Shift to Jan. 1 cutoff next year or year after?

[Unregistered]

Thank you. It was known this would hurt a lot of girls but they should be happy they can sacrifice to help boys.

This is helping the Jan-Jul boys and girls equally to make the cut on club teams. The more of them there are doing well on club teams, the more of them there will be to choose from for the elite teams. The more years those same kids receive the elite team trainings the better the national teams will become.

The real sacrifice is coming from the Aug-Dec boys and girls equally. They will now have to rely more on their skills instead of size/strength/speed to find success. Many will do great. Some will not. Welcome to the world of the current Jan-Jul kids.

[Unregistered]

Break it up to monthly payments of $700 per month. Parent travel is another $40" on top of that. Not too bad.

$40" = $400/month

[Unregistered]

Again, if you are playing high level (ECNL) then you are not playing with many of your classmates anyway. Our team has a roster of 20+ and we only have 2 kids that go to same HS

Not talking about the ECNL kids - they don't care who they play with at that level - still most probably in the same GRADE! Also, there are many more rec and lower than ECNL level girls who would like to play with at least their GRADE (regardless of school). 9th grade HS girls don't really include 8th grade girls much, nor Middle school 6th graders to 5th grade elementary, etc. Even 7th grade girls mostly shun 6th graders, and 8th shun the 7th. Even if they don't go to the same school, girls tend to group by school age - especially in rec or non-premier soccer! They all have to change too!

[Unregistered]

This is helping the Jan-Jul boys and girls equally to make the cut on club teams. The more of them there are doing well on club teams, the more of them there will be to choose from for the elite teams. The more years those same kids receive the elite team trainings the better the national teams will become.

The real sacrifice is coming from the Aug-Dec boys and girls equally. They will now have to rely more on their skills instead of size/strength/speed to find success. Many will do great. Some will not. Welcome to the world of the current Jan-Jul kids.

Current Jan-July kids already make up the bulk of ODP/pdp/id2/U.S. training center players as it is. Now it's just that the Sept-Dec kids are given almost zero chance at being elite and the Jan- kids get twice the benefit. The Jan-July kids were already getting the big benefit when it matters - on elite teams/opportunities. It's not like role reversal where the Aug-Dec kids got all the cake and now the Jan-July kids get all the cake. It's that each group used to get 1/2 the cake (but Jan-July really got the better elite half) and now Jan-July get the entire cake!

[Unregistered]

More like 20%. I've been doing this a long time and there are scores of girls that stick with soccer for social reasons. Elite level players.

Mixing grade levels is never a good idea.

Agree. My girl kid is on a u13 team with all entering 7th graders. I know of a couple u14 teams that have a couple 9th graders with the rest 8th graders. The 9th graders are playing on age by choice - they could play for the u15 team if wanted. THEY ARENT FORCED TO PLAY WITH A DIFFERENT GRADE like 25% of kids will with the change to birth year.

[Unregistered]

Thank you. It was known this would hurt a lot of girls but they should be happy they can sacrifice to help boys.

Millions of girls pay fees to benefit boys. As it should be.

[Unregistered]

Current Jan-July kids already make up the bulk of ODP/pdp/id2/U.S. training center players as it is. Now it's just that the Sept-Dec kids are given almost zero chance at being elite and the Jan- kids get twice the benefit. The Jan-July kids were already getting the big benefit when it matters - on elite teams/opportunities. It's not like role reversal where the Aug-Dec kids got all the cake and now the Jan-July kids get all the cake. It's that each group used to get 1/2 the cake (but Jan-July really got the better elite half) and now Jan-July get the entire cake!

This just in! US Soccer has announced they are backing off their decision to play birth year in 2016 based on the Talking Soccer parents' rambling rants and declarations of unjust treatment.*

*not going to happen but why give up now...

[mollautt]

Aligning age cutoffs does curb the relative age effect. More Jan-Jul kids will be earning spots on club teams. This means there are more Jan-Jul kids who will try out for elite teams (RTC, ODP, ECNL) where more Jan-Jul kids are already being chosen. USSF can now focus more of their resources to develop more of the same kids throughout their soccer careers. Bigger pools of the players who've consistently made club, RTC, and ODP teams means more talented young adult players.

All of this comes at the expense of the Aug-Dec birth months. Relative age effect says there will be fewer of them making club and elite teams. It is what it is. Somebody has to get the short end of the stick. Having different age cutoffs to make it 'fair for everybody' ultimately waters down the pool of Jan-Jul kids for elite teams to choose from. It can never be fair for everybody and at the same time produce the best our nation can produce.

=>Exactly. The rationale for the change to calendar year was to eliminate the relative age effect, but it is does not eliminate that at all. It just shifts who gets the short end of the stick.

[Unregistered]

This just in! US Soccer has announced they are backing off their decision to play birth year in 2016 based on the Talking Soccer parents' rambling rants and declarations of unjust treatment.*

*not going to happen but why give up now...

It doesn't really matter. A few clubs in Washington have already made this change. I know our club will be making this change at U9-U12 starting at May tryouts

[Unregistered]

Millions of girls pay fees to benefit boys. As it should be.

You must be new here. That is exactly how it work

Shift to birth year is all about the boys side.

[Unregistered]

It doesn't really matter. A few clubs in Washington have already made this change. I know our club will be making this change at U9-U12 starting at May tryouts

Does your club only go to U12? Every club will be making this change at every age level next spring.

[Unregistered]

=>Exactly. The rationale for the change to calendar year was to eliminate the relative age effect, but it is does not eliminate that at all. It just shifts who gets the short end of the stick.

You're looking at it from the opposite angle ussf is looking at it. You're focusing on the kids it will hurt, while they're focusing on the kids it will help. The bottom line is this will create more young adults who've enjoyed more elite training than they're creating today. Relative age effect has been 'curbed', not eliminated for their purpose of creating a bigger pool of national team quality players.

If Jan-Jul kids are getting most of the elite roster spots, then they need more of them to choose from. To do this, they align the age cutoffs from top to bottom so Jan-Jul kids are consistently doing well in rec, which leads them to making the cut and receiving lots of playing time for club teams, which motivates them to seek out elite team opportunities.

Under the current system, the Aug-Dec kids take the place of many Jan-Jul kids at the club level. This limits the pool of JanJul kids . While this may be more fair, it actually limits the pool of Jan-Jul kids who will ultimately be making the elite teams. If they've already been weeded out of the club teams through relative age effect, then the Jan-Jul kids aren't there to even tryout for the elite teams. This effectively creates a 2 phase relative age effect filtering process. Aligning the age cutoffs drops it to a 1phase process thereby curbing its effect.

[Unregistered]

This just in! US Soccer has announced they are backing off their decision to play birth year in 2016 based on the Talking Soccer parents' rambling rants and declarations of unjust treatment.*

*not going to happen but why give up now...

This just in, ecnl is better than.... Oh wait no thorns academy is better.... Oh wait no ecnl is to expensive..........

[Unregistered]

Exactly right. The Jan-July kids were only getting about half of the RAE advantage. They need to get ALL the advantage so more of those Jan-July boys (who by virtue of Fifa Jan1st cut-off, are the oldest so statistically the biggest/strongest/fastest) find earlier & more soccer success. If big & fast 5-7yr old Jan boy finds tons of soccer success, he not only will be identified easier & earlier for elite soccer but he might also choose soccer as his sport and not switch to football, baseball, basketball! This is the same reason baseball little league is also shifting to birth year.

It would all be nicer if our school cutoff was also birth year. Canada uses birth year cut off for school age groups but Sept-June school year. Sure would make things easier here too since our sports are so closely tied to school, HS & college.

Sept-Dec kids should look to more favorable sports like volleyball, lacrosse, football, basketball, etc. the Jan-April kids have hockey, little league, skiing and now soccer. Just the way it is.

[Unregistered]

From US Youth Soccer today

"Birth-year registration calendars will now align with the start of the calendar year and run from January to December, rather than August to July as it had previously. For example, a U-15 player (players 15 years old or younger) would have a birth year of 2000 (Jan. 1 through Dec. 31) for the 2015 registration year. In 2016, U-15 players would be born in 2001 or earlier. Birth-year registration applies to all player age groups and not just players age 12 and younger. "

No phase-in. Change applies to ALL age groups.