Important Update: US Soccer Birth Year Change

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:School year increases participation at the youngest ages, which increases the quantity and quality of players later. School year also eliminates trapped players in the MS/HS and HS/college transitions. It was a shortsighted switch to BY and it should be corrected. It will be a headache to correct, but it will be good for players (trapped players) and good for the system in the long run.

No it is not an issue. It is not worth the effort for few the “trapped” players. Go play rec.

Why are there so few trapped players? Oh, because they all drop out and stop playing.....

And there will still be trapped players with SY.

Since you are so knowledgeable please list all the school districts that begin the school year before 8/1.

My son is an August birthday in a state where the enrollment cutoff is September 1st. He'll go from playing with his grade level to playing with the class behind him who he has no connection to.

Same here. Its so odd to me that this seems like the better solution. It just leaves a different set of kids trapped.

Nobody is trapped if they can play with their grade. Right now Fall birthday kids are not allowed to play with their correct grade so they’re trapped. With the change nobody will be trapped.

On BY there was no "play with your correct grade" it was just birth year, so obviously mixed grades. Now anyone born in August or September is placed with a lower grade, not their correct grade. How is this better?

Because they don't have to be placed with the lower grade. My October 2014 son in 4th grade *cannot* play with the kids in his grade who are almost entirely 2015s. He *must* play with 5th graders. The trap is that when his teammates all play high school when he's in 8th grade he *cannot* play down with the 8th graders.

SY is a better (at least for trapped players) because the fall birthday kids in an SY scheme have options. They even have part time options, for example my October 2014 son could lets say, actually make the team up, the one he's on now and stay with them, but then when they all go to high school and he isn't, he could play that season down with the 15s, in that way SY completely eliminates the trapped problem, so why not do it?

The key here is whether kids are being forced or not. Now clubs may only offer fall birthday kids a team down, so it might not feel like options, and thats the club's choice, but what club you play for is your choice!

But Aug and Sept birthdays would have to play up to be kept with their grade.

Yes, the proposed rules are designed to *allow* kids to play with their grade. No set of rules will guarantee that every kid can *make* their desired team with their grade.

I'm not sure why this is so hard for everyone to grasp since it keeps coming up again and again, but thanks for explaining it clearly.

Its hard to grasp because its not a clearly better system. Its still kind of messed up and confusing and puts a lot of kids already in the system in a weird position. And for kids moving forward they would like default to playing with the grade below them in the u little rec teams, which is a direct contradiction to all of the "but now she can play with her friends" crying. It still leaves a chunk of kids that wont.

As a parent of several kids who played under the old system, it's not that difficult. At rec and lower travel levels, most clubs allowed an August birthday to play "up" with kids in their grade, as long as it wasn't a safety issue. At higher levels, a skilled August player may still be selected for a team in a higher age group, and if not, it's a nice opportunity for kids who are always the youngest in their grade to be one of the oldest on their sports teams.

Why is it a nice opportunity to be one of the oldest for a change, but its horrible for the current late fall students to be one of the youngest for a change?

The arguments for this are totally contradictaory.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School year increases participation at the youngest ages, which increases the quantity and quality of players later. School year also eliminates trapped players in the MS/HS and HS/college transitions. It was a shortsighted switch to BY and it should be corrected. It will be a headache to correct, but it will be good for players (trapped players) and good for the system in the long run.

No it is not an issue. It is not worth the effort for few the “trapped” players. Go play rec.

Why are there so few trapped players? Oh, because they all drop out and stop playing.....

And there will still be trapped players with SY.

Since you are so knowledgeable please list all the school districts that begin the school year before 8/1.

My son is an August birthday in a state where the enrollment cutoff is September 1st. He'll go from playing with his grade level to playing with the class behind him who he has no connection to.

Same here. Its so odd to me that this seems like the better solution. It just leaves a different set of kids trapped.

Nobody is trapped if they can play with their grade. Right now Fall birthday kids are not allowed to play with their correct grade so they’re trapped. With the change nobody will be trapped.

On BY there was no "play with your correct grade" it was just birth year, so obviously mixed grades. Now anyone born in August or September is placed with a lower grade, not their correct grade. How is this better?

Because they don't have to be placed with the lower grade. My October 2014 son in 4th grade *cannot* play with the kids in his grade who are almost entirely 2015s. He *must* play with 5th graders. The trap is that when his teammates all play high school when he's in 8th grade he *cannot* play down with the 8th graders.

SY is a better (at least for trapped players) because the fall birthday kids in an SY scheme have options. They even have part time options, for example my October 2014 son could lets say, actually make the team up, the one he's on now and stay with them, but then when they all go to high school and he isn't, he could play that season down with the 15s, in that way SY completely eliminates the trapped problem, so why not do it?

The key here is whether kids are being forced or not. Now clubs may only offer fall birthday kids a team down, so it might not feel like options, and thats the club's choice, but what club you play for is your choice!

But Aug and Sept birthdays would have to play up to be kept with their grade.

Yes, the proposed rules are designed to *allow* kids to play with their grade. No set of rules will guarantee that every kid can *make* their desired team with their grade.

I'm not sure why this is so hard for everyone to grasp since it keeps coming up again and again, but thanks for explaining it clearly.

Its hard to grasp because its not a clearly better system. Its still kind of messed up and confusing and puts a lot of kids already in the system in a weird position. And for kids moving forward they would like default to playing with the grade below them in the u little rec teams, which is a direct contradiction to all of the "but now she can play with her friends" crying. It still leaves a chunk of kids that wont.

As a parent of several kids who played under the old system, it's not that difficult. At rec and lower travel levels, most clubs allowed an August birthday to play "up" with kids in their grade, as long as it wasn't a safety issue. At higher levels, a skilled August player may still be selected for a team in a higher age group, and if not, it's a nice opportunity for kids who are always the youngest in their grade to be one of the oldest on their sports teams.

Why is it a nice opportunity to be one of the oldest for a change, but its horrible for the current late fall students to be one of the youngest for a change?

The arguments for this are totally contradictaory.

Because the August kids you are so worried about are more likely to have a choice—play with their grade or not. I have twins born in August, and they did both. Someone has to be the youngest, but more kids will keep playing soccer when they are playing with their classmates.

[Anonymous]

The SC Surf 09 Boys won the ECNL National Championship. 5 of the 18 on that roster are current 9th graders, the rest in 10th. When they are seniors in HS, the current format means those 5 players will play U-19 on a team combined with 2010s.

Those 5 players will very likely bump five 2010s off their team. Changing to SY makes that scenario, which happens every year across the country stop.

The proponents of BY either support it for simplicity or how it benefits their own child. Moving to BY by USYS was for less 0.1% of kids that they look at for the national teams.

While the majority of the world uses BY, not everyone does. For example, England uses SEP 1. There are several others.

[Anonymous]

WhY cAnT mY OcToBeR cHiLd ChEaT tHe SysTyM?!?!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WhY cAnT mY OcToBeR cHiLd ChEaT tHe SysTyM?!?!?!

Have your October Child stay with their current team, then apply for college a year early while his teammates go through with the college admissions process and play in all the show cases.

Trapped players have a huge cheat code, they currently get to go through the college admissions process a year early with their team. It gives them a huge jump on the rest of the kids who won't get to play in showcases for another year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WhY cAnT mY OcToBeR cHiLd ChEaT tHe SysTyM?!?!?!

Have your October Child stay with their current team, then apply for college a year early while his teammates go through with the college admissions process and play in all the show cases.

Trapped players have a huge cheat code, they currently get to go through the college admissions process a year early with their team. It gives them a huge jump on the rest of the kids who won't get to play in showcases for another year.

OMG- you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. #ncaarules

[Anonymous]

Already a long long post about this

[Anonymous]

Seems like August kids who are the youngest in their grades will be the most impacted, assuming the school cutoff age for their district is September 1. They can either:

1. Play with their new age group that will likely have little to no other kids in their grade. This is a bad deal when their team are all sophomores and they are the lone junior, and so on, for recruiting purposes. But they will be the “oldest” in the group and could benefit with speed, size, IQ, etc.
2. Play “up” with their old age group, assuming they have a spot and don’t get bumped by another kid being pushed down. They will then be the “youngest” but still with their old team. Could be a good thing or bad thing depending on the kid.
3. Reclassify and call it a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like August kids who are the youngest in their grades will be the most impacted, assuming the school cutoff age for their district is September 1. They can either:

1. Play with their new age group that will likely have little to no other kids in their grade. This is a bad deal when their team are all sophomores and they are the lone junior, and so on, for recruiting purposes. But they will be the “oldest” in the group and could benefit with speed, size, IQ, etc.
2. Play “up” with their old age group, assuming they have a spot and don’t get bumped by another kid being pushed down. They will then be the “youngest” but still with their old team. Could be a good thing or bad thing depending on the kid.
3. Reclassify and call it a day.

August 1 is the likely cut off if this happens. While a lot of school districts start after Labor Day, the Southeast usually starts in August. August 1 would capture 99% of school years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School year increases participation at the youngest ages, which increases the quantity and quality of players later. School year also eliminates trapped players in the MS/HS and HS/college transitions. It was a shortsighted switch to BY and it should be corrected. It will be a headache to correct, but it will be good for players (trapped players) and good for the system in the long run.

No it is not an issue. It is not worth the effort for few the “trapped” players. Go play rec.

Why are there so few trapped players? Oh, because they all drop out and stop playing.....

And there will still be trapped players with SY.

Since you are so knowledgeable please list all the school districts that begin the school year before 8/1.

My son is an August birthday in a state where the enrollment cutoff is September 1st. He'll go from playing with his grade level to playing with the class behind him who he has no connection to.

Same here. Its so odd to me that this seems like the better solution. It just leaves a different set of kids trapped.

Nobody is trapped if they can play with their grade. Right now Fall birthday kids are not allowed to play with their correct grade so they’re trapped. With the change nobody will be trapped.

Except the school districts that start Sept 1 or any date after Aug 1. Oh and home school. and private school kids.

But don't let detailed get in the way.

There may still be some trapped players but it will be reduced by a lot. Going from 4 months worth of trapped players to 1 month or less is a significant improvement. No solution is perfect but can we at least agree that having less trapped players is a good thing?

According to https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp the only trapped players under a return to 8/1 cutoff would be redshirted kids. There will be some kids who are misaligned on the non-trapped side of the cutoff, requiring them to play up to stay with class, but even that group will be far less than the current trapped kids. If this changes, I'd expect leagues to recommend to clubs that they play kids up whenever possible to stay with class. The tough decision will be for clubs/parents when a kid can only make the B team with class but can make the A team below class.
Nobody is trapped if they can play with their grade. Right now Fall birthday kids are not allowed to play with their correct grade so they’re trapped. With the change nobody will be trapped.

Saying nobody will be trapped doesn't sound accurate to me. Our club has already indicated that they will stick to the dates and not grades. My kid is Sept baby and will then be moved back based on dates. So playing with a team of mostly kids the grade below him. That sounds a bit trapped to me...please correct me cause i'm not an expert.

Change clubs if it bothers you. It’s a free market and people change clubs all. the. time. Your situation is NOT being trapped. If you had a trapped player you would understand the difference. You will have options to play with current BY is your kid is good enough and can make the team.

Haha what? What a weird response from an "adult". I don't have a trapped player, so I don't know the difference and was literally asking to be told the difference. How dumb can you be? I have nothing wrong with the club's stance or the year change, but you on the other hand...

Move on to the next post if it bothers you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like August kids who are the youngest in their grades will be the most impacted, assuming the school cutoff age for their district is September 1. They can either:

1. Play with their new age group that will likely have little to no other kids in their grade. This is a bad deal when their team are all sophomores and they are the lone junior, and so on, for recruiting purposes. But they will be the “oldest” in the group and could benefit with speed, size, IQ, etc.
2. Play “up” with their old age group, assuming they have a spot and don’t get bumped by another kid being pushed down. They will then be the “youngest” but still with their old team. Could be a good thing or bad thing depending on the kid.
3. Reclassify and call it a day.

August 1 is the likely cut off if this happens. While a lot of school districts start after Labor Day, the Southeast usually starts in August. August 1 would capture 99% of school years.

Yeah, that’s my understanding too. I just mean that if you’re an August 15 birthday, for instance, there is the likely chance that in the new system you will be playing with kids a grade below you, assuming you started school as one of the youngest in your class. The Aug 15 kid might be the youngest 8th grader but will be playing with all 7th graders as the oldest on that team.

[Anonymous]

The August birthdays are lucky because they have more options and are probably valuable to clubs and coaches

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County is a September 30th cutoff so kids just before that date would potentially be the youngest in the grade but oldest on the team at least for FFX.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County is a September 30th cutoff so kids just before that date would potentially be the youngest in the grade but oldest on the team at least for FFX.

The small number of kids caught in that couple week window have the CHOICE to play UP with their school grade or with they soccer SY age (grade below them). Contrast that with the 4 months of trapped kids that can’t play with their school classmates until U-19 their senior year, have to miss a season of travel during 8th grade and then their team disbands prior to their senior season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School year increases participation at the youngest ages, which increases the quantity and quality of players later. School year also eliminates trapped players in the MS/HS and HS/college transitions. It was a shortsighted switch to BY and it should be corrected. It will be a headache to correct, but it will be good for players (trapped players) and good for the system in the long run.

No it is not an issue. It is not worth the effort for few the “trapped” players. Go play rec.

Why are there so few trapped players? Oh, because they all drop out and stop playing.....

And there will still be trapped players with SY.

Since you are so knowledgeable please list all the school districts that begin the school year before 8/1.

My son is an August birthday in a state where the enrollment cutoff is September 1st. He'll go from playing with his grade level to playing with the class behind him who he has no connection to.

Same here. Its so odd to me that this seems like the better solution. It just leaves a different set of kids trapped.

Nobody is trapped if they can play with their grade. Right now Fall birthday kids are not allowed to play with their correct grade so they’re trapped. With the change nobody will be trapped.

Except the school districts that start Sept 1 or any date after Aug 1. Oh and home school. and private school kids.

But don't let detailed get in the way.

There may still be some trapped players but it will be reduced by a lot. Going from 4 months worth of trapped players to 1 month or less is a significant improvement. No solution is perfect but can we at least agree that having less trapped players is a good thing?

According to https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp the only trapped players under a return to 8/1 cutoff would be redshirted kids. There will be some kids who are misaligned on the non-trapped side of the cutoff, requiring them to play up to stay with class, but even that group will be far less than the current trapped kids. If this changes, I'd expect leagues to recommend to clubs that they play kids up whenever possible to stay with class. The tough decision will be for clubs/parents when a kid can only make the B team with class but can make the A team below class.
Nobody is trapped if they can play with their grade. Right now Fall birthday kids are not allowed to play with their correct grade so they’re trapped. With the change nobody will be trapped.

Saying nobody will be trapped doesn't sound accurate to me. Our club has already indicated that they will stick to the dates and not grades. My kid is Sept baby and will then be moved back based on dates. So playing with a team of mostly kids the grade below him. That sounds a bit trapped to me...please correct me cause i'm not an expert.

Change clubs if it bothers you. It’s a free market and people change clubs all. the. time. Your situation is NOT being trapped. If you had a trapped player you would understand the difference. You will have options to play with current BY is your kid is good enough and can make the team.

Yeah, not trapped because they can switch clubs to one that would allow them to play up one year.