ECNL moving to school year part 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The grade troll is back!

Thanks for taking a vacation, though. We appreciated the quiet time.

Posting links to and images from ECNL club websites that were setup to educate players and parents on the BY to SY change this fall is being a troll? That doesnt seem like a trollish thing to do.

Grade guy isnt a troll. He is being very blunt with his posts. I've been watching this thread for a while. Age guy has an agenda and is trying to convince parents that playing down is ok. Outside of crazy parents looking to gain an advantage playing their kid against younger players and rec leagues Ive never seen a competitive club that encourages playing down. Which makes me think grade guy is right on this one.

No, grade guy is a troll and based on the PP, parrots his own responses to try to make it seem like someone else wants to go grade year for everyone. Nobody has bought into this.

ECNL Guy said play on age, no exceptions. Playing down only allowed in MLSN and plenty of competitive clubs encourage biobanding, aka playing down.

Now age guy is ECNL guy?

This is from an ECNL club.

Oh and btw MTA was one of the girls ECNL founding clubs in 2009. So the fact that they're playing players woth their grade says a lot.

https://mnthunderacademy.org/history/

Again, they aren't forcing to play on grade, they are allowing it. Huge difference. Pay attention without the grade year bias and you won't make so many mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

Sorry Aug grade guy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Build me a thread worthy of Mordor!

This thread is mine, I tell you. My own. My precious. Yes, my precious.

[Anonymous]

Eagerly awaiting our club's ECNL older age tryouts starting tomorrow. My kid played U13 ECNL this year as an Oct. birthday and will repeat it next year and be correctly aligned with her grade after being one of the few younger grade players since U8. She and one of her teammates already put on a show for the rising U13 tryouts and have secured spots for next year.

The interesting part though is we get kids from different states, so there are 2 other Q4 birthdays who I guess would be misaligned due to different school cutoffs and they were not at the U13 tryouts. I'm not sure if they're planning on staying, but my expectation is they will either move to RL or a different club since there are current U14s also dropping down and new outside additions. We'll find out in a couple days!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The grade troll is back!

Thanks for taking a vacation, though. We appreciated the quiet time.

Shaka, when the walls fell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

Many, many. I didn't realize that you were replying for the team otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. I just try to jump in when others aren't available to point out Aug grade guy's constant errors and misleading posts.

[Anonymous]

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

Many, many. I didn't realize that you were replying for the team otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. I just try to jump in when others aren't available to point out Aug grade guy's constant errors and misleading posts.

Directly from MTAs website

https://mnthunderacademy.org/age-group-change-2026-2027-season/

All youth soccer Clubs, including MTA will be transitioning from calendar-year (birth year) age grouping to grade-level age grouping, starting in the 26-27 season. This means players will now be primarily placed on teams based on their grade level in school.

The FINE PRINT ...

We believe aligning players with their correct grade is an important factor to consider at tryouts. At MTA, we are taking the extra step of providing the opportunity to submit a Grade Alignment Application to Aug/Sept born players who do not align with their grade. This will allow them to play and try out with their correct grade.

Please review your player’s alignment carefully on the new age group grids below. If your child is already in the “correct” grade for their age group, no action is needed. If your player is a ‘trapped player’ (typically July birthdays), unfortunately this is out of our control as players cannot legally “play down”. However, if your player is now on a team of the grade below them (typically August birthdays), please read the information below carefully.

Consider filling out this optional application if BOTH of these apply:

Your player has a August or September birthdate
Your player’s grade does not align with their birthyear group (e.g. early school start)
If your application is accepted, you will be evaluated only in that age group and will not be placed or considered for a team at the lower age group.

Note that this Grade Alignment Application is not a “play up” request based on skill, but a formal request to place a player on a team that matches their academic grade level.

So not forced into grade year and letting lower level teams go grade.

Well ... This club does lay out they think playing on your grade is better for recruiting. ... So, they basically don't care about late developers other than fend for yourselves OR learn to like the B OR C team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

Many, many. I didn't realize that you were replying for the team otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. I just try to jump in when others aren't available to point out Aug grade guy's constant errors and misleading posts.

Directly from MTAs website

https://mnthunderacademy.org/age-group-change-2026-2027-season/

All youth soccer Clubs, including MTA will be transitioning from calendar-year (birth year) age grouping to grade-level age grouping, starting in the 26-27 season. This means players will now be primarily placed on teams based on their grade level in school.

The FINE PRINT ...

We believe aligning players with their correct grade is an important factor to consider at tryouts. At MTA, we are taking the extra step of providing the opportunity to submit a Grade Alignment Application to Aug/Sept born players who do not align with their grade. This will allow them to play and try out with their correct grade.

Please review your player’s alignment carefully on the new age group grids below. If your child is already in the “correct” grade for their age group, no action is needed. If your player is a ‘trapped player’ (typically July birthdays), unfortunately this is out of our control as players cannot legally “play down”. However, if your player is now on a team of the grade below them (typically August birthdays), please read the information below carefully.

Consider filling out this optional application if BOTH of these apply:

Your player has a August or September birthdate
Your player’s grade does not align with their birthyear group (e.g. early school start)
If your application is accepted, you will be evaluated only in that age group and will not be placed or considered for a team at the lower age group.

Note that this Grade Alignment Application is not a “play up” request based on skill, but a formal request to place a player on a team that matches their academic grade level.

So not forced into grade year and letting lower level teams go grade.

Grow up. Clubs don't go through all the effort to describe why players should play up. Then let August birthdays play on grade down teams. What you're calling a choice is an illusion. MTA will group Aug birthdays on their correct grade teams.

I told you the age troll would rise up to counter you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

Many, many. I didn't realize that you were replying for the team otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. I just try to jump in when others aren't available to point out Aug grade guy's constant errors and misleading posts.

Directly from MTAs website

https://mnthunderacademy.org/age-group-change-2026-2027-season/

All youth soccer Clubs, including MTA will be transitioning from calendar-year (birth year) age grouping to grade-level age grouping, starting in the 26-27 season. This means players will now be primarily placed on teams based on their grade level in school.

The FINE PRINT ...

We believe aligning players with their correct grade is an important factor to consider at tryouts. At MTA, we are taking the extra step of providing the opportunity to submit a Grade Alignment Application to Aug/Sept born players who do not align with their grade. This will allow them to play and try out with their correct grade.

Please review your player’s alignment carefully on the new age group grids below. If your child is already in the “correct” grade for their age group, no action is needed. If your player is a ‘trapped player’ (typically July birthdays), unfortunately this is out of our control as players cannot legally “play down”. However, if your player is now on a team of the grade below them (typically August birthdays), please read the information below carefully.

Consider filling out this optional application if BOTH of these apply:

Your player has a August or September birthdate
Your player’s grade does not align with their birthyear group (e.g. early school start)
If your application is accepted, you will be evaluated only in that age group and will not be placed or considered for a team at the lower age group.

Note that this Grade Alignment Application is not a “play up” request based on skill, but a formal request to place a player on a team that matches their academic grade level.

So not forced into grade year and letting lower level teams go grade.

Well ... This club does lay out they think playing on your grade is better for recruiting. ... So, they basically don't care about late developers other than fend for yourselves OR learn to like the B OR C team.

All clubs are like this. They're just not as honest as MTA.

No, the real honest ones are playing BOTH sides, where these kids actually can do both, like the Nationals.

Yep ... The age change is discussed between roughly 14-20 minutes of this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdLkj6MmgIA

"I'm a senior and I have the opportunity to play U17 again, I'm doing it a 100 out of 100 times because there's six playoff spots. There's an environment where you're competing for longer, right? right? You got the opportunity to do things and the motivation level is really high. The senior year always curtails unfortunately. Yeah. Um you know with kids. So you know for me it's a lot of people fall into that and as well you get a great benefit of if you're uncommitted you now get to get a redo on some of the exposure that you know you maybe wouldn't have before if you were on a senior team, right?

So there's there's a lot of benefits. So for us, you know, we're in a situation where everyone's going into that and then we can move things off of that if it's the right thing. Now then you also have to look at it. Okay, if a player goes into an age younger but their grade level is here, how do you help them with showcasing? So for us, we have made sure that in our kind of roster assembly, we created opportunities so that you know at ECNL showcases or Jefferson Cup or something like that, we have the ability to bring this player with us. So now they still get the best of both worlds, right? If you can develop inside this environment, we can also then showcase you with your grade level, but also if you're maybe a little bit of a late developer, like for example, your typical recruitment, your elite players are getting watched a lot, their sophomore years."

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN BACK!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

Many, many. I didn't realize that you were replying for the team otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. I just try to jump in when others aren't available to point out Aug grade guy's constant errors and misleading posts.

Directly from MTAs website

https://mnthunderacademy.org/age-group-change-2026-2027-season/

All youth soccer Clubs, including MTA will be transitioning from calendar-year (birth year) age grouping to grade-level age grouping, starting in the 26-27 season. This means players will now be primarily placed on teams based on their grade level in school.

The FINE PRINT ...

We believe aligning players with their correct grade is an important factor to consider at tryouts. At MTA, we are taking the extra step of providing the opportunity to submit a Grade Alignment Application to Aug/Sept born players who do not align with their grade. This will allow them to play and try out with their correct grade.

Please review your player’s alignment carefully on the new age group grids below. If your child is already in the “correct” grade for their age group, no action is needed. If your player is a ‘trapped player’ (typically July birthdays), unfortunately this is out of our control as players cannot legally “play down”. However, if your player is now on a team of the grade below them (typically August birthdays), please read the information below carefully.

Consider filling out this optional application if BOTH of these apply:

Your player has a August or September birthdate
Your player’s grade does not align with their birthyear group (e.g. early school start)
If your application is accepted, you will be evaluated only in that age group and will not be placed or considered for a team at the lower age group.

Note that this Grade Alignment Application is not a “play up” request based on skill, but a formal request to place a player on a team that matches their academic grade level.

So not forced into grade year and letting lower level teams go grade.

Well ... This club does lay out they think playing on your grade is better for recruiting. ... So, they basically don't care about late developers other than fend for yourselves OR learn to like the B OR C team.

All clubs are like this. They're just not as honest as MTA.

No, the real honest ones are playing BOTH sides, where these kids actually can do both, like the Nationals.

Yep ... The age change is discussed between roughly 14-20 minutes of this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdLkj6MmgIA

"I'm a senior and I have the opportunity to play U17 again, I'm doing it a 100 out of 100 times because there's six playoff spots. There's an environment where you're competing for longer, right? right? You got the opportunity to do things and the motivation level is really high. The senior year always curtails unfortunately. Yeah. Um you know with kids. So you know for me it's a lot of people fall into that and as well you get a great benefit of if you're uncommitted you now get to get a redo on some of the exposure that you know you maybe wouldn't have before if you were on a senior team, right?

So there's there's a lot of benefits. So for us, you know, we're in a situation where everyone's going into that and then we can move things off of that if it's the right thing. Now then you also have to look at it. Okay, if a player goes into an age younger but their grade level is here, how do you help them with showcasing? So for us, we have made sure that in our kind of roster assembly, we created opportunities so that you know at ECNL showcases or Jefferson Cup or something like that, we have the ability to bring this player with us. So now they still get the best of both worlds, right? If you can develop inside this environment, we can also then showcase you with your grade level, but also if you're maybe a little bit of a late developer, like for example, your typical recruitment, your elite players are getting watched a lot, their sophomore years."

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN BACK!

More cowbell!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heres a very good link from an ECNL club thats being open and honest with players about the BY to SY change thats happening this fall. They even go into the history behind the change describing why its happening and what to expect.

https://mnthunderacademy.org/age-group-change-2026-2027-season/

Look Familiar?

Thank you for posting this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

Many, many. I didn't realize that you were replying for the team otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. I just try to jump in when others aren't available to point out Aug grade guy's constant errors and misleading posts.

Directly from MTAs website

https://mnthunderacademy.org/age-group-change-2026-2027-season/

All youth soccer Clubs, including MTA will be transitioning from calendar-year (birth year) age grouping to grade-level age grouping, starting in the 26-27 season. This means players will now be primarily placed on teams based on their grade level in school.

The FINE PRINT ...

We believe aligning players with their correct grade is an important factor to consider at tryouts. At MTA, we are taking the extra step of providing the opportunity to submit a Grade Alignment Application to Aug/Sept born players who do not align with their grade. This will allow them to play and try out with their correct grade.

Please review your player’s alignment carefully on the new age group grids below. If your child is already in the “correct” grade for their age group, no action is needed. If your player is a ‘trapped player’ (typically July birthdays), unfortunately this is out of our control as players cannot legally “play down”. However, if your player is now on a team of the grade below them (typically August birthdays), please read the information below carefully.

Consider filling out this optional application if BOTH of these apply:

Your player has a August or September birthdate
Your player’s grade does not align with their birthyear group (e.g. early school start)
If your application is accepted, you will be evaluated only in that age group and will not be placed or considered for a team at the lower age group.

Note that this Grade Alignment Application is not a “play up” request based on skill, but a formal request to place a player on a team that matches their academic grade level.

So not forced into grade year and letting lower level teams go grade.

Well ... This club does lay out they think playing on your grade is better for recruiting. ... So, they basically don't care about late developers other than fend for yourselves OR learn to like the B OR C team.

All clubs are like this. They're just not as honest as MTA.

No, the real honest ones are playing BOTH sides, where these kids actually can do both, like the Nationals.

You're not though.

Theres a limited amout of roster spots and playing time. Thers not magically more of either if an Aug birthday plays in the same age group 2 years in a row.

All they're doing is stealing minutes in front of college coaches from players on younger teams.

Its the same logic that nobody is affected when older players play down on younger teams. Yes someone is affected you just dont see who they are because they're not there.

They’re the same age. What’s dumb is trying to make all about grade when development is far more complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha-ha JINX ... That's right, there are many people against Aug age.

Many, many. I didn't realize that you were replying for the team otherwise I wouldn't have said anything. I just try to jump in when others aren't available to point out Aug grade guy's constant errors and misleading posts.

Directly from MTAs website

https://mnthunderacademy.org/age-group-change-2026-2027-season/

All youth soccer Clubs, including MTA will be transitioning from calendar-year (birth year) age grouping to grade-level age grouping, starting in the 26-27 season. This means players will now be primarily placed on teams based on their grade level in school.

The FINE PRINT ...

We believe aligning players with their correct grade is an important factor to consider at tryouts. At MTA, we are taking the extra step of providing the opportunity to submit a Grade Alignment Application to Aug/Sept born players who do not align with their grade. This will allow them to play and try out with their correct grade.

Please review your player’s alignment carefully on the new age group grids below. If your child is already in the “correct” grade for their age group, no action is needed. If your player is a ‘trapped player’ (typically July birthdays), unfortunately this is out of our control as players cannot legally “play down”. However, if your player is now on a team of the grade below them (typically August birthdays), please read the information below carefully.

Consider filling out this optional application if BOTH of these apply:

Your player has a August or September birthdate
Your player’s grade does not align with their birthyear group (e.g. early school start)
If your application is accepted, you will be evaluated only in that age group and will not be placed or considered for a team at the lower age group.

Note that this Grade Alignment Application is not a “play up” request based on skill, but a formal request to place a player on a team that matches their academic grade level.

So not forced into grade year and letting lower level teams go grade.

Well ... This club does lay out they think playing on your grade is better for recruiting. ... So, they basically don't care about late developers other than fend for yourselves OR learn to like the B OR C team.

I'm sticking with ECNL dude saying playing on age is better for recruiting except for getting a shot at multiple showcases and college coaches saying they don't care what age group you are in as long as you are eligible to matriculate.