Youth soccer age change

[Guest]

Only going to be a handful of kids. The ones that fall in the differences between public/private school cut offs. Case by case .

it’s not gonna be case by case. The date ranges and cut offs will move. They aren’t going to actual grade , so private or public won’t factor in. Just the new cut off.

the playing up idea doesn’t make sense either. Basically everyone will be regrouped with the new cutoff.

[Guest]

i don't see how makes sense to relegate a kid to play with kids predominantly in the lower grade , especially with an August/September birthday, who started school on time, is in the appropriate school grade year. This will have an negative impact on a high level player when it comes time for college recruitment.

[Guest]

The current birth year method kids could have "trapped" players play up with their class mates if they wanted to as well. its no different with the proposed change. All this is doing is switching which kids are affected from OCT, NOV, DEC birth months to now AUG, SEPT birth month kids.

[Guest]

You’re looking at it wrong. The reason they are changing is a mystery to us all. But the fact is they most likely are switching back to the pre 2017 system. Yes, there will be trapped players when they get in 8th grade if they fall into those dates. But the new dates for each “grade or “age group” will be what they are and everyone will fall in line.

[Guest]

what am I seeing incorrectly? My kid has been playing with his grade since u8. August birthday. When the cutoff changes, unless they are allowed to "play up" and stay with their own school grade , he will now play with kids predominantly a grade year lower? It's changed the group of trapped kids from October-December to just August - September in NJ.

[Guest]

what am I seeing incorrectly? My kid has been playing with his grade since u8. August birthday. When the cutoff changes, unless they are allowed to "play up" and stay with their own school grade , he will now play with kids predominantly a grade year lower? It's changed the group of trapped kids from October-December to just August - September in NJ.

Yea he will now fall into a different group due to the age change

[Guest]

it fixed the current trapped kids, allowing them to play with their current school grade classmates, but created a new group that's being forced to play with kids in a younger grade. Aside from the re-classing issue, it seems using the school grade year makes the most sense in eliminating trapped kids. It's funny parents are red-shirting their kids for an advantage in youth sports.

[Guest]

a ton. there are 250 pages explaining this on the Massachusetts board.

- you are already allowed to have some trapped players "play down." Jamming more players onto the team below isnt a good answer.
- Aside the impact from a 1 time change, there is zero reason why birth year makes any sense. "everyone else does BY" was never a good reason and turns out its not even true.
- The social construct in this country revolves around schools. Playing with friends keeps kids in the sport, especially during the major fall out years.
- this isn't just about 8th grade. Its also about the entry point for soccer, the recruiting years and the U19 senior year.
- moving to school year is not license for unlimited reclasses and kids driving to U13 games. There will still be date cutoffs.

Almost everyone's view on this board is entirely self-interest driven towards whatever is best for their kid. I get it. This cuts both ways with me. I have one kid that will probably be put at a pretty big disadvantage. I have another that is trapped that will be really upset, but will probably be better off for it. I have come to the conclusion that this is the right thing to do for soccer.

No, you won't have u13s driving to games but you will have 15 year olds playing against u12 thru u14 depending on how many times they reclass before HS. While in HS playing against players a few years older is normal in club it is not. In NJ, a HS player cannot turn 19 before Sept 1st but can after and still be eligible for that year and a freshman cannot be 16 before Sept 1 or they lose that year of eligibility. I know plenty of girls who stayed in 8th grade for an extra year or 2, and 1 that stayed for 3, for basketball just so they could be the best or at the very least better players when it came time for recruitment.

Again though, every state is different except for 1 thing which is birth year, which is why it made more sense.

[Guest]

what am I seeing incorrectly? My kid has been playing with his grade since u8. August birthday. When the cutoff changes, unless they are allowed to "play up" and stay with their own school grade , he will now play with kids predominantly a grade year lower? It's changed the group of trapped kids from October-December to just August - September in NJ.

Right. So he will be part of the handful of kids who are now playing with a grade lower and it’s up to the parents/clubs to find the right fit for him. Case by case. With the School year model, there are less trapped kids and more kids playing with their same grade level

[Guest]

Yes, it’s not a bad thing ! You always want to be the oldest in your group. Teams in other countries don’t even allow kids in the younger months to try out for their national teams because they want the older more mature kids.

[Guest]

it’s not gonna be case by case. The date ranges and cut offs will move. They aren’t going to actual grade , so private or public won’t factor in. Just the new cut off.

the playing up idea doesn’t make sense either. Basically everyone will be regrouped with the new cutoff.

Incredible to see how many people truly don’t understand this. You are going to have kids who miss the SOCCER cutoff and are now forced to play with a team made up of kids in the lower grade. Those kids will either “play up”, join their new team willingly or find a new club/better situation for them. With the switch to school year, there are less trapped players. Instead of having a team that is half 6th graders and half 7th graders. You will have a team full of 6th graders with maybe 1 7th grader who is probably being kept there because that is the proper level for them or because they have parents that want them to be the oldest/potentially most dominant kid on the team. The soccer cutoff is the official cutoff but then the clubs will factor in grade level for the month worth of kids that are caught in between

[Guest]

No, you won't have u13s driving to games but you will have 15 year olds playing against u12 thru u14 depending on how many times they reclass before HS. While in HS playing against players a few years older is normal in club it is not. In NJ, a HS player cannot turn 19 before Sept 1st but can after and still be eligible for that year and a freshman cannot be 16 before Sept 1 or they lose that year of eligibility. I know plenty of girls who stayed in 8th grade for an extra year or 2, and 1 that stayed for 3, for basketball just so they could be the best or at the very least better players when it came time for recruitment.

Again though, every state is different except for 1 thing which is birth year, which is why it made more sense.

15 year olds will not be playing U12 or even U14. There will still be a cutoff of either Aug 1 or Sept 1. Not a hard concept to grasp, yet so many morons on this site keep bellowing on about relassing and kids several years older. A true grade year is not on the table.

[Guest]

Every club will have different amount of kids in each age group moving around. You’re making this too complicated. Btw non of us changed the rule we are just stuck with what they decide. If everyone plays according to the new date ranges it will eventually even out. All of you soccer parents are obsessed with “playing up” . Every other sport wants to be the oldest most mature player amongst their peers. There are schools specifically for this now.

[Guest]

People seriously keep their kids back multiple years so they can be the oldest/best player on their team? Sheesh. Guess it makes sense that it's basketball parents and players doing it.

[Guest]

when "playing up" means playing with your own grade, that's not an ego thing. You obviously dont have a kid who will be affected by the change!