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.