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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ah. So at the heart of the matter, you’re worried your kid isn’t good enough under the SY age brackets. Ok, at least that’s honest.

If my kid didn’t make a team next year because of one or two kids born in early August, I wouldn’t blame those kids. My kid just wasn’t good enough for that team and we’d find another one.

No, it means since scores dont matter at showcases that players playjng down are unrecritable and just wasting everyone's time.

Ok so write some emails to the showcases and tell them to put in rules that will disallow time wasters. Done.

Or, even better, just go ahead and find a club that will only field teams of players in the same grade. Again, done! You’ve already said multiple times that all of the top clubs are going to be doing that. So problem solved it would seem. What are you doing here in this thread?

I prefer ro educate parents here about playing by grade and why its important for college recruiting.

You should go to the top clubs and explain to them why recruiting doesnt matter.

Well why not start a college recruitment thread? Since you’re the expert. Educate everyone there. This is about trapped players and players playing the same age group again, at all levels and sharing what clubs are posting/saying.

Everyone already knows your take. The vast vast majority of people who would post here will have players playing with their actual grade. So they don’t need to be told over and over that to be recruited they need to do something they’re already doing. What’s the point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ah. So at the heart of the matter, you’re worried your kid isn’t good enough under the SY age brackets. Ok, at least that’s honest.

If my kid didn’t make a team next year because of one or two kids born in early August, I wouldn’t blame those kids. My kid just wasn’t good enough for that team and we’d find another one.

No, it means since scores dont matter at showcases that players playjng down are unrecritable and just wasting everyone's time.

They might do showcases by grade, don't know. You should stump for showcase by grade then if this is your central concern. I don't care about showcases as colleges are scouting specific players that they have already been following and not evaluating the entire team.

Wont happen if parents understand why younger than the eligibility window should play with their grade is important.

Just so people understand. The pp pulled his mask off for a couple of seconds. He wants GY showcases paid for by you that clubs can play down their favorites that are 1-2 years older than your kid. In this situation how good your kid is wont matter because just like Telent ID invites clubs and coaches will use Showcase attendance as recruitment tools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

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.

A written league reccomendation that younger than the eligibility window players play "up" with thier correct grade team requires no enforcement but would address the issue. It would also safeguard against the GY slippery slope.

Perfect! Go ahead and pitch this to the leagues. But right now, this doesn’t exist. So why argue here about something that doesn’t exist?

Great, we both agree that leagues should provide guidance that younger players roster by grade.

Again, I don’t care! My kid will be with their actual grade. I just don’t see the point in pages of argument about something that doesn’t exist. Something that is actively taking away from the actual topic of the thread.

As soon as the leagues publish these rules you want, you can make a new thread and we can discuss its merits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

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.

A written league reccomendation that younger than the eligibility window players play "up" with thier correct grade team requires no enforcement but would address the issue. It would also safeguard against the GY slippery slope.

Perfect! Go ahead and pitch this to the leagues. But right now, this doesn’t exist. So why argue here about something that doesn’t exist?

Great, we both agree that leagues should provide guidance that younger players roster by grade.

Again, I don’t care! My kid will be with their actual grade. I just don’t see the point in pages of argument about something that doesn’t exist. Something that is actively taking away from the actual topic of the thread.

As soon as the leagues publish these rules you want, you can make a new thread and we can discuss its merits.

Its a bigger picture issue. This is why people are bringing it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ah. So at the heart of the matter, you’re worried your kid isn’t good enough under the SY age brackets. Ok, at least that’s honest.

If my kid didn’t make a team next year because of one or two kids born in early August, I wouldn’t blame those kids. My kid just wasn’t good enough for that team and we’d find another one.

No, it means since scores dont matter at showcases that players playjng down are unrecritable and just wasting everyone's time.

They might do showcases by grade, don't know. You should stump for showcase by grade then if this is your central concern. I don't care about showcases as colleges are scouting specific players that they have already been following and not evaluating the entire team.

Wont happen if parents understand why younger than the eligibility window should play with their grade is important.

Just so people understand. The pp pulled his mask off for a couple of seconds. He wants GY showcases paid for by you that clubs can play down their favorites that are 1-2 years older than your kid. In this situation how good your kid is wont matter because just like Telent ID invites clubs and coaches will use Showcase attendance as recruitment tools.

What club uses Talent ID (and potentially Showcase) invites as recruitment tools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

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.

A written league reccomendation that younger than the eligibility window players play "up" with thier correct grade team requires no enforcement but would address the issue. It would also safeguard against the GY slippery slope.

Perfect! Go ahead and pitch this to the leagues. But right now, this doesn’t exist. So why argue here about something that doesn’t exist?

Great, we both agree that leagues should provide guidance that younger players roster by grade.

Again, I don’t care! My kid will be with their actual grade. I just don’t see the point in pages of argument about something that doesn’t exist. Something that is actively taking away from the actual topic of the thread.

As soon as the leagues publish these rules you want, you can make a new thread and we can discuss its merits.

Its a bigger picture issue. This is why people are bringing it up.

No one is bringing up non-existent rules and recommendations except for you. You know why? Because no one else cares about things that don’t exist!

If they are created, great! We can chat about them then. If you really feel these rules are needed, fine, take that up with the people who can actually make them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ah. So at the heart of the matter, you’re worried your kid isn’t good enough under the SY age brackets. Ok, at least that’s honest.

If my kid didn’t make a team next year because of one or two kids born in early August, I wouldn’t blame those kids. My kid just wasn’t good enough for that team and we’d find another one.

No, it means since scores dont matter at showcases that players playjng down are unrecritable and just wasting everyone's time.

They might do showcases by grade, don't know. You should stump for showcase by grade then if this is your central concern. I don't care about showcases as colleges are scouting specific players that they have already been following and not evaluating the entire team.

Wont happen if parents understand why younger than the eligibility window should play with their grade is important.

Just so people understand. The pp pulled his mask off for a couple of seconds. He wants GY showcases paid for by you that clubs can play down their favorites that are 1-2 years older than your kid. In this situation how good your kid is wont matter because just like Telent ID invites clubs and coaches will use Showcase attendance as recruitment tools.

You are reading into it. I don't think showcases should be by grade, this is your concern.
I don't care about showcases, at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Top Clubs are MLS Next clubs
They will never care about school grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ah. So at the heart of the matter, you’re worried your kid isn’t good enough under the SY age brackets. Ok, at least that’s honest.

If my kid didn’t make a team next year because of one or two kids born in early August, I wouldn’t blame those kids. My kid just wasn’t good enough for that team and we’d find another one.

No, it means since scores dont matter at showcases that players playjng down are unrecritable and just wasting everyone's time.

Ok so write some emails to the showcases and tell them to put in rules that will disallow time wasters. Done.

Or, even better, just go ahead and find a club that will only field teams of players in the same grade. Again, done! You’ve already said multiple times that all of the top clubs are going to be doing that. So problem solved it would seem. What are you doing here in this thread?

I prefer ro educate parents here about playing by grade and why its important for college recruiting.

You should go to the top clubs and explain to them why recruiting doesnt matter.

Clubs aren't buying your ruse because you are trying to run a market in campaign on an anonymous forum. The rules are age based. Clubs are mentioning case by case exceptions to play up regardless of grade just like it always has been. Nobody credible would suggest playing up unless you can dominate up an age group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

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.

A written league reccomendation that younger than the eligibility window players play "up" with thier correct grade team requires no enforcement but would address the issue. It would also safeguard against the GY slippery slope.

Perfect! Go ahead and pitch this to the leagues. But right now, this doesn’t exist. So why argue here about something that doesn’t exist?

Great, we both agree that leagues should provide guidance that younger players roster by grade.

Again, I don’t care! My kid will be with their actual grade. I just don’t see the point in pages of argument about something that doesn’t exist. Something that is actively taking away from the actual topic of the thread.

As soon as the leagues publish these rules you want, you can make a new thread and we can discuss its merits.

Its a bigger picture issue. This is why people are bringing it up.

No bigger picture. It is a very small picture that no one but you and possibly your kid cares about. Playing up is case by case for the best of the best, nobody forced up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ah. So at the heart of the matter, you’re worried your kid isn’t good enough under the SY age brackets. Ok, at least that’s honest.

If my kid didn’t make a team next year because of one or two kids born in early August, I wouldn’t blame those kids. My kid just wasn’t good enough for that team and we’d find another one.

No, it means since scores dont matter at showcases that players playjng down are unrecritable and just wasting everyone's time.

They might do showcases by grade, don't know. You should stump for showcase by grade then if this is your central concern. I don't care about showcases as colleges are scouting specific players that they have already been following and not evaluating the entire team.

Wont happen if parents understand why younger than the eligibility window should play with their grade is important.

Just so people understand. The pp pulled his mask off for a couple of seconds. He wants GY showcases paid for by you that clubs can play down their favorites that are 1-2 years older than your kid. In this situation how good your kid is wont matter because just like Telent ID invites clubs and coaches will use Showcase attendance as recruitment tools.

What club uses Talent ID (and potentially Showcase) invites as recruitment tools?

Ha! Looks like I found another one the littles know it all hasn't experienced yet.

Yes, clubs use Talent ID invites + other events as recruitment tools. FYI there are 2 potentially 3 kinds of Talent IDs. The top level ID is run by US Soccer. The second level ID is by league. The third level ID is everything else. Clubs provide recommendations for US Soccer IDs, Clubs and coaches completely control who get an invite to league IDs. With the IDs they control Clubs and coaches use talent ID invites as a way to steal players from other clubs. Its an alternative to scholorships or maybe bundled with them.

If leagues had GY Showcases there would be something everyone wants and multiple age groups that could be rostered which creates a limited supply. When theres a limited supply coaches and clubs could use Showcases for recruitment or maybe they just put their hand out for the highest bidder. The final score doesnt matter so who cares.

See how it works? This is what you dont want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Top Clubs are MLS Next clubs
They will never care about school grade

To be fair, this person has a girl. So that side of the equation is not in play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Ah. So at the heart of the matter, you’re worried your kid isn’t good enough under the SY age brackets. Ok, at least that’s honest.

If my kid didn’t make a team next year because of one or two kids born in early August, I wouldn’t blame those kids. My kid just wasn’t good enough for that team and we’d find another one.

No, it means since scores dont matter at showcases that players playjng down are unrecritable and just wasting everyone's time.

They might do showcases by grade, don't know. You should stump for showcase by grade then if this is your central concern. I don't care about showcases as colleges are scouting specific players that they have already been following and not evaluating the entire team.

Wont happen if parents understand why younger than the eligibility window should play with their grade is important.

Just so people understand. The pp pulled his mask off for a couple of seconds. He wants GY showcases paid for by you that clubs can play down their favorites that are 1-2 years older than your kid. In this situation how good your kid is wont matter because just like Telent ID invites clubs and coaches will use Showcase attendance as recruitment tools.

What club uses Talent ID (and potentially Showcase) invites as recruitment tools?

Ha! Looks like I found another one the littles know it all hasn't experienced yet.

Yes, clubs use Talent ID invites + other events as recruitment tools. FYI there are 2 potentially 3 kinds of Talent IDs. The top level ID is run by US Soccer. The second level ID is by league. The third level ID is everything else. Clubs provide recommendations for US Soccer IDs, Clubs and coaches completely control who get an invite to league IDs. With the IDs they control Clubs and coaches use talent ID invites as a way to steal players from other clubs. Its an alternative to scholorships or maybe bundled with them.

If leagues had GY Showcases there would be something everyone wants and multiple age groups that could be rostered which creates a limited supply. When theres a limited supply coaches and clubs could use Showcases for recruitment or maybe they just put their hand out for the highest bidder. The final score doesnt matter so who cares.

See how it works? This is what you dont want.

Great! Sell the leagues on your plan. It isn’t something we can do anything about in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Top Clubs are MLS Next clubs
They will never care about school grade

To be fair, this person has a girl. So that side of the equation is not in play.

To be fair you have no clue.

Also the only reason MLS doesnt care about grade is because Homegrown teams exist. Homegrown players are higher level then general league players because they're playing against and training for near pro level opponents.These players are what pro and college coaches prioritize.

If the girls had something equivalent they wouldn't care about grade in school either. They dont so they do care about grade in school because it affects college recruiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Top Clubs are MLS Next clubs
They will never care about school grade

To be fair, this person has a girl. So that side of the equation is not in play.

You realize the most off the rails threads are focused on girls soccer

That said, why is school grade being prioritized when it's irrelevant beyond graduation year?
Other than trying to distract from the relevant soccer shortcomings of the player.