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ECNL moving to school year not calendar
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Anonymous
Hah, yeah my daughter is in the exact age range that this will be huge. She's a current 5th grader Q4 birthday (2013) and the youngest on her pre-ECNL league team. She starts/plays meaningful minutes/contributes heavily, but is only about 80 lbs going against much more physically mature girls. She'll get to play ECNL next year, gain some valuable experience and then do it all over again in 2026 assuming ECNL doesn't have a different transition plan. Younger teams will be shifting a bunch. |
Anonymous
Wrong on all accounts. |
Anonymous
Insults will always make your argument weaker. I am fully aware of RAE. The fact that on average ECNL teams have a disproportionately low number of Q4 players means there is a bias for older (and more developed) players that are born in Q1. Now, the bias will be in favor of those born in September - Q4. On average, kids born earlier will be bigger, faster, and stronger, but of course there will always be early developers, average developers, and late developers. The late year kids will now, on average, be bigger, faster, and stronger. The RAE will not disappear with this change. |
Anonymous
Exactly |
Anonymous
With coaches wanting to win at all costs and leaning towards bigger, faster, stronger kids and teams therefore leaning towards older kids in an age bracket, it is shocking that it is not 100% excepted that on average older kids are more likely to get picked for top teams. If someone doesn't realize that older teams on average would beat younger teams pretty consistently is just lost. Unless some someone wants to have there head in the sand. Changing the age cutoff doesn't change RAE in the aggregate but it changes the impact for "each" kid. Someone thinking that youth soccer is merely played for the U.S. to find that unicorn diamond in the rough to get bumped up to national teams is smoking something. Ie, individual incentives in a billion dollar industry outweighs a random soccer win against a country most people couldn't find on a map. |
Anonymous
| So we have it from US Soccer and no US Club, USYS and AYSO. Next should be the leagues sending info out, like ECNL, MLSN, MLSN2 and GA. When will we start seeing this come out or with they just say talk to US Soccer? |
Anonymous
All the clubs and leagues will want to point the finger at someone else for the parent complaints. While it might be good for overall participation, and therefore good for leagues/clubs/soccer-generally, it's going to be inherently unpopular among parents of players, especially at elite and older levels. As a baseline, two-thirds of the player pool is getting relatively younger to their competition. Their hyper-competitive parents clearly hate that, and really don't give a F that it might be solving problems for other players. As you go to older and more elite groups, a disproportionate number of Sep-Dec birthdays have either quit or been playing only on lower tier teams, so that potential two-thirds is actually much higher. Brace yourselves for a lot of whining as the soccer ecosystem actually does something right that puts the egos of a sea of parents at risk. |
Anonymous
The 2 steps are what's happening in our area (not DMV). The top clubs are recruiting the better septQ4 players while ALSO reassuring their existing teams that the change doesn't mean much for them, because they can still play up. Now, whether that's a load of BS, because of roster size, we shall see. Bottom line, they are trying to minimize all the panic we see on this message board. |
Anonymous
| Whis the "it's not age it's talent" crowd also against changing to SY? If it's about talent and not physical development, why do you care? |
Anonymous
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what else do we need to talk about to make it to 1000?
Can we talk about GA/MLS?? Would that help |
Anonymous
It would. Are people worried that it is unclear what path GA will take? Do you run a significant risk of having your kid go ECNL SY and then that clubs converts to GA and is BY? Lot’s of people trying out right now with any real clear picture. Seems like a lot of risk. Or is the general sense that if your kid can make an ECNL team SY then they can make GA BY? I am seeing firsthand how difficult it is to break into teams during seasons when they aren’t significantly expanding the roster. Curious how others are thinking about this as they navigate tryouts. Especially the u13/ u14s who aren’t quite as settled into these teams. |
Anonymous
Because they have mistaken superior physical development to talent. |
Anonymous
Yes my daughter is a Q4 2013 so will be U13 next year and then again the following year. We are switching clubs so I hate that we will have 2 different teams for the next 2 years. I wish the bandaid would come off for this year. We are not ECNL or GA level |
Anonymous
But that’s the thing, you dont know if you will repeat, it depends on what GA does, right? Also, have you considered just continuing to have your kid play up or anticipating most clubs will level you out if you can? It seems like getting an extra year of 11v11 is a lot more beneficial than 9v9, but curious if others feel differently. |
Anonymous
Different poster, but they will be U13 fall 2025 playing 11v11 if 2013. No playing "down" then, unless leagues come out with more details. |