Important Update: US Soccer Birth Year Change

[Anonymous]

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

Here’s hoping!

[Anonymous]

If conversations haven’t happened already, players with August or September birthdays should start examining the rosters of both possible teams and scenarios and start the lines of communications with coaches and directors about their intentions with such players. Depending on skill level or makeup is teams, these players could fit into different roles.

[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.

This seems like an if it doesn't fix everything, we shouldn't do anything argument.

It is not hard to grasp dates moving from Jan-Dec to Aug-July but people do try their best to get confused and try to throw sand in the gears.

You can always play a year up. There are many clubs fighting for your dollars and they make exceptions to increase revenue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not arguing. Just pointing out that September birthdays would actually be the youngest, not August.

[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.

The day a school district holds their first day of school is not the same as the cutoff date.

In Fairfax school starts around the 3rd week of August. The cut off date to join a grade is September 30th though. You need to pay attention to the cut off dates not the first day of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not arguing. Just pointing out that September birthdays would actually be the youngest, not August.

Its not a couple of weeks, its 2 months. Which, yes, is less than the 3 months of Oct-Dec, but not really by much. Saying its weeks vs 4 months is incorrect. Kids born all of August and all of September are the new cohort not playing with their grade.

[Anonymous]

Genuinely curious…What does that look like for those players? Would clubs allow those children to play with their grade? It’s definitely an option instead of prohibited for Oct -Dec with the birth year system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not arguing. Just pointing out that September birthdays would actually be the youngest, not August.

Its not a couple of weeks, its 2 months. Which, yes, is less than the 3 months of Oct-Dec, but not really by much. Saying its weeks vs 4 months is incorrect. Kids born all of August and all of September are the new cohort not playing with their grade.

True. But there’s more kids in those Aug/ Sept that were held back for another year or repeat grade in elementary school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not arguing. Just pointing out that September birthdays would actually be the youngest, not August.

Its not a couple of weeks, its 2 months. Which, yes, is less than the 3 months of Oct-Dec, but not really by much. Saying its weeks vs 4 months is incorrect. Kids born all of August and all of September are the new cohort not playing with their grade.

True. But there’s more kids in those Aug/ Sept that were held back for another year or repeat grade in elementary school

I dont agree that that is the majority. But I do know this change will be a reason for families to consider holding their kids back. Which is not a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not arguing. Just pointing out that September birthdays would actually be the youngest, not August.

Its not a couple of weeks, its 2 months. Which, yes, is less than the 3 months of Oct-Dec, but not really by much. Saying its weeks vs 4 months is incorrect. Kids born all of August and all of September are the new cohort not playing with their grade.

Which is true for Fairfax County but most school systems have a cutoff of August 31 or earlier.

So that would be 2 months versus 4 months. And the 2 months kids would still have the option of playing up if they’re good enough or if some club wants their money to place them on the third or fourth team with their friends.

Options versus no options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not arguing. Just pointing out that September birthdays would actually be the youngest, not August.

Its not a couple of weeks, its 2 months. Which, yes, is less than the 3 months of Oct-Dec, but not really by much. Saying its weeks vs 4 months is incorrect. Kids born all of August and all of September are the new cohort not playing with their grade.

Which is true for Fairfax County but most school systems have a cutoff of August 31 or earlier.

So that would be 2 months versus 4 months. And the 2 months kids would still have the option of playing up if they’re good enough or if some club wants their money to place them on the third or fourth team with their friends.

Options versus no options.

I think the entire state of Va is September 30. And I think the entire state of MD is September 1. DC is also September 30.

"Options" are not always a universally good thing. Not all of those options are ones my kids or I would want. Telling people they have options when the options arent positive isnt a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Would USSSA follow this decision? I’m pretty clueless so please don’t berate me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

If your kid is good enough they can play up. If they aren't what's the problem? The competitive level should not matter socially. They aren't trapped if they aren't good enough to play up a year. That whole argument is idiotic and not the point of the change. The change is to be more universal to Europe. Everyone claiming it's about grade/peers just wants that older age/bigger size competitive edge that won't matter professionally or collegially because their player isn't good enough to play up to start with they are not an amazing top tier player. Just call it what it actually is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not arguing. Just pointing out that September birthdays would actually be the youngest, not August.

Its not a couple of weeks, its 2 months. Which, yes, is less than the 3 months of Oct-Dec, but not really by much. Saying its weeks vs 4 months is incorrect. Kids born all of August and all of September are the new cohort not playing with their grade.

Which is true for Fairfax County but most school systems have a cutoff of August 31 or earlier.

So that would be 2 months versus 4 months. And the 2 months kids would still have the option of playing up if they’re good enough or if some club wants their money to place them on the third or fourth team with their friends.

Options versus no options.

I think the entire state of Va is September 30. And I think the entire state of MD is September 1. DC is also September 30.

"Options" are not always a universally good thing. Not all of those options are ones my kids or I would want. Telling people they have options when the options arent positive isnt a good thing.

If a hypothetical August kid has the option to (1) play up with grade level, knowing he/she is the youngest in the grade and would likewise be the youngest on the team, or (2) playing down with the grade behind, being the oldest on the team, what's the missing option you want? Split the teams with half one grade and half another grade so he/she can be in the middle of the age group rather than at either end of it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Not arguing. Just pointing out that September birthdays would actually be the youngest, not August.

Its not a couple of weeks, its 2 months. Which, yes, is less than the 3 months of Oct-Dec, but not really by much. Saying its weeks vs 4 months is incorrect. Kids born all of August and all of September are the new cohort not playing with their grade.

Which is true for Fairfax County but most school systems have a cutoff of August 31 or earlier.

So that would be 2 months versus 4 months. And the 2 months kids would still have the option of playing up if they’re good enough or if some club wants their money to place them on the third or fourth team with their friends.

Options versus no options.

I think the entire state of Va is September 30. And I think the entire state of MD is September 1. DC is also September 30.

"Options" are not always a universally good thing. Not all of those options are ones my kids or I would want. Telling people they have options when the options arent positive isnt a good thing.

If a hypothetical August kid has the option to (1) play up with grade level, knowing he/she is the youngest in the grade and would likewise be the youngest on the team, or (2) playing down with the grade behind, being the oldest on the team, what's the missing option you want? Split the teams with half one grade and half another grade so he/she can be in the middle of the age group rather than at either end of it?

"It's not an option if it doesn't fit my kid perfectly!"