ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw my first ECNL hat today! I laughed. Thanks to this message board

Consider this...

There used to be 10x more. Some have been shamed into taking them off + buying something with their kids club info.

The ones left haven't got the memo.

I did find it funny when my U12 fellow parent bought one at an event. Big time cringe.

Maybe some people aren't into sports and that's fine but come on.

You wouldn't go to a Commanders game and buy a hat that says NFL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty sure ECNL is also going to allow two games in a day for league play as long as they are on min restriction. So players can play BY/SY teams if they are at the level once the age change happens. Get ready lots of changes coming in 26/27 more than just age group changes.

I'm pretty sure you're wrong.

As players get older playing 2 high level games the same day is a recipe for acl issues.

Many ECNL girls play multiple games in a day. Between RL/ECNL. This is not uncommon. Will include a min restriction. Players will be allowed 90 min of PT a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, did not read the previous 927 pages but this mean that the April-July kids will now be the least likely to make the team? After this change was announced I looked at our roster to realize that most kids were born January through May, and then we have two July/August kids and only one born in October after the new cutoff. Is this typical? My son is born in July and I am a bit concern what this shift will mean for him next year.

Feels like a troll, but yes this the current landscape and it will be changing drastically in fall 2026

Huh? Why would this be a troll post? This is what my son’s team look like and I was curious if that is the case more or less across the board. If so, then I think there is a good reason to believe that things will become an uphill battle for him next year having a July birthday and being still quite young.

It depends on how many Sept-Q4 kids are on the older team. Sounds like perhaps not many. The age cut offs have probably caused a lot of Q4 kids to drop soccer.

It seems that this might be the case to a large extent and only the youngest kids will be really affected, but there might be a few kids who could become a threat. Our October kid is one of the smallest but also one of the best technically. The age group currently below us definitely needs to worry about him, because with them he will no longer have the size disadvantage and will have benefited from years of playing with and against older and larger kids on a top team. It is going to be interesting to see how things shake up next year.

Yall know you can go on the ECNL site on the boys side and see grad year for all players right? There are plenty of q4s… not to mention all of the Q4s from the stronger RL teams. Plus, all of them will be club shopping next spring… you really don’t understand what is going to happen.

When the lower half of the roster kids have to suddenly compete a birth year up against bigger, older kids from within and from outside the club, they aren’t going to make the cut for first teams. This isn’t rocket science, plus it literally happened before!

I have the ECNL app, but can’t find their grad year. Where can I find it?

Go to then website, click on the schedule and then on any team. It shows the roster on the right hand side. RL as well.

I see the roster, but can’t find the grad year.

Website on a browser, not the app. It's possible the team you're looking at didn't enter it, but almost everyone in our conference (North Atlantic) has them listed for all their teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw my first ECNL hat today! I laughed. Thanks to this message board

Consider this...

There used to be 10x more. Some have been shamed into taking them off + buying something with their kids club info.

The ones left haven't got the memo.

I did find it funny when my U12 fellow parent bought one at an event. Big time cringe.

Maybe some people aren't into sports and that's fine but come on.

You wouldn't go to a Commanders game and buy a hat that says NFL.

I don’t view my kid’s game at a travel showcase as being much like a pro football game, so it’s more of a souvenir for me.

Glad to accept $10 from anyone here who wants to judge, though.

[Anonymous]

This is a fair discussion of the switch to SY ... Also found this super insightful ...

It’s confusing because the cutoff works in opposite directions for school and soccer:
The school cutoff says “no younger than” while the soccer cutoff says “no older than".

In school you can choose to start late (be older for your class, i.e., “play down”), but in soccer if you’re too old (based on the soccer cutoff date) you are excluded from that group.

In you can choose to play up (be younger than teammates), but in school you’re too young you can’t start (e.g., can’t enroll in kindergarten until you turn 5.

The later the school district cutoff, the more kids eligible for that school year (Sept 1 cutoff allows Aug birthdays to start); the earlier the soccer cutoff, the more kids eligible to play soccer with that group (Aug 1 cutoff allows Aug birthdays to participate).

An earlier cutoff = more players eligible to participate with their classmates. We support a July 1 or August 1 soccer cutoff, with the assumption that clubs & leagues will allow players to play up and that most players will choose to play with their grade, even those eligible to play with the grade below.

https://www.soccerparenting.com/blog/upcoming-age-group-changes-youth-soccer-csc/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a fair discussion of the switch to SY ... Also found this super insightful ...

It’s confusing because the cutoff works in opposite directions for school and soccer:
The school cutoff says “no younger than” while the soccer cutoff says “no older than".

In school you can choose to start late (be older for your class, i.e., “play down”), but in soccer if you’re too old (based on the soccer cutoff date) you are excluded from that group.

In you can choose to play up (be younger than teammates), but in school you’re too young you can’t start (e.g., can’t enroll in kindergarten until you turn 5.

The later the school district cutoff, the more kids eligible for that school year (Sept 1 cutoff allows Aug birthdays to start); the earlier the soccer cutoff, the more kids eligible to play soccer with that group (Aug 1 cutoff allows Aug birthdays to participate).

An earlier cutoff = more players eligible to participate with their classmates. We support a July 1 or August 1 soccer cutoff, with the assumption that clubs & leagues will allow players to play up and that most players will choose to play with their grade, even those eligible to play with the grade below.

https://www.soccerparenting.com/blog/upcoming-age-group-changes-youth-soccer-csc/

No, once you start making exceptions…then you might as well go to GY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw my first ECNL hat today! I laughed. Thanks to this message board

Consider this...

There used to be 10x more. Some have been shamed into taking them off + buying something with their kids club info.

The ones left haven't got the memo.

I did find it funny when my U12 fellow parent bought one at an event. Big time cringe.

Maybe some people aren't into sports and that's fine but come on.

You wouldn't go to a Commanders game and buy a hat that says NFL.

I don’t view my kid’s game at a travel showcase as being much like a pro football game, so it’s more of a souvenir for me.

Glad to accept $10 from anyone here who wants to judge, though.

Does your kid play for a club?

Or, does your kid play for a league?

[Anonymous]

I saw a GA hat today in the wild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw a GA hat today in the wild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty sure ECNL is also going to allow two games in a day for league play as long as they are on min restriction. So players can play BY/SY teams if they are at the level once the age change happens. Get ready lots of changes coming in 26/27 more than just age group changes.

Agree there are changes for 26/27. But if so why talk about them now? That is a long way off. I also do not believe by the time we get to 26/27 that there will be two games a day allowed. Even watching minutes. This is a dumb idea and it will get killed before it goes in. A lot of these kids are also playing high school at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw a GA hat today in the wild.

No one would openly admit their kid plays in a second rate league.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m pretty sure ECNL is also going to allow two games in a day for league play as long as they are on min restriction. So players can play BY/SY teams if they are at the level once the age change happens. Get ready lots of changes coming in 26/27 more than just age group changes.

Agree there are changes for 26/27. But if so why talk about them now? That is a long way off. I also do not believe by the time we get to 26/27 that there will be two games a day allowed. Even watching minutes. This is a dumb idea and it will get killed before it goes in. A lot of these kids are also playing high school at the same time.

Just telling the people what I hear. One of my buddies is a consultant for US soccer so he gets some nuggets of ideas that are being talked about.

Leagues know kids play for various teams GA, ECNL, RL, etc and kids are playing 2 games a day already. In their mind this is a way to get control of their players but also allow kids to get extra playing time if they are unable to with their own team. Things can change but its definitely being talked about.

GA most likely staying (mostly?) BY and ECNL is switching to a SY and possibly GY model for older kids.

Clubs don’t want to lose kids on both sides so two games in a day with min restrictions is their idea to combat kids from leaving for one or the other.

We will all find out eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a fair discussion of the switch to SY ... Also found this super insightful ...

It’s confusing because the cutoff works in opposite directions for school and soccer:
The school cutoff says “no younger than” while the soccer cutoff says “no older than".

In school you can choose to start late (be older for your class, i.e., “play down”), but in soccer if you’re too old (based on the soccer cutoff date) you are excluded from that group.

In you can choose to play up (be younger than teammates), but in school you’re too young you can’t start (e.g., can’t enroll in kindergarten until you turn 5.

The later the school district cutoff, the more kids eligible for that school year (Sept 1 cutoff allows Aug birthdays to start); the earlier the soccer cutoff, the more kids eligible to play soccer with that group (Aug 1 cutoff allows Aug birthdays to participate).

An earlier cutoff = more players eligible to participate with their classmates. We support a July 1 or August 1 soccer cutoff, with the assumption that clubs & leagues will allow players to play up and that most players will choose to play with their grade, even those eligible to play with the grade below.

https://www.soccerparenting.com/blog/upcoming-age-group-changes-youth-soccer-csc/

Makes so much sense. Does anyone from the governing bodies see this though? Surely they are getting lots of similar feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, did not read the previous 927 pages but this mean that the April-July kids will now be the least likely to make the team? After this change was announced I looked at our roster to realize that most kids were born January through May, and then we have two July/August kids and only one born in October after the new cutoff. Is this typical? My son is born in July and I am a bit concern what this shift will mean for him next year.

Feels like a troll, but yes this the current landscape and it will be changing drastically in fall 2026

Huh? Why would this be a troll post? This is what my son’s team look like and I was curious if that is the case more or less across the board. If so, then I think there is a good reason to believe that things will become an uphill battle for him next year having a July birthday and being still quite young.

It depends on how many Sept-Q4 kids are on the older team. Sounds like perhaps not many. The age cut offs have probably caused a lot of Q4 kids to drop soccer.

It seems that this might be the case to a large extent and only the youngest kids will be really affected, but there might be a few kids who could become a threat. Our October kid is one of the smallest but also one of the best technically. The age group currently below us definitely needs to worry about him, because with them he will no longer have the size disadvantage and will have benefited from years of playing with and against older and larger kids on a top team. It is going to be interesting to see how things shake up next year.

Yall know you can go on the ECNL site on the boys side and see grad year for all players right? There are plenty of q4s… not to mention all of the Q4s from the stronger RL teams. Plus, all of them will be club shopping next spring… you really don’t understand what is going to happen.

When the lower half of the roster kids have to suddenly compete a birth year up against bigger, older kids from within and from outside the club, they aren’t going to make the cut for first teams. This isn’t rocket science, plus it literally happened before!

Except the lower half of the roster face losing their spot EVERY year. You're over-hyping it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a fair discussion of the switch to SY ... Also found this super insightful ...

It’s confusing because the cutoff works in opposite directions for school and soccer:
The school cutoff says “no younger than” while the soccer cutoff says “no older than".

In school you can choose to start late (be older for your class, i.e., “play down”), but in soccer if you’re too old (based on the soccer cutoff date) you are excluded from that group.

In you can choose to play up (be younger than teammates), but in school you’re too young you can’t start (e.g., can’t enroll in kindergarten until you turn 5.

The later the school district cutoff, the more kids eligible for that school year (Sept 1 cutoff allows Aug birthdays to start); the earlier the soccer cutoff, the more kids eligible to play soccer with that group (Aug 1 cutoff allows Aug birthdays to participate).

An earlier cutoff = more players eligible to participate with their classmates. We support a July 1 or August 1 soccer cutoff, with the assumption that clubs & leagues will allow players to play up and that most players will choose to play with their grade, even those eligible to play with the grade below.

https://www.soccerparenting.com/blog/upcoming-age-group-changes-youth-soccer-csc/

Makes so much sense. Does anyone from the governing bodies see this though? Surely they are getting lots of similar feedback.

To be clear - no one is going to choose to play up during the "important years" when it comes to recruiting. Each month you add, the more misaligned kids you have.You're talking the exception not the rule.