ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I Initially had a SY over BY preference. But the one thing I have learned from these 900 pages is that if I really have a preference that hopes to benefit my kid, it just means my kid is not elite. So I am trying to convince myself I don't have a preference.

Here's my rant, enjoy ...

A lot more people need to accept that their kid is not elite. "Elite" kids could possibly be pros, and often have to settle for college. Bottom half of D1, all of D2, and all of D3 just aren't that elite and should not have to sacrifice so much to play at that level. Reaching your full potential, if it's playing at those levels or below, should be achievable on teams with friends with almost no national travel.

I would not call my kid elite, but loves the sport, practices extra outside the team, and is good enough to play on varsity HS. She has no aspirations to play in college - school is #1. Maybe she could play at some mediocre D2/D3 school, but then just go to a better school and play club (if they have it) or coed leagues for fun. She should not need to travel by plane to a tournament, unless it's a fun trip with her best friends. She doesn't need to travel more than two hours to find a team at her competitive level for league play. She shouldn't be on a team without a single friend from her grade at school. Soccer tournaments shouldn't require missing any school. Yet in a system with kids separated by BY and 7+ club v club tiers, she has to do all this just to play club at the same level as HS varsity. Friends of the same ability level, same school, and same class are spread across different club teams. It's dumb.

BY was part of a systemic problem where kids are treated like aspiring national team players way too far below the pro-pathway. Happy to see it end. Now start consolidating ECNL-RL, GA-R, USYS NL, DPL, and NAL. If more kids under SY join club soccer, and can play with their classmates, there is going to be more interest in actually being on the same team with those friends. To do that, we're going to have to do something about the leagues next.

It would be easier to argue for ECNL-NL and GA to stay BY if they were more elite. But even those levels dip too far down into the talent pool to justify it. If the number of national teams were more in line with just MLSN academy teams, maybe.

My guess is most BY proponents fall into this profile: their kid is most likely headed to play lower level college soccer or top out at high school soccer; but to achieve their max potential they need the age advantage under BY; so they make some dubious claims about how BY is helping a tiny group of players much better than their own kid and how important that is. Meanwhile, that tiny group is too busy kicking butt to actually even care about BY vs SY. Some sit just outside that tiny group with a delusional belief that maintaining BY gives their kid a chance to break into that group. The typical SY proponent has accepted that their kid isn't elite to the extent that the whole system should be set up like a national team when that causes so many other problems. They are either advantaged by SY or don't fear any disadvantage.

Slow clap for this person! Nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I Initially had a SY over BY preference. But the one thing I have learned from these 900 pages is that if I really have a preference that hopes to benefit my kid, it just means my kid is not elite. So I am trying to convince myself I don't have a preference.

Here's my rant, enjoy ...

A lot more people need to accept that their kid is not elite. "Elite" kids could possibly be pros, and often have to settle for college. Bottom half of D1, all of D2, and all of D3 just aren't that elite and should not have to sacrifice so much to play at that level. Reaching your full potential, if it's playing at those levels or below, should be achievable on teams with friends with almost no national travel.

I would not call my kid elite, but loves the sport, practices extra outside the team, and is good enough to play on varsity HS. She has no aspirations to play in college - school is #1. Maybe she could play at some mediocre D2/D3 school, but then just go to a better school and play club (if they have it) or coed leagues for fun. She should not need to travel by plane to a tournament, unless it's a fun trip with her best friends. She doesn't need to travel more than two hours to find a team at her competitive level for league play. She shouldn't be on a team without a single friend from her grade at school. Soccer tournaments shouldn't require missing any school. Yet in a system with kids separated by BY and 7+ club v club tiers, she has to do all this just to play club at the same level as HS varsity. Friends of the same ability level, same school, and same class are spread across different club teams. It's dumb.

BY was part of a systemic problem where kids are treated like aspiring national team players way too far below the pro-pathway. Happy to see it end. Now start consolidating ECNL-RL, GA-R, USYS NL, DPL, and NAL. If more kids under SY join club soccer, and can play with their classmates, there is going to be more interest in actually being on the same team with those friends. To do that, we're going to have to do something about the leagues next.

It would be easier to argue for ECNL-NL and GA to stay BY if they were more elite. But even those levels dip too far down into the talent pool to justify it. If the number of national teams were more in line with just MLSN academy teams, maybe.

My guess is most BY proponents fall into this profile: their kid is most likely headed to play lower level college soccer or top out at high school soccer; but to achieve their max potential they need the age advantage under BY; so they make some dubious claims about how BY is helping a tiny group of players much better than their own kid and how important that is. Meanwhile, that tiny group is too busy kicking butt to actually even care about BY vs SY. Some sit just outside that tiny group with a delusional belief that maintaining BY gives their kid a chance to break into that group. The typical SY proponent has accepted that their kid isn't elite to the extent that the whole system should be set up like a national team when that causes so many other problems. They are either advantaged by SY or don't fear any disadvantage.

Slow clap for this person! Nailed it.

Joe Flacco wasn't elite but went pro and won a Superbowl. Justify that mom! (This is a joke.)

[Anonymous]

I want SY for the reasons mentioned. My DS is not elite but he wants to play and play games against classmates. I don’t care about leagues. Happy with NCSL but I want him to be able to join teams with friends and go to practice. He is a December birthday - he wants more than rec and would be happy just being able to carpool with classmates to practices.

I think the system is broken and there is too much pressure. I was at tryouts last night and the way people talk to him me another and compare is out of control. It was never like this when I was growing up and I did play travel soccer when each city had a team and there was no alpha soup.

I’m sure I’ll be attacked but again the birth year affects kids being able to carpool at young ages to practices as they don’t have the same schedule. My son used to go with the 2012s when I could drive him and sit and watch or jump in if there was space until his practice began.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want SY for the reasons mentioned. My DS is not elite but he wants to play and play games against classmates. I don’t care about leagues. Happy with NCSL but I want him to be able to join teams with friends and go to practice. He is a December birthday - he wants more than rec and would be happy just being able to carpool with classmates to practices.

I think the system is broken and there is too much pressure. I was at tryouts last night and the way people talk to him me another and compare is out of control. It was never like this when I was growing up and I did play travel soccer when each city had a team and there was no alpha soup.

I’m sure I’ll be attacked but again the birth year affects kids being able to carpool at young ages to practices as they don’t have the same schedule. My son used to go with the 2012s when I could drive him and sit and watch or jump in if there was space until his practice began.

This thread seems generally less interested in these practical realities. My kid is born in the last week of August and due to a disability we waited to enroll him in Kindergarten even though he technically made the cutoff by a couple of days. The new 9/1 age change will mean he plays with all kids a grade ahead. He loses the couple of kids his age on his team and our carpool with the one kid from his school on the team. As a 3-kid dual-working family it is going to create real logistical issues, not to mention the social aspects my son will lose by being the “baby” on his team as the likely only kid a grade below the rest of his team. We really don’t care if he is youngest or oldest in the age range. He just wants to be able to play with his friends/grade peers and he will never be able to do that again in club soccer.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for oyur troubles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want SY for the reasons mentioned. My DS is not elite but he wants to play and play games against classmates. I don’t care about leagues. Happy with NCSL but I want him to be able to join teams with friends and go to practice. He is a December birthday - he wants more than rec and would be happy just being able to carpool with classmates to practices.

I think the system is broken and there is too much pressure. I was at tryouts last night and the way people talk to him me another and compare is out of control. It was never like this when I was growing up and I did play travel soccer when each city had a team and there was no alpha soup.

I’m sure I’ll be attacked but again the birth year affects kids being able to carpool at young ages to practices as they don’t have the same schedule. My son used to go with the 2012s when I could drive him and sit and watch or jump in if there was space until his practice began.

This thread seems generally less interested in these practical realities. My kid is born in the last week of August and due to a disability we waited to enroll him in Kindergarten even though he technically made the cutoff by a couple of days. The new 9/1 age change will mean he plays with all kids a grade ahead. He loses the couple of kids his age on his team and our carpool with the one kid from his school on the team. As a 3-kid dual-working family it is going to create real logistical issues, not to mention the social aspects my son will lose by being the “baby” on his team as the likely only kid a grade below the rest of his team. We really don’t care if he is youngest or oldest in the age range. He just wants to be able to play with his friends/grade peers and he will never be able to do that again in club soccer.

My kid has a Sept birthday and started school early, so he will go from being the youngest kid on a team of classmates to the oldest kid on a team of kids who are a grade behind him. He is good enough to make an ECNL team and start, but probably not good enough to do so with his current team when the Q4 kids from the next oldest team drop down. So he probably will have to choose between playing ECNL with kids a grade below him, sitting on an ECNL bench with his classmates, and starting ECNL-R with his classmates. Three bad options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want SY for the reasons mentioned. My DS is not elite but he wants to play and play games against classmates. I don’t care about leagues. Happy with NCSL but I want him to be able to join teams with friends and go to practice. He is a December birthday - he wants more than rec and would be happy just being able to carpool with classmates to practices.

I think the system is broken and there is too much pressure. I was at tryouts last night and the way people talk to him me another and compare is out of control. It was never like this when I was growing up and I did play travel soccer when each city had a team and there was no alpha soup.

I’m sure I’ll be attacked but again the birth year affects kids being able to carpool at young ages to practices as they don’t have the same schedule. My son used to go with the 2012s when I could drive him and sit and watch or jump in if there was space until his practice began.

This thread seems generally less interested in these practical realities. My kid is born in the last week of August and due to a disability we waited to enroll him in Kindergarten even though he technically made the cutoff by a couple of days. The new 9/1 age change will mean he plays with all kids a grade ahead. He loses the couple of kids his age on his team and our carpool with the one kid from his school on the team. As a 3-kid dual-working family it is going to create real logistical issues, not to mention the social aspects my son will lose by being the “baby” on his team as the likely only kid a grade below the rest of his team. We really don’t care if he is youngest or oldest in the age range. He just wants to be able to play with his friends/grade peers and he will never be able to do that again in club soccer.

My kid has a Sept birthday and started school early, so he will go from being the youngest kid on a team of classmates to the oldest kid on a team of kids who are a grade behind him. He is good enough to make an ECNL team and start, but probably not good enough to do so with his current team when the Q4 kids from the next oldest team drop down. So he probably will have to choose between playing ECNL with kids a grade below him, sitting on an ECNL bench with his classmates, and starting ECNL-R with his classmates. Three bad options.

Another example of SY gone awry. The leagues need to make some reasonable exceptions to correct these issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want SY for the reasons mentioned. My DS is not elite but he wants to play and play games against classmates. I don’t care about leagues. Happy with NCSL but I want him to be able to join teams with friends and go to practice. He is a December birthday - he wants more than rec and would be happy just being able to carpool with classmates to practices.

I think the system is broken and there is too much pressure. I was at tryouts last night and the way people talk to him me another and compare is out of control. It was never like this when I was growing up and I did play travel soccer when each city had a team and there was no alpha soup.

I’m sure I’ll be attacked but again the birth year affects kids being able to carpool at young ages to practices as they don’t have the same schedule. My son used to go with the 2012s when I could drive him and sit and watch or jump in if there was space until his practice began.

This thread seems generally less interested in these practical realities. My kid is born in the last week of August and due to a disability we waited to enroll him in Kindergarten even though he technically made the cutoff by a couple of days. The new 9/1 age change will mean he plays with all kids a grade ahead. He loses the couple of kids his age on his team and our carpool with the one kid from his school on the team. As a 3-kid dual-working family it is going to create real logistical issues, not to mention the social aspects my son will lose by being the “baby” on his team as the likely only kid a grade below the rest of his team. We really don’t care if he is youngest or oldest in the age range. He just wants to be able to play with his friends/grade peers and he will never be able to do that again in club soccer.

Sorry to hear that about your son. The soccer organization had to set a date, any date. There will be some kids born the 1st week being the oldest and some being the youngest, like your son. But making the date 9/1 or 8/1 or whatever, for SY keeps way more kids in the same grade together vs now.

My guess is your son will play on a team where most of the kids are born in the summer months. It's easy to see at clubs that the top team are mainly Q1, the 2nd team Q2/Q3, by the 4th team, they're Q4 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want SY for the reasons mentioned. My DS is not elite but he wants to play and play games against classmates. I don’t care about leagues. Happy with NCSL but I want him to be able to join teams with friends and go to practice. He is a December birthday - he wants more than rec and would be happy just being able to carpool with classmates to practices.

I think the system is broken and there is too much pressure. I was at tryouts last night and the way people talk to him me another and compare is out of control. It was never like this when I was growing up and I did play travel soccer when each city had a team and there was no alpha soup.

I’m sure I’ll be attacked but again the birth year affects kids being able to carpool at young ages to practices as they don’t have the same schedule. My son used to go with the 2012s when I could drive him and sit and watch or jump in if there was space until his practice began.

This thread seems generally less interested in these practical realities. My kid is born in the last week of August and due to a disability we waited to enroll him in Kindergarten even though he technically made the cutoff by a couple of days. The new 9/1 age change will mean he plays with all kids a grade ahead. He loses the couple of kids his age on his team and our carpool with the one kid from his school on the team. As a 3-kid dual-working family it is going to create real logistical issues, not to mention the social aspects my son will lose by being the “baby” on his team as the likely only kid a grade below the rest of his team. We really don’t care if he is youngest or oldest in the age range. He just wants to be able to play with his friends/grade peers and he will never be able to do that again in club soccer.

Sorry to hear that about your son. The soccer organization had to set a date, any date. There will be some kids born the 1st week being the oldest and some being the youngest, like your son. But making the date 9/1 or 8/1 or whatever, for SY keeps way more kids in the same grade together vs now.

My guess is your son will play on a team where most of the kids are born in the summer months. It's easy to see at clubs that the top team are mainly Q1, the 2nd team Q2/Q3, by the 4th team, they're Q4 kids.

Yup, I'm not complaining, as some kids get the short straw in every system. I created the issue by starting him in school early. But, if I hadn't, there would be other issues (including that he would have had to play with kids a grade ahead of him for his first few years). Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want SY for the reasons mentioned. My DS is not elite but he wants to play and play games against classmates. I don’t care about leagues. Happy with NCSL but I want him to be able to join teams with friends and go to practice. He is a December birthday - he wants more than rec and would be happy just being able to carpool with classmates to practices.

I think the system is broken and there is too much pressure. I was at tryouts last night and the way people talk to him me another and compare is out of control. It was never like this when I was growing up and I did play travel soccer when each city had a team and there was no alpha soup.

I’m sure I’ll be attacked but again the birth year affects kids being able to carpool at young ages to practices as they don’t have the same schedule. My son used to go with the 2012s when I could drive him and sit and watch or jump in if there was space until his practice began.

This thread seems generally less interested in these practical realities. My kid is born in the last week of August and due to a disability we waited to enroll him in Kindergarten even though he technically made the cutoff by a couple of days. The new 9/1 age change will mean he plays with all kids a grade ahead. He loses the couple of kids his age on his team and our carpool with the one kid from his school on the team. As a 3-kid dual-working family it is going to create real logistical issues, not to mention the social aspects my son will lose by being the “baby” on his team as the likely only kid a grade below the rest of his team. We really don’t care if he is youngest or oldest in the age range. He just wants to be able to play with his friends/grade peers and he will never be able to do that again in club soccer.

Sorry to hear that about your son. The soccer organization had to set a date, any date. There will be some kids born the 1st week being the oldest and some being the youngest, like your son. But making the date 9/1 or 8/1 or whatever, for SY keeps way more kids in the same grade together vs now.

My guess is your son will play on a team where most of the kids are born in the summer months. It's easy to see at clubs that the top team are mainly Q1, the 2nd team Q2/Q3, by the 4th team, they're Q4 kids.

Yup, I'm not complaining, as some kids get the short straw in every system. I created the issue by starting him in school early. But, if I hadn't, there would be other issues (including that he would have had to play with kids a grade ahead of him for his first few years). Oh well.

And this is why allowing for exceptions in limited circumstances with specific rules makes sense.

[Anonymous]

For people who said SY was stupid because girls don’t care about playing with school friends. My daughter is in middle school and half of her MS team showed up to tryout for her club team because they all wanted to play on the same team together. Most will not make it due to the varying level of play. But they made their parents drive 20/30 min away so they could try to do it.

Also I’ve seen a lot of players show up to tryout because they know a kid from school on the other club teams. Girls want friends on their team and not saying they have to be from The same school To be friends but it is a special moment when you get the best of both worlds. School year age changes are going to be great for soccer and youth players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For people who said SY was stupid because girls don’t care about playing with school friends. My daughter is in middle school and half of her MS team showed up to tryout for her club team because they all wanted to play on the same team together. Most will not make it due to the varying level of play. But they made their parents drive 20/30 min away so they could try to do it.

Also I’ve seen a lot of players show up to tryout because they know a kid from school on the other club teams. Girls want friends on their team and not saying they have to be from The same school To be friends but it is a special moment when you get the best of both worlds. School year age changes are going to be great for soccer and youth players.

This argument makes sense for rec and those learning, not really so much for elite travel leagues, where it's often kids from around larger areas and many different schools even if they are in the same grade. The better elite argument has to do with college recruiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For people who said SY was stupid because girls don’t care about playing with school friends. My daughter is in middle school and half of her MS team showed up to tryout for her club team because they all wanted to play on the same team together. Most will not make it due to the varying level of play. But they made their parents drive 20/30 min away so they could try to do it.

Also I’ve seen a lot of players show up to tryout because they know a kid from school on the other club teams. Girls want friends on their team and not saying they have to be from The same school To be friends but it is a special moment when you get the best of both worlds. School year age changes are going to be great for soccer and youth players.

Agree with all of the above. Frankly I wish FCPS had middle school soccer teams. I grew up up in Florida and all the Middle School had all the sports. Playing with your classmates is super fun! And, our 11yo DD would love to have a classmate on her team. But we drive 35 mins to club practice.... she keeps dragging schoolmates out to tryouts, but none of them have made the team yet lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For people who said SY was stupid because girls don’t care about playing with school friends. My daughter is in middle school and half of her MS team showed up to tryout for her club team because they all wanted to play on the same team together. Most will not make it due to the varying level of play. But they made their parents drive 20/30 min away so they could try to do it.

Also I’ve seen a lot of players show up to tryout because they know a kid from school on the other club teams. Girls want friends on their team and not saying they have to be from The same school To be friends but it is a special moment when you get the best of both worlds. School year age changes are going to be great for soccer and youth players.

BY lost the argument, but believe it or not, boys and girls can and do have friends in different grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For people who said SY was stupid because girls don’t care about playing with school friends. My daughter is in middle school and half of her MS team showed up to tryout for her club team because they all wanted to play on the same team together. Most will not make it due to the varying level of play. But they made their parents drive 20/30 min away so they could try to do it.

Also I’ve seen a lot of players show up to tryout because they know a kid from school on the other club teams. Girls want friends on their team and not saying they have to be from The same school To be friends but it is a special moment when you get the best of both worlds. School year age changes are going to be great for soccer and youth players.

Agree with all of the above. Frankly I wish FCPS had middle school soccer teams. I grew up up in Florida and all the Middle School had all the sports. Playing with your classmates is super fun! And, our 11yo DD would love to have a classmate on her team. But we drive 35 mins to club practice.... she keeps dragging schoolmates out to tryouts, but none of them have made the team yet lol.

Regardless of BY/SY, kids get the option to play with classmates in HS. Some at higher levels don't, tho, because they opt not to play at that level and do showcases instead, especially while trying to get recruited.