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

[Unregistered]

my late 02 kid is certainly going to be hurt by it.

How exactly? Because they'll have to train 4x per week next fall instead of 2x per week? Yeah, that'll hurt. Because she'll no longer be one of the oldest on the team and will struggle to get off the pine on an "A" team? Yeah, that'll hurt but wouldn't if she had been developing all along.

My DD is a late December kid. She's looking forward to the challenge. It will only make her better.

[Unregistered]

How exactly? Because they'll have to train 4x per week next fall instead of 2x per week? Yeah, that'll hurt. Because she'll no longer be one of the oldest on the team and will struggle to get off the pine on an "A" team? Yeah, that'll hurt but wouldn't if she had been developing all along.

My DD is a late December kid. She's looking forward to the challenge. It will only make her better.

"hurts"
losing teammates that were close friends
not having a fall season next fall (yes extra training is fantastic but you need game time too)
senior year
being the youngest on the team

"Gains"
being the youngest on the team will give her more of a challenge
getting to practice with the older half of her age group
getting more training next fall

[Unregistered]

Stop being selfish and just thinking about your kid. You should be more concerned about supporting the us men's soccer national team.

This guy is spot on. This is not something you have any say about so do everyone a favor and shut your trap.

[Unregistered]

By not grandfathering this in, it hurts a lot of youth girls. Nobody cares though. This is all for the men's national team.

You have to realize you are part of something bigger. US soccer rightly don't care about your kid. The men's national team is who we should be sacrificing for.

[Unregistered]

"hurts"
losing teammates that were close friends
not having a fall season next fall (yes extra training is fantastic but you need game time too)
senior year
being the youngest on the team

"Gains"
being the youngest on the team will give her more of a challenge
getting to practice with the older half of her age group
getting more training next fall

Gain: you get to help the USMNT. You've know all along that's what you are here for. This might create a mess for 2-3 years but after that everyone will forget about it and girls who are not 100% behind supporting the USMNT will be off playing volleyball and basketball - good riddence!

[Unregistered]

All this talk about being "hurt" fails to acknowledge that some, clearly less vocal, will see it as a "help". Net=null set if not a win. Would be getting your kid extra training to be able to make the A team next year since that is really what you are worried about.

[Unregistered]

Pros & Cons

my late 02 kid is certainly going to be hurt by it.

I have a Nov '02. There are pros & cons for her.
Cons:
She will go from being a star on her current '02 team to being one of the youngest on the 2002 birth year team.
She will miss her younger teammates
She will be in 8th grade in fall 2016 when most of her team is going into HS. Probably no team for her in fall.
Most of her team will have graduated when she is a senior so she'll have to play with B/C team players, etc. her entire senior year - not good period. Especially for recruiting, I fear.
In the earlier years, recruiters will always see her playing with the grade above and she won't be able to dominate like she does with her same grade teammates. Also think this will hurt with recruiting but college coaches may change the way they recruit because there will be many girls in the same boat (fingers crossed!)
She wanted to try out for ECNL next year. She had a good chance of making the ECNL team if it was the current (Aug 02-July 03) age group. Probably not good enough to make a full 2002 team. The current FCP u14 team has 75% older 2002 birth year players who will be playing U14 ECNL for a 2nd time at u14. The other 25% of roster spots will be extremely hard to get. Crossfire's ECNL team isn't quite as stcked with 2002s but there will be many fewer spots available to the new younger 2002s with the change to birth year.

PROS:
She gets the opportunity (even tho forced!) to essentially "play up" now. This will challenge her more and she will likely develop faster playing with all the older kids
She won't have quite as much of a disadvantage in RTC now because she will at least be used to playing with the bigger faster girls now.
She will miss her old teammates but I'm certain any true friendships will last. No true friends will be lost
She will make new friends with girls in the grade above. It will be helpful going into HS, to already have a couple of friends. Nice to make new friends in general.
She will have a leg up when trying out for the HS varsity team as a freshman since she will already have experience playing club with & against the sophomores.
Her new birth year team is likely to actually be a better team than her current '02 team. It will be nice to be a part of a winning team - even if my dd's contribution will be as a sub.
This change will force her out of her comfort zone and the new challenges will help build character and help her learn how to deal with adversity. This will help her be more successful down the road and in life in general.
She's not in this alone. There is a small group of them that will all be in the same boat. My dd happens to be the likely captain of that boat and the most likely to succeed in the new situation. She can be a good leader and help the others.
Oregon soccer is such a small pond. While she is very bummed not to get to play with many current teammates, she is also very excited to be on a whole new team and excited to play against whole new opponents. she does get a bit bored playing the same kids on the same teams over and over.

[Unregistered]

Look nobody cares about the youth girls.

Just quit and go play another sport if you want to play with friends. We don't want you.

The beautiful thing is that when we lose numbers we can just raise fees do it's no skin off our back.

[Unregistered]

Look nobody cares about the youth girls.

Just quit and go play another sport if you want to play with friends. We don't want you.

The beautiful thing is that when we lose numbers we can just raise fees do it's no skin off our back.

Don't worry, no girls are quitting soccer because of the change. The parents of girls are CRAZY for soccer. They will complain ad naseum but they definitely aren't letting their girls quit - even if they want to!

[Unregistered]

"hurts"
losing teammates that were close friends
not having a fall season next fall (yes extra training is fantastic but you need game time too)
senior year
being the youngest on the team

"Gains"
being the youngest on the team will give her more of a challenge
getting to practice with the older half of her age group
getting more training next fall

No issue with senior year. You just play with the same kids you're playing with now. It's an 18 month "year".

Play 20-30 games during the summer instead. Not a big deal.

Is being the "youngest" actually a problem?

Hang with her friends outside of soccer.

[Unregistered]

Look nobody cares about the youth girls.

Just quit and go play another sport if you want to play with friends. We don't want you.

The beautiful thing is that when we lose numbers we can just raise fees do it's no skin off our back.

At the younger ages is where we expect to lose numbers. Young girls stick with soccer in many cases due to relationships Losing the school friend factor is a calculated move. Numbers will go down but that's not a big deal. We have a captive audience so we can raise the fees we charge to make up for it.

[Unregistered]

Gain: you get to help the USMNT. You've know all along that's what you are here for. This might create a mess for 2-3 years but after that everyone will forget about it and girls who are not 100% behind supporting the USMNT will be off playing volleyball and basketball - good riddence!

You are part of something bigger than your kid and her friends.

[Unregistered]

No issue with senior year. You just play with the same kids you're playing with now. It's an 18 month "year".

Play 20-30 games during the summer instead. Not a big deal.

Is being the "youngest" actually a problem?

Hang with her friends outside of soccer.

The only parents complaining are the parents of the younger birth year players who have benefitted by getting to be the oldest on club teams. Now that they may lose their A team starting spot because the shoe is suddenly going to be on the other foot, they are pissed off. I have an early 2002 who is a bubble player on the current '01 team. She will become a solid starter on the 2002 birth year team. Can't wait! And can't wait for the snooty parents of the Aug-Dec 2001 girls who patted me on the head and were like "well she's just younger and smaller...and nudge nudge...not as good as our 2001 girls"... can't wait to see how they feel when their girls are in the same situation on a birth year team.

[Unregistered]

The only parents complaining are the parents of the younger birth year players who have benefitted by getting to be the oldest on club teams. Now that they may lose their A team starting spot because the shoe is suddenly going to be on the other foot, they are pissed off. I have an early 2002 who is a bubble player on the current '01 team. She will become a solid starter on the 2002 birth year team. Can't wait! And can't wait for the snooty parents of the Aug-Dec 2001 girls who patted me on the head and were like "well she's just younger and smaller...and nudge nudge...not as good as our 2001 girls"... can't wait to see how they feel when their girls are in the same situation on a birth year team.

My daughter is not worried as she has played RTC with the older girls for a few years. The only issue is that she will be sad to leave some of her friends behind.

[Unregistered]

My daughter is not worried as she has played RTC with the older girls for a few years. The only issue is that she will be sad to leave some of her friends behind.

Mine too. I doubt you were one of the snooty kind of parents the poster was talking about. I hope I'm not either! I do know some on our team too though. On our team, those are the parents most upset by the change. They used to talk smack about the bench & B team players and they are scared their kid may soon be one of those. Karma, I guess. My girl will be fine, like yours, competes just fine in RTC, but wish we weren't changing either. She loves her team. Trying to look at the positives.