Kids get about 4-8% better at soccer per year; faster, stronger, better skills, higher IQ. A change in birthdate will automatically give Aug-Dec kids and edge and give Jan-Jul kids a disadvantage. There will be a crazy amount of movement unless coaches have locked assessments of kids on their teams relative to their current age group. Some coaches will fight the change and their teams will struggle and the smart ones will adapt. After meeting many coaches, haven't met many that get game theory very well. So maybe the coaches fight the movement the first year but will be forced to blow things up in the fall of 2027. |
We already have several Q3/Q4 RL players practicing in our NL team. |
MLSN announced already on the directors call. 2026. 8/1 for all tiers including academy. Academy will play up a year. |
Don't you mean Homegrown? You lie and you dont even know that people are laughing at you because of it. |
Shut up, you moron, I laugh at you, and show more respect for commentators. |
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Why don’t you change this thread to GA/MlsN moving to school year. This thread hasn’t been about ECNL in Months. ECNL didn’t keep people hanging. But here you are still speculating and trolling about nonEcnl moves. Don’t you think it would be better on your own thread where ECNL parents wouldn’t see this nonsense. Or keep embarrassing yourselves here where we check up to see if there is any new news and see you still wondering where your DC will be… |
Some men aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn. |
I think you touch on the other factor here but the wrong reasons. Some coaches (and clubs, really) will not change as much, but not because they don't get it. It's because of club politics and pay-to-play. Those pressures will affect rosters, too. Also, yes, being a little older and a little more experienced can help a kid vs. younger kids. The real question: will it make a difference, especially at the higher levels. I don't think as much. If age were such a big factor, you wouldn't see the numbers of freshmen and sophomores who start on their HS varsity teams, even really good ones. And because of the politics, clubs will be less likely to tinker at the older age groups, who don't play all year anyway. That said, you'll have some elite national clubs who will go all out to seek every advantage possible, including this age change. But that is what they do now. You might be the next greatest player UNTIL they find someone else. That's how they send nearly all their players to big schools. The dirty little secret is they don't develop them, tho, they recruit them. The list of formers from these clubs who don't are unseen on the boulevard of broken dreams. |
We had a scrimmage with our trap team made up of a couple ECNL and mostly rl players against the top ECNL team below us at a large ECNL club. The result was the trap team 5-1! |
No doubt true in this case. What's also true is talent in age groups in clubs vary, where the younger age is better/more successful than the year older ![]() |
And this is exactly why the teams will adjust with the age change. It makes a big difference. |
At that club. (Also wonder, too, how many 9th graders on the trap team -- sometimes not everyone plays HS). |
So now that it is a foregone conclusion that we are all going to 8-1, now begins the great “shifting” of teams.
If we assume 2/3 of any given team is born between January 1 and August 1 and 1/3 August 1 and after due to RAE then we are going to see a massive shift. So, on a roster of 18 there are going to be 6 ECNL level players moving to the team below. Now add into the mix the “youngers” that would be on the B or ECRL team that would still be good enough to make a full ECNL team below. My gut is that, if you are an older and not in the top half of your current team, you are probably going to be moved to the RL team. And that could be 4-5 kids from each team. Going to be a bloodbath. |
Ok, can some explain to me what happens to an MLSNext team - let's say U13 (so 2013 kids). So in 26-27, this team will now be Sept. 2012 - Aug 2013? And the Aug - Dec. 2013 kids, if they stay on the team, will be considered to be playing up? |