ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Got the MLSN2 schedule, trips to CA, AZ, and Nashville if we’re lucky…. Pretty impressive. The Nashville is MLS cup showcase a real MLS NEXT showcase tournament.

Other tournaments out of state.

Pretty impressive.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, the delay in rolling this out really screwed my October 2014 daughter. She’s been on the 2014 RL team and is one of their top players. We were almost certain that she was going to move to move to 2014 pre-NL team as they are moving to 11v11 this upcoming season and had 3 open spots. The coach even talked to us ahead of time and said it looked good and was very complimentary of her and she was one of the strongest and they could use her in the back. She is little… the shortest on the RL team but 100% no doubt the most technical.
Well it turns out 5 of their 9 starters on the 2014 NL team are September and Q4s. When it changes to SY a portion of them will drop down the NL team below because the 2015s have a really strong NL team, and the parents want to delay starting real ECNL because $$$$. We were fairly certain that playing with the 2014 NL this upcoming she would make the 2015 NL team when it changes to SY.
When I got the call on tryout night from the RL coach I was shocked. She said it was a really close call between my daughter and the 3 that were selected to move up. The 2014 preNL coach said this was the most important year to prepare for going to ECNL and went with 3 girls that would stay with the team into the first year of ECNL.
Now my daughter is by the most talented on the 2014 RL Team and we picked up some players that are pretty weak to replace the 3 we lost.
There’s no better club or team to go to in the area. It just feels like this is all predetermined. The NL players will drop down next season and my daughter will be on the bubble again and end up on the 2015 RL team. If they would have just waited to make the announcement after tryouts instead I guarantee my daughter would on the 2014 NL team this season. The delay totally screwed us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, the delay in rolling this out really screwed my October 2014 daughter. She’s been on the 2014 RL team and is one of their top players. We were almost certain that she was going to move to move to 2014 pre-NL team as they are moving to 11v11 this upcoming season and had 3 open spots. The coach even talked to us ahead of time and said it looked good and was very complimentary of her and she was one of the strongest and they could use her in the back. She is little… the shortest on the RL team but 100% no doubt the most technical.
Well it turns out 5 of their 9 starters on the 2014 NL team are September and Q4s. When it changes to SY a portion of them will drop down the NL team below because the 2015s have a really strong NL team, and the parents want to delay starting real ECNL because $$$$. We were fairly certain that playing with the 2014 NL this upcoming she would make the 2015 NL team when it changes to SY.
When I got the call on tryout night from the RL coach I was shocked. She said it was a really close call between my daughter and the 3 that were selected to move up. The 2014 preNL coach said this was the most important year to prepare for going to ECNL and went with 3 girls that would stay with the team into the first year of ECNL.
Now my daughter is by the most talented on the 2014 RL Team and we picked up some players that are pretty weak to replace the 3 we lost.
There’s no better club or team to go to in the area. It just feels like this is all predetermined. The NL players will drop down next season and my daughter will be on the bubble again and end up on the 2015 RL team. If they would have just waited to make the announcement after tryouts instead I guarantee my daughter would on the 2014 NL team this season. The delay totally screwed us.

9v9 is more important for development than rushing a year early for 11v11, especially if she is on the smaller side. Sounds like this is working out for the better. People have a gross misperception that rushing to 11v11 is a good thing. This is a US Soccer issue and not as common in Europe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got the MLSN2 schedule, trips to CA, AZ, and Nashville if we’re lucky…. Pretty impressive. The Nashville is MLS cup showcase a real MLS NEXT showcase tournament.

Other tournaments out of state.

Pretty impressive.

Where!!

[Anonymous]

Is this new or is this old? Why does it say 3 options now for play registration determined by league? My kid has an Aug bday so very confusing.

https://www.ussoccer.com/ecosystem-review/player-registration

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this new or is this old? Why does it say 3 options now for play registration determined by league? My kid has an Aug bday so very confusing.

https://www.ussoccer.com/ecosystem-review/player-registration

Oh I had not seen this "For the member organization's 2026-2027 season, member organizations will be responsible for approving the age group formation cycle for their leagues and competitions. The primary age group formation choices are: (1) Birth Year – January 1-December 31, (2) Seasonal Year – August 1-July 31, or (3) Seasonal Year – September 1-August 31."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this new or is this old? Why does it say 3 options now for play registration determined by league? My kid has an Aug bday so very confusing.

https://www.ussoccer.com/ecosystem-review/player-registration

Oh I had not seen this "For the member organization's 2026-2027 season, member organizations will be responsible for approving the age group formation cycle for their leagues and competitions. The primary age group formation choices are: (1) Birth Year – January 1-December 31, (2) Seasonal Year – August 1-July 31, or (3) Seasonal Year – September 1-August 31."

This came out in early March. They later confirmed the September 1 date. Go back about 200 pages to catch up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got the MLSN2 schedule, trips to CA, AZ, and Nashville if we’re lucky…. Pretty impressive. The Nashville is MLS cup showcase a real MLS NEXT showcase tournament.

Other tournaments out of state.

Pretty impressive.

MLSN2 plays in MLSN showcases. That is one of the big sells of MLSN2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Got the MLSN2 schedule, trips to CA, AZ, and Nashville if we’re lucky…. Pretty impressive. The Nashville is MLS cup showcase a real MLS NEXT showcase tournament.

Other tournaments out of state.

Pretty impressive.

Where!!

West coast MLSN2 team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, the delay in rolling this out really screwed my October 2014 daughter. She’s been on the 2014 RL team and is one of their top players. We were almost certain that she was going to move to move to 2014 pre-NL team as they are moving to 11v11 this upcoming season and had 3 open spots. The coach even talked to us ahead of time and said it looked good and was very complimentary of her and she was one of the strongest and they could use her in the back. She is little… the shortest on the RL team but 100% no doubt the most technical.
Well it turns out 5 of their 9 starters on the 2014 NL team are September and Q4s. When it changes to SY a portion of them will drop down the NL team below because the 2015s have a really strong NL team, and the parents want to delay starting real ECNL because $$$$. We were fairly certain that playing with the 2014 NL this upcoming she would make the 2015 NL team when it changes to SY.
When I got the call on tryout night from the RL coach I was shocked. She said it was a really close call between my daughter and the 3 that were selected to move up. The 2014 preNL coach said this was the most important year to prepare for going to ECNL and went with 3 girls that would stay with the team into the first year of ECNL.
Now my daughter is by the most talented on the 2014 RL Team and we picked up some players that are pretty weak to replace the 3 we lost.
There’s no better club or team to go to in the area. It just feels like this is all predetermined. The NL players will drop down next season and my daughter will be on the bubble again and end up on the 2015 RL team. If they would have just waited to make the announcement after tryouts instead I guarantee my daughter would on the 2014 NL team this season. The delay totally screwed us.

As those BY parents predicted, the ECNL coach will not select a team based on SY without the actual news. Our ECNL tryout is strictly BY and based on your skill. The RL players who came to our NL group practice are all Q1. No Q4 RL players joined the NL group during the tryout. RL SY parents have to wait next year.

[Anonymous]

They selected based on SY changing in 2026 - and didnt take her because a future change to registration would have her move down the year they start ECNL and they need players prepared. It's just infuriating they announced it and then delayed this. I'm worried about the level of play over the next year on RL not giving her a chance when comes to tryouts next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They selected based on SY changing in 2026 - and didnt take her because a future change to registration would have her move down the year they start ECNL and they need players prepared. It's just infuriating they announced it and then delayed this. I'm worried about the level of play over the next year on RL not giving her a chance when comes to tryouts next year.

Maybe try to leverage *almost* getting picked to get some call-ups during the season and or practice opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Lots of pressure to give kids a chance at first teams before the change. If you were on second for this year you had zero chance at first after SY become the law.

Enjoy your last ride folks. 11 months to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, the delay in rolling this out really screwed my October 2014 daughter. She’s been on the 2014 RL team and is one of their top players. We were almost certain that she was going to move to move to 2014 pre-NL team as they are moving to 11v11 this upcoming season and had 3 open spots. The coach even talked to us ahead of time and said it looked good and was very complimentary of her and she was one of the strongest and they could use her in the back. She is little… the shortest on the RL team but 100% no doubt the most technical.
Well it turns out 5 of their 9 starters on the 2014 NL team are September and Q4s. When it changes to SY a portion of them will drop down the NL team below because the 2015s have a really strong NL team, and the parents want to delay starting real ECNL because $$$$. We were fairly certain that playing with the 2014 NL this upcoming she would make the 2015 NL team when it changes to SY.
When I got the call on tryout night from the RL coach I was shocked. She said it was a really close call between my daughter and the 3 that were selected to move up. The 2014 preNL coach said this was the most important year to prepare for going to ECNL and went with 3 girls that would stay with the team into the first year of ECNL.
Now my daughter is by the most talented on the 2014 RL Team and we picked up some players that are pretty weak to replace the 3 we lost.
There’s no better club or team to go to in the area. It just feels like this is all predetermined. The NL players will drop down next season and my daughter will be on the bubble again and end up on the 2015 RL team. If they would have just waited to make the announcement after tryouts instead I guarantee my daughter would on the 2014 NL team this season. The delay totally screwed us.

9v9 is more important for development than rushing a year early for 11v11, especially if she is on the smaller side. Sounds like this is working out for the better. People have a gross misperception that rushing to 11v11 is a good thing. This is a US Soccer issue and not as common in Europe.

The problem with 9v9, tho, is too many teams play "kickball" and rely on 1 or 2 players to win. With 11v11, you can't rely on 1 or 2 players and if you have a good coach, your team might also learn to connect more than 3 passes and switch the ball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They selected based on SY changing in 2026 - and didnt take her because a future change to registration would have her move down the year they start ECNL and they need players prepared. It's just infuriating they announced it and then delayed this. I'm worried about the level of play over the next year on RL not giving her a chance when comes to tryouts next year.

Just make sure she trains consistently on her own. Find chances to guest play when possible. Do futsal and/or indoor soccer if available. Your daughter is young... there will be plenty of chances in the future. My daughter is 14 and is just finishing her first year of ECNL (U15). She had not played on a national platform previously; things are not as dire as people make them out to be. Breathe.