ECNL moving to school year part 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats the question: How many have stuck with it. I think the answer is Damn few. My trapped son plays on a ECNL team. My son starts and plays full games. I can honestly say we are only aware of 3 other kids in the whole leage that are in the same situation.

For trapped kids born 2012 or earlier they have never played with younger kids in their whole soccer career. Next year will be a huge change for them.

There are a ton on 2nd teams at big clubs. The ones I am most familiar with are anywhere from 30% to 40% and most are very technical, just smaller (and this is even more true at the younger age groups)... I imagine they will go to multiple tryouts and will not have a problem getting a first team spot. Having been through this before as coach at a large club back in 2016, I don't think people understand how big the shakeup will be (though it will be smaller on the girls side I think). I coached a 2nd team at the time and all of the Jan - July bdays I had (about half the team) got first team spots with us or at bigger/better clubs. Plenty of former first team players were suddenly second team players.

As a follow up to this, I had chatgpt look at ECNL U13 boys (top five teams in the midatlantic), and sort by class year. Had to discount one team as they seemed to report nonsense data. So 4 teams, 61 players, 14 (22%) are the younger class year and can be assumed 8/1 - 12/31 bday.

It did the same for an ECRL group, Carolinas U13 boys (top five teams). 85 players and 44 (51%) are of the younger class year.

Now this will certainly vary by region and age group but thought it was be interesting to have some actual numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats the question: How many have stuck with it. I think the answer is Damn few. My trapped son plays on a ECNL team. My son starts and plays full games. I can honestly say we are only aware of 3 other kids in the whole leage that are in the same situation.

For trapped kids born 2012 or earlier they have never played with younger kids in their whole soccer career. Next year will be a huge change for them.

There are a ton on 2nd teams at big clubs. The ones I am most familiar with are anywhere from 30% to 40% and most are very technical, just smaller (and this is even more true at the younger age groups)... I imagine they will go to multiple tryouts and will not have a problem getting a first team spot. Having been through this before as coach at a large club back in 2016, I don't think people understand how big the shakeup will be (though it will be smaller on the girls side I think). I coached a 2nd team at the time and all of the Jan - July bdays I had (about half the team) got first team spots with us or at bigger/better clubs. Plenty of former first team players were suddenly second team players.

Curious why you think this won't be as big of a shake up for girls?

I don't know, I don't have anything concrete just that it was my experience that the last time there was an age group change there was less movement (but way more drama) on the girls side of things. That may mean nothing though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats the question: How many have stuck with it. I think the answer is Damn few. My trapped son plays on a ECNL team. My son starts and plays full games. I can honestly say we are only aware of 3 other kids in the whole leage that are in the same situation.

For trapped kids born 2012 or earlier they have never played with younger kids in their whole soccer career. Next year will be a huge change for them.

There are a ton on 2nd teams at big clubs. The ones I am most familiar with are anywhere from 30% to 40% and most are very technical, just smaller (and this is even more true at the younger age groups)... I imagine they will go to multiple tryouts and will not have a problem getting a first team spot. Having been through this before as coach at a large club back in 2016, I don't think people understand how big the shakeup will be (though it will be smaller on the girls side I think). I coached a 2nd team at the time and all of the Jan - July bdays I had (about half the team) got first team spots with us or at bigger/better clubs. Plenty of former first team players were suddenly second team players.

As a follow up to this, I had chatgpt look at ECNL U13 boys (top five teams in the midatlantic), and sort by class year. Had to discount one team as they seemed to report nonsense data. So 4 teams, 61 players, 14 (22%) are the younger class year and can be assumed 8/1 - 12/31 bday.

It did the same for an ECRL group, Carolinas U13 boys (top five teams). 85 players and 44 (51%) are of the younger class year.

Now this will certainly vary by region and age group but thought it was be interesting to have some actual numbers.

I looked at two teams I have kids on this way to try the same thing but it didnt work because there were a buch of holdbacks that had Jan Feb birthdays but were STILL In the lower grade or higher grad year.....

The autul number of trapped players iis lower than what that method shows.

[Anonymous]

It was very shocking to see how many kids my sons play with that either didnt start school on time or have been held back multiple times.

Its bonkers.

[Anonymous]

My DD is August and late grower. Still growing in 10th grade actually. PP at 12:20 is exactly right. Highly technical but never big enough. Now will be youngest as well. Should have planned better 15 years ago…

[Anonymous]

These kids will age out of Club soccer under the current soccer calender as Sophmores or juniors!

[Anonymous]

Not if ECNL adopts grad year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats the question: How many have stuck with it. I think the answer is Damn few. My trapped son plays on a ECNL team. My son starts and plays full games. I can honestly say we are only aware of 3 other kids in the whole leage that are in the same situation.

For trapped kids born 2012 or earlier they have never played with younger kids in their whole soccer career. Next year will be a huge change for them.

There are a ton on 2nd teams at big clubs. The ones I am most familiar with are anywhere from 30% to 40% and most are very technical, just smaller (and this is even more true at the younger age groups)... I imagine they will go to multiple tryouts and will not have a problem getting a first team spot. Having been through this before as coach at a large club back in 2016, I don't think people understand how big the shakeup will be (though it will be smaller on the girls side I think). I coached a 2nd team at the time and all of the Jan - July bdays I had (about half the team) got first team spots with us or at bigger/better clubs. Plenty of former first team players were suddenly second team players.

As a follow up to this, I had chatgpt look at ECNL U13 boys (top five teams in the midatlantic), and sort by class year. Had to discount one team as they seemed to report nonsense data. So 4 teams, 61 players, 14 (22%) are the younger class year and can be assumed 8/1 - 12/31 bday.

It did the same for an ECRL group, Carolinas U13 boys (top five teams). 85 players and 44 (51%) are of the younger class year.

Now this will certainly vary by region and age group but thought it was be interesting to have some actual numbers.

I looked at two teams I have kids on this way to try the same thing but it didnt work because there were a buch of holdbacks that had Jan Feb birthdays but were STILL In the lower grade or higher grad year.....

The autul number of trapped players iis lower than what that method shows.

Sure, it is not exact. There are also plenty of kids who skipped a grade or started early. But if you split the difference, it shows that there are a lot more players out there (particularly on the RL and second teams) than people realize. And if even a fraction of them make top teams, it will re-shape things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats the question: How many have stuck with it. I think the answer is Damn few. My trapped son plays on a ECNL team. My son starts and plays full games. I can honestly say we are only aware of 3 other kids in the whole leage that are in the same situation.

For trapped kids born 2012 or earlier they have never played with younger kids in their whole soccer career. Next year will be a huge change for them.

There are a ton on 2nd teams at big clubs. The ones I am most familiar with are anywhere from 30% to 40% and most are very technical, just smaller (and this is even more true at the younger age groups)... I imagine they will go to multiple tryouts and will not have a problem getting a first team spot. Having been through this before as coach at a large club back in 2016, I don't think people understand how big the shakeup will be (though it will be smaller on the girls side I think). I coached a 2nd team at the time and all of the Jan - July bdays I had (about half the team) got first team spots with us or at bigger/better clubs. Plenty of former first team players were suddenly second team players.

This x1000

Its also why big clubs wont allow Aug birthdays to play on a grade down A team. Either you're good enough to play on your grades A team or you get moved to your grades B team.

Will some terrible club that struggles to field players allow Aug birthdays to play down a grade? Probably, but these type of clubs won't win because nobody wants to play on teams or for clubs like this.

They won't care about which grade. They'll care about fielding the best teams with the players who are available.

Not true. Our club is having individual conversations with the August and Sept birthdays, which include my DD. She is a Sept birthday who went to school on time and wants to continue to play with her grade. Coaches are encouraging girls with the Aug/Sept to stay with their grade.

Finally, people are starting to get it.

This is exactly what I've been saying would happen. It's not in clubs best interests to mess with olders or olders teams. There's too much going on with olders. It makes more sense to leave these teams alone and possibly pick up a couple of additional paying customers if other clubs choose to mess with them. They're on cruise control now and will age out in the next 2-3 years.

It's interesting that your club is reaching out to Aug birthdays. I would assume top clubs would just implement a policy that Aug players only play with their grade. Again, the same situation as above. It just makes things easier for the club (and college recruiters) when players get older and everyone on a team is the same grade. I'd be interested to find out what was discussed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats the question: How many have stuck with it. I think the answer is Damn few. My trapped son plays on a ECNL team. My son starts and plays full games. I can honestly say we are only aware of 3 other kids in the whole leage that are in the same situation.

For trapped kids born 2012 or earlier they have never played with younger kids in their whole soccer career. Next year will be a huge change for them.

There are a ton on 2nd teams at big clubs. The ones I am most familiar with are anywhere from 30% to 40% and most are very technical, just smaller (and this is even more true at the younger age groups)... I imagine they will go to multiple tryouts and will not have a problem getting a first team spot. Having been through this before as coach at a large club back in 2016, I don't think people understand how big the shakeup will be (though it will be smaller on the girls side I think). I coached a 2nd team at the time and all of the Jan - July bdays I had (about half the team) got first team spots with us or at bigger/better clubs. Plenty of former first team players were suddenly second team players.

Curious why you think this won't be as big of a shake up for girls?

I don't know, I don't have anything concrete just that it was my experience that the last time there was an age group change there was less movement (but way more drama) on the girls side of things. That may mean nothing though.

Probably because there are so few girls teams compared to boys and a year makes much more difference physically on the boys side vs girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is August and late grower. Still growing in 10th grade actually. PP at 12:20 is exactly right. Highly technical but never big enough. Now will be youngest as well. Should have planned better 15 years ago…

If she is born in August, she will be lumped into the || 1 August--31 July || group. She would be the oldest kid in the new grouping. Next year, she will be in 11th Grade on a predominantly 10th Grade team. (If your grade year cut off is 1 October to 30 September).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was very shocking to see how many kids my sons play with that either didnt start school on time or have been held back multiple times.

Its bonkers.

Welcome to the big secret about private schools and sports other than Soccer. You see all the posts about wins and which player was recruited to play on XYZ private HS.

After a while you realize that most of their players are 1-2 years older than your kid. Also the standouts that are the correct age are given free tuition. Theres just no way a public high school can compete against it.

This is the reason you dont want GY in Soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is August and late grower. Still growing in 10th grade actually. PP at 12:20 is exactly right. Highly technical but never big enough. Now will be youngest as well. Should have planned better 15 years ago…

If she is born in August, she will be lumped into the || 1 August--31 July || group. She would be the oldest kid in the new grouping. Next year, she will be in 11th Grade on a predominantly 10th Grade team. (If your grade year cut off is 1 October to 30 September).

Clubs won't allow playing down like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is August and late grower. Still growing in 10th grade actually. PP at 12:20 is exactly right. Highly technical but never big enough. Now will be youngest as well. Should have planned better 15 years ago…

If she is born in August, she will be lumped into the || 1 August--31 July || group. She would be the oldest kid in the new grouping. Next year, she will be in 11th Grade on a predominantly 10th Grade team. (If your grade year cut off is 1 October to 30 September).

Clubs won't allow playing down like this.

Do clubs allow "playing down like this" currently with the Jan-July kids? Just curious what the difference is? What about August kids that will be sophomores next year and Sept kids that will be juniors? what do you do there? Stop with the grades. It's a 12-month period. same as it is currently, but starting at 8-1 and not 1-1...also, it was 8-1 for years before it moved in 2016.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats the question: How many have stuck with it. I think the answer is Damn few. My trapped son plays on a ECNL team. My son starts and plays full games. I can honestly say we are only aware of 3 other kids in the whole leage that are in the same situation.

For trapped kids born 2012 or earlier they have never played with younger kids in their whole soccer career. Next year will be a huge change for them.

There are a ton on 2nd teams at big clubs. The ones I am most familiar with are anywhere from 30% to 40% and most are very technical, just smaller (and this is even more true at the younger age groups)... I imagine they will go to multiple tryouts and will not have a problem getting a first team spot. Having been through this before as coach at a large club back in 2016, I don't think people understand how big the shakeup will be (though it will be smaller on the girls side I think). I coached a 2nd team at the time and all of the Jan - July bdays I had (about half the team) got first team spots with us or at bigger/better clubs. Plenty of former first team players were suddenly second team players.

Curious why you think this won't be as big of a shake up for girls?

I don't know, I don't have anything concrete just that it was my experience that the last time there was an age group change there was less movement (but way more drama) on the girls side of things. That may mean nothing though.

I think it matters just as much on the girls side, but probably only in a much narrower (and earlier window). That U11-U13 time has some massive size discrepancies and I know my kid's very competitive (not DC area) U13 ECNL G team, there are only 3/18 Aug-Dec birthdays.