US standards, size does matter to some extent. Most male professionals are taller than the average American man. Most women professionals are slightly above the average height of an American women.