US soccer age change

[Guest]

All this won’t change top rosters much. Maybe a few kids who ride the bench on a top team will be starters on a younger team… but that is about it.

MLSN already allows for bio banding and ECNL has a trapped player program. Also- both leagues have handled this at u19 level which benefits the older kids (previously trapped at u15).

personally I would like to ECNL go the way of MlsN and not allow high school soccer. B/c I think that does far more damage to the girls than 2 months of playing with a younger team at u15.

Girls side can't afford or even get away with not allowing HS soccer. Boys have a direct pro pathway with kids as young as 14 getting home grown contracts. Girls don't have that so their is 0 reason for them to do it.

[Guest]

All this won’t change top rosters much. Maybe a few kids who ride the bench on a top team will be starters on a younger team… but that is about it.

MLSN already allows for bio banding and ECNL has a trapped player program. Also- both leagues have handled this at u19 level which benefits the older kids (previously trapped at u15).

personally I would like to ECNL go the way of MlsN and not allow high school soccer. B/c I think that does far more damage to the girls than 2 months of playing with a younger team at u15.

I actually think it wont just be shifts in teams that you see, rather a lot of movement between clubs. ID clinics, Open tryouts and guest players at practices in the Spring will be disruptive. For no other reason, you are going to have clubs where there are different numbers of trapped players moving down between current teams. There are tons of Q4 kids that play at lower level clubs that will look to move up. Club loyalty to kids and kids loyalty to clubs will get tested. It will be a mess. That being said, its the right thing to do to clean up the mess the BY has created.

[Guest]

When will this be decided or announced?

[Guest]

When will this be decided or announced?

November

[Guest]

November

I am really hoping this happens. I have a december child. Always the Youngest .. probably would do better playing with kids in her grade.

[Guest]

I actually think it wont just be shifts in teams that you see, rather a lot of movement between clubs. ID clinics, Open tryouts and guest players at practices in the Spring will be disruptive. For no other reason, you are going to have clubs where there are different numbers of trapped players moving down between current teams. There are tons of Q4 kids that play at lower level clubs that will look to move up. Club loyalty to kids and kids loyalty to clubs will get tested. It will be a mess. That being said, its the right thing to do to clean up the mess the BY has created.

There was a ton of movement the first time which caused a lot of problems and headaches for players, parents, coaches, and clubs. I fail to see how going back actually "fixes" anything as you still had players born between Aug-Oct who would be "trapped" as they would start HS a year sooner and graduate a year before the rest of the team just as those born Oct-Dec do now. Unless they are changing to graduation year the change will always have players that are "trapped". The change was also done for the boys side as no one cares enough about the girls side for it to solely change anything.

[Guest]

There was a ton of movement the first time which caused a lot of problems and headaches for players, parents, coaches, and clubs. I fail to see how going back actually "fixes" anything as you still had players born between Aug-Oct who would be "trapped" as they would start HS a year sooner and graduate a year before the rest of the team just as those born Oct-Dec do now. Unless they are changing to graduation year the change will always have players that are "trapped". The change was also done for the boys side as no one cares enough about the girls side for it to solely change anything.

Going back will fix 99% of the trapped player issue for 8th/9th and 11/12th grade. I don’t care one way or the other but when people give the birth year it’s what the other countries do that’s just a terrible argument. Not only is it false but until we start offering the majority of kids free subsidized high level soccer programs it doesn’t make sense. That’s why many countries are great they offer low cost high quality programs and biobanding for smaller kids to develop.

[Guest]

makes no sense - parents are gonna hold back their kids in school for an edge in soccer if we move back to school year
seems to me injuries are gonna skyrocket because there will be 16 year olds playing U13 etc. etc.

This is what I'm talking about. Parents are having kids do grade levels twice to hold them back for sports. Its nuts.

[Guest]

Parents is PA hold kids back all the time for sports. Its insane here.

[Guest]

Is this definitely happening or just a rumor?

[Guest]

This is what I'm talking about. Parents are having kids do grade levels twice to hold them back for sports. It’s nuts.

The divisions are still by birth year running from August to July birth year instead of calendar year. So that 16u 8th grader would still play with 16u.

US soccer decides if it happens.

[Guest]

The divisions are still by birth year running from August to July birth year instead of calendar year. So that 16u 8th grader would still play with 16u.

US soccer decides if it happens.

TBH, I don’t think the federation really has a ton of influence. If US Club and USYS decide it’s happening, thats kind of it. The rest of the youth organizations are small and US Soccer/USSF can’t stop anything, nor should they really care.

[Guest]

TBH, I don’t think the federation really has a ton of influence. If US Club and USYS decide it’s happening, thats kind of it. The rest of the youth organizations are small and US Soccer/USSF can’t stop anything, nor should they really care.

Usys doesn’t want it to happen so it’s not happening

[Guest]

The divisions are still by birth year running from August to July birth year instead of calendar year. So that 16u 8th grader would still play with 16u.

US soccer decides if it happens.

But the school cutoff dates are not uniform, so there will still be trapped players.

[Guest]

But the school cutoff dates are not uniform, so there will still be trapped players.

you are mis-understanding what "trapped" means. There is nothing preventing kids from playing with their grade, even if they are younger. Being "trapped" is when you CANT play with your grade