Trapped/Re-aging Families, How are you having the conversation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

It is a very small issue, like very small. It only seems to be an issue here because of one or two aggrieved posters obsessing over it. But in reality, it is nothing compared to the trapped issues under BY. No one cares if the 2 or 3% of grade misaligned players play up, down or whatever.

The leadership doesn’t care either because it was much worse under BY, plus it wasn’t a real issue prior to BY. And they have much bigger fish to fry. This is a non-issue to them.

By the actual written rule they can do either. And both situations will happen. That’s it. Seriously, who cares? If you are one of the 2% of players who may be eligible to play with a grade lower than your current grade, find a club that will accommodate your needs. Whatever those are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious How many GA trap player parents are planning on coming down a year to ECNL. In addition have you reached out to coaches to set expectations?!

At my kids GA club (one of the top clubs in the nation) multiple ECNL GA and "other" league players have been jumping in on sessions. At least where we are its not league specific about where players are making connections. Its more about top clubs getting inquiries from multiple places. I would expect ECNL clubs would get the same type of players reaching out.

so it wouldn’t be too early to get the ball rolling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

You’re creating an issue where there is none, especially on the girls side. There’s no rule or recommendation to make players play up an age group so they are with their grade. The term “college recruiter” also doesn’t exist; the college coaching staff does the recruiting.

The term "college recruiter" is used because college coaches, assistant coaches, admins, sometimes even people with the specific title of recruiter all attend different events looking at/for talent/players. Its not always college coaches doing the leg work looking at potential recruits. I dont understand why you got hung up on. the words "college recruiter" because its weird and just another example of how you dont understand how college recruitment works.

Reguarding players playing with their grade. Its odd that you're fighting so hard against something that logically just makes sense if clubs want to position players to play in college. Theres never ever ever been a college recruiter that said "look at the Sophmore playing against and on a Freshman team. I bet their skills whould just destroy everyone at the Sophmore and Junior levels." no, they would say " Why is the Sophmore playjng on a Freshman team?"

Why do you care? There are biobands on my kids MLsN team that are 2 grades ahead of him. I don’t care. If it hurts their recruiting, oh well.

If someone plays with a grade lower than them and it hurts their recruiting, again, oh well. That’s on them. Them NOT being recruited doesn’t hurt me or my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

You’re creating an issue where there is none, especially on the girls side. There’s no rule or recommendation to make players play up an age group so they are with their grade. The term “college recruiter” also doesn’t exist; the college coaching staff does the recruiting.

The term "college recruiter" is used because college coaches, assistant coaches, admins, sometimes even people with the specific title of recruiter all attend different events looking at/for talent/players. Its not always college coaches doing the leg work looking at potential recruits. I dont understand why you got hung up on. the words "college recruiter" because its weird and just another example of how you dont understand how college recruitment works.

Reguarding players playing with their grade. Its odd that you're fighting so hard against something that logically just makes sense if clubs want to position players to play in college. Theres never ever ever been a college recruiter that said "look at the Sophmore playing against and on a Freshman team. I bet their skills whould just destroy everyone at the Sophmore and Junior levels." no, they would say " Why is the Sophmore playjng on a Freshman team?"

The college coaching staff does the recruiting. There is usually one assistant coach on staff that is the main contact and the head coach and however many assistant coaches attend showcases/games. You are making up terms because you aren’t familiar with the process. Your time would be better served concentrating on your own child rather than trying to create rules for other people’s kids in order to benefit your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

It is a very small issue, like very small. It only seems to be an issue here because of one or two aggrieved posters obsessing over it. But in reality, it is nothing compared to the trapped issues under BY. No one cares if the 2 or 3% of grade misaligned players play up, down or whatever.

The leadership doesn’t care either because it was much worse under BY, plus it wasn’t a real issue prior to BY. And they have much bigger fish to fry. This is a non-issue to them.

By the actual written rule they can do either. And both situations will happen. That’s it. Seriously, who cares? If you are one of the 2% of players who may be eligible to play with a grade lower than your current grade, find a club that will accommodate your needs. Whatever those are.

I agree that from the actual written rules both situations can potentially occur for younger than the eligibility window but grade up players.

The issue, if you want to call it that is GY (grade year) slippery slope. If leagues implemented a rule or a recommendation that young players play with their grade what you've done is grouped players by grade but without holdbacks/redshirts. Which is something club parents really like because they're footing the bill. Other people want to implement GY with regrades/holdbacks/redshirts in club soccer. Generally the way they plan to do it is by starting with GY Showcases. Which would end uo being something parents pay for but players 1-2 years older attend and play in.

If leagues implemented a rule or even a recommendation that young players play with their grade you would have teams grouped by grade but without holdbacks. Once implemented you could never implement GY showcases (with holdbacks) because teams would already be grouped by grade.

This is whats actually being argued about. Do you want GY Showcases where older players can play down 1-2 years in front of the recuiters youre paying for your kid to play in front of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious How many GA trap player parents are planning on coming down a year to ECNL. In addition have you reached out to coaches to set expectations?!

At my kids GA club (one of the top clubs in the nation) multiple ECNL GA and "other" league players have been jumping in on sessions. At least where we are it’s not league specific about where players are making connections. It’s more about top clubs getting inquiries from multiple places. I would expect ECNL clubs would get the same type of players reaching out.

so it wouldn’t be too early to get the ball rolling

If my player was a fall born player and looking to move club levels, I’d be reaching on in mid spring to get into practices. The main reason for that is that there are still plenty of coaches and programs out there who have not really processed this age group change. I’d want to time it for when they start panicking a bit and realize what the change means and the type of players they need to start looking at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

You’re creating an issue where there is none, especially on the girls side. There’s no rule or recommendation to make players play up an age group so they are with their grade. The term “college recruiter” also doesn’t exist; the college coaching staff does the recruiting.

The term "college recruiter" is used because college coaches, assistant coaches, admins, sometimes even people with the specific title of recruiter all attend different events looking at/for talent/players. Its not always college coaches doing the leg work looking at potential recruits. I dont understand why you got hung up on. the words "college recruiter" because its weird and just another example of how you dont understand how college recruitment works.

Reguarding players playing with their grade. Its odd that you're fighting so hard against something that logically just makes sense if clubs want to position players to play in college. Theres never ever ever been a college recruiter that said "look at the Sophmore playing against and on a Freshman team. I bet their skills whould just destroy everyone at the Sophmore and Junior levels." no, they would say " Why is the Sophmore playjng on a Freshman team?"

The college coaching staff does the recruiting. There is usually one assistant coach on staff that is the main contact and the head coach and however many assistant coaches attend showcases/games. You are making up terms because you aren’t familiar with the process. Your time would be better served concentrating on your own child rather than trying to create rules for other people’s kids in order to benefit your own.

So now its "College Staff" not just College Coach. How is "College Staff" any different that "College Recruiter"?

You just like to agrue and pick up on stupid details to argue about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

You’re creating an issue where there is none, especially on the girls side. There’s no rule or recommendation to make players play up an age group so they are with their grade. The term “college recruiter” also doesn’t exist; the college coaching staff does the recruiting.

The term "college recruiter" is used because college coaches, assistant coaches, admins, sometimes even people with the specific title of recruiter all attend different events looking at/for talent/players. Its not always college coaches doing the leg work looking at potential recruits. I dont understand why you got hung up on. the words "college recruiter" because its weird and just another example of how you dont understand how college recruitment works.

Reguarding players playing with their grade. Its odd that you're fighting so hard against something that logically just makes sense if clubs want to position players to play in college. Theres never ever ever been a college recruiter that said "look at the Sophmore playing against and on a Freshman team. I bet their skills whould just destroy everyone at the Sophmore and Junior levels." no, they would say " Why is the Sophmore playjng on a Freshman team?"

Why do you care? There are biobands on my kids MLsN team that are 2 grades ahead of him. I don’t care. If it hurts their recruiting, oh well.

If someone plays with a grade lower than them and it hurts their recruiting, again, oh well. That’s on them. Them NOT being recruited doesn’t hurt me or my kid.

If the kid thats playing down and has no chance of being recruited played the same position as your kid and took all their minutes during a showcase you'd be upset.

This is the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best situation if you had a younger than the eligibility window but grade up player would be to roster them "up" on the correct grade level team for development.

Ideally your club would be aware that your kid could also play down. This way they'd have 2x the number of teams they could play with for tournamants. Also for things like Talent IDs they'd be pretty much guaranteed an invite at the lover level bevause they're playing and developing at a higher level than everyone else their age.

This is very interesting for young Aug/Sept playera.

Playing on the team that's your kids grade will need to happen for college recruiting.

It's obvious that playing up but guesting down would create tournament monsters. I never thought about all the advantages playing up could bring for things like Talent IDs. I guess this depends on if US Soccer keeps things BY. I assume they would. But even then you'd need to be playing up with your grade to be considered because you'd be competing with the younger half of the grqde above SY team.

I was told both ODP and USYNT are staying BY. So no real benefit over this year for either of those

Younger Aug/Sept players need to be able to play at the level of the Jan to July players on the SY above them.

The ones that get screwed are the Oct, Nov, Dec birthdays.

Which is how it is now. My kid was one of 4 7th graders at the October USYNT ID camp.

I think the "issue" if you want to call it that is with SY the oldest players would be Aug 1st but with USYNT if they stayed BY the oldest player would be Jan 1st. Basically the younger kids on a SY team would be the oldest on a BY USYNT team.

Im probabaly just saying things people already understand. But this would definitely be a reason for young Aug/Sept birthdays to play up on a team thats their grade in school. At least this way you'd be in the running for a Talent ID invite. If you played on grade down team its not that you wouldn't be considered I just dont think you'd be the first pick.

Much, much higher chance of getting noticed playing on age regardless of grade. Grade is irrelevant of course.

Neither colleges nor USYNTs care about your school grade
Only your age and graduation year

😂😂😂

This has been an ongoing theme with the play age guy. Its painfully obvious that he's a littles know it all + hasn't experienced how things change when college recruiting is involved.

There is no one play age guy. There are multiple people trying to inform you where you are wrong. Like pointing out the college recruiting process doesn't involve tracking teams looking for the diamond in the rough, pointing out that there are no rules about grades because leagues use birthdates to delineate age groups, how to understand RAE, pointing out that you are the only person wanting grade year instead of SY and showing you that playing up an age group is mainly dependent on skill. You don't like when people point out you are almost always incorrect and have resorted to attempted putdowns an offensive terms for anonymous people you don't know.

[Anonymous]

If I had an aug/sept kid who was misaligned, I would be pushing for them to play up if they were good enough, and play in the correct age group when the team/club wants to win. We have kids more or less doing that now. Mostly play in their correct age group but will play up in ECNL games when the older team has a tougher game. Could possibly play in multiple age groups during showcases depending on the rules of that particular showcase.

Win win since we are all so concerned with the recruiting process for kids in this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious How many GA trap player parents are planning on coming down a year to ECNL. In addition have you reached out to coaches to set expectations?!

At my kids GA club (one of the top clubs in the nation) multiple ECNL GA and "other" league players have been jumping in on sessions. At least where we are it’s not league specific about where players are making connections. It’s more about top clubs getting inquiries from multiple places. I would expect ECNL clubs would get the same type of players reaching out.

so it wouldn’t be too early to get the ball rolling

If my player was a fall born player and looking to move club levels, I’d be reaching on in mid spring to get into practices. The main reason for that is that there are still plenty of coaches and programs out there who have not really processed this age group change. I’d want to time it for when they start panicking a bit and realize what the change means and the type of players they need to start looking at.

I agree with you. A month or two before when they do the cattle call tryouts is when to reach out. This way tryouts are starting to be discussed by coaches and your kid will be first in line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

It is a very small issue, like very small. It only seems to be an issue here because of one or two aggrieved posters obsessing over it. But in reality, it is nothing compared to the trapped issues under BY. No one cares if the 2 or 3% of grade misaligned players play up, down or whatever.

The leadership doesn’t care either because it was much worse under BY, plus it wasn’t a real issue prior to BY. And they have much bigger fish to fry. This is a non-issue to them.

By the actual written rule they can do either. And both situations will happen. That’s it. Seriously, who cares? If you are one of the 2% of players who may be eligible to play with a grade lower than your current grade, find a club that will accommodate your needs. Whatever those are.

I agree that from the actual written rules both situations can potentially occur for younger than the eligibility window but grade up players.

The issue, if you want to call it that is GY (grade year) slippery slope. If leagues implemented a rule or a recommendation that young players play with their grade what you've done is grouped players by grade but without holdbacks/redshirts. Which is something club parents really like because they're footing the bill. Other people want to implement GY with regrades/holdbacks/redshirts in club soccer. Generally the way they plan to do it is by starting with GY Showcases. Which would end uo being something parents pay for but players 1-2 years older attend and play in.

If leagues implemented a rule or even a recommendation that young players play with their grade you would have teams grouped by grade but without holdbacks. Once implemented you could never implement GY showcases (with holdbacks) because teams would already be grouped by grade.

This is whats actually being argued about. Do you want GY Showcases where older players can play down 1-2 years in front of the recuiters youre paying for your kid to play in front of?

What rules or recommendations and by who? There are none. I haven’t heard even the slightest rumors of one.

If you think there should be one, email the Orgs. Or write a good old fashioned letter. What good does arguing about something that doesn’t exist, here, on this thread do?

We might was well argue about the existence of aliens while we’re at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best situation if you had a younger than the eligibility window but grade up player would be to roster them "up" on the correct grade level team for development.

Ideally your club would be aware that your kid could also play down. This way they'd have 2x the number of teams they could play with for tournamants. Also for things like Talent IDs they'd be pretty much guaranteed an invite at the lover level bevause they're playing and developing at a higher level than everyone else their age.

This is very interesting for young Aug/Sept playera.

Playing on the team that's your kids grade will need to happen for college recruiting.

It's obvious that playing up but guesting down would create tournament monsters. I never thought about all the advantages playing up could bring for things like Talent IDs. I guess this depends on if US Soccer keeps things BY. I assume they would. But even then you'd need to be playing up with your grade to be considered because you'd be competing with the younger half of the grqde above SY team.

I was told both ODP and USYNT are staying BY. So no real benefit over this year for either of those

Younger Aug/Sept players need to be able to play at the level of the Jan to July players on the SY above them.

The ones that get screwed are the Oct, Nov, Dec birthdays.

Which is how it is now. My kid was one of 4 7th graders at the October USYNT ID camp.

I think the "issue" if you want to call it that is with SY the oldest players would be Aug 1st but with USYNT if they stayed BY the oldest player would be Jan 1st. Basically the younger kids on a SY team would be the oldest on a BY USYNT team.

Im probabaly just saying things people already understand. But this would definitely be a reason for young Aug/Sept birthdays to play up on a team thats their grade in school. At least this way you'd be in the running for a Talent ID invite. If you played on grade down team its not that you wouldn't be considered I just dont think you'd be the first pick.

Much, much higher chance of getting noticed playing on age regardless of grade. Grade is irrelevant of course.

Neither colleges nor USYNTs care about your school grade
Only your age and graduation year

😂😂😂

This has been an ongoing theme with the play age guy. Its painfully obvious that he's a littles know it all + hasn't experienced how things change when college recruiting is involved.

There is no one play age guy. There are multiple people trying to inform you where you are wrong. Like pointing out the college recruiting process doesn't involve tracking teams looking for the diamond in the rough, pointing out that there are no rules about grades because leagues use birthdates to delineate age groups, how to understand RAE, pointing out that you are the only person wanting grade year instead of SY and showing you that playing up an age group is mainly dependent on skill. You don't like when people point out you are almost always incorrect and have resorted to attempted putdowns an offensive terms for anonymous people you don't know.

We all know that its only you.

Your primary tell is that you use the RAE super excuse whenever possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

It is a very small issue, like very small. It only seems to be an issue here because of one or two aggrieved posters obsessing over it. But in reality, it is nothing compared to the trapped issues under BY. No one cares if the 2 or 3% of grade misaligned players play up, down or whatever.

The leadership doesn’t care either because it was much worse under BY, plus it wasn’t a real issue prior to BY. And they have much bigger fish to fry. This is a non-issue to them.

By the actual written rule they can do either. And both situations will happen. That’s it. Seriously, who cares? If you are one of the 2% of players who may be eligible to play with a grade lower than your current grade, find a club that will accommodate your needs. Whatever those are.

I agree that from the actual written rules both situations can potentially occur for younger than the eligibility window but grade up players.

The issue, if you want to call it that is GY (grade year) slippery slope. If leagues implemented a rule or a recommendation that young players play with their grade what you've done is grouped players by grade but without holdbacks/redshirts. Which is something club parents really like because they're footing the bill. Other people want to implement GY with regrades/holdbacks/redshirts in club soccer. Generally the way they plan to do it is by starting with GY Showcases. Which would end uo being something parents pay for but players 1-2 years older attend and play in.

If leagues implemented a rule or even a recommendation that young players play with their grade you would have teams grouped by grade but without holdbacks. Once implemented you could never implement GY showcases (with holdbacks) because teams would already be grouped by grade.

This is whats actually being argued about. Do you want GY Showcases where older players can play down 1-2 years in front of the recuiters youre paying for your kid to play in front of?

What rules or recommendations and by who? There are none. I haven’t heard even the slightest rumors of one.

If you think there should be one, email the Orgs. Or write a good old fashioned letter. What good does arguing about something that doesn’t exist, here, on this thread do?

We might was well argue about the existence of aliens while we’re at it.

What are you going to do when top clubs group their top teams by grade and dont allow younger than the eligibility window players to play down? This is what will happen because its what happened before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason people are argueing about younger than the eligibility window of 8/1-7/31 but a grade up in school is because after switching from BY to SY these are the only "trapped" players if you want to call them that. What makes them different from BY trapped players is younger players can always play up. If leagues made a rule or even drafted a recommendation that young players play with their grade every game would be grouped by grade. Which is exactly what college recruiters want.

The people in leadership positions are just being dumb and stubborn. Initially the called it School Year then once people agreed to switching from Birth Year they wanted to change the name to Seasonal Year because they didnt want the connection to grade in school. Which was something that was used to justify changing from BY to SY. So much moving the goalposts around after the fact.

The reality is club soccer and High School / College Soccer are different worlds. Either College Soccer needs to become more like club or Club Soccer needs to implement ways to bridge the gap between club and college. Younger players playing with their grade is an easy way to bring the two worlds together.

It is a very small issue, like very small. It only seems to be an issue here because of one or two aggrieved posters obsessing over it. But in reality, it is nothing compared to the trapped issues under BY. No one cares if the 2 or 3% of grade misaligned players play up, down or whatever.

The leadership doesn’t care either because it was much worse under BY, plus it wasn’t a real issue prior to BY. And they have much bigger fish to fry. This is a non-issue to them.

By the actual written rule they can do either. And both situations will happen. That’s it. Seriously, who cares? If you are one of the 2% of players who may be eligible to play with a grade lower than your current grade, find a club that will accommodate your needs. Whatever those are.

I agree that from the actual written rules both situations can potentially occur for younger than the eligibility window but grade up players.

The issue, if you want to call it that is GY (grade year) slippery slope. If leagues implemented a rule or a recommendation that young players play with their grade what you've done is grouped players by grade but without holdbacks/redshirts. Which is something club parents really like because they're footing the bill. Other people want to implement GY with regrades/holdbacks/redshirts in club soccer. Generally the way they plan to do it is by starting with GY Showcases. Which would end uo being something parents pay for but players 1-2 years older attend and play in.

If leagues implemented a rule or even a recommendation that young players play with their grade you would have teams grouped by grade but without holdbacks. Once implemented you could never implement GY showcases (with holdbacks) because teams would already be grouped by grade.

This is whats actually being argued about. Do you want GY Showcases where older players can play down 1-2 years in front of the recuiters youre paying for your kid to play in front of?

3 ifs too many. Took them 8 years to fix a real problem, going back to SY to reduce trapped players with a simple fix, changing dates. Anything further to reduce trapped players would be steps towards unwanted GY and enforceable grade documentation would also be a bridge to far with all of the different school districts in the country.