I just think it will be more palatable to international competition and at home. Saying as a country we are changing to SY to better align with Premier League would get peoples check books out, imho. |
Not necessarily. Pulicic, from Hershey, PA, went to Brossia Dortmund at age 16 I think? Point is that MLS and Youth Soccer are trying to make the US more competitive and developmentally mature, and I can see why MLS Next sticking to BY might be their preference to align with the majority of the world. That was their argument when the change to BY happened in '16. Whether that is realistic or would work out over time is TBD. It would take generations before an answer is known. |
Yup |
His dad was coaching there at the time, I believe. |
| Mlsnext doesn’t want to go SY but logistically impossible to stay BY on their own… my bet is they stay BY with unlimited “biobanding” (with zero forms or regulation around it) for 9/1-12/31. So SY in all but name. |
After Pulicic moved there, his dad coached U10. Pulicic didn't know any German and had to learn the language. Crazy story. Good documentary on Paramount about him (if you can handle the commercials lol). |
| Some kids will never learn any language but English.... Especialy from an impatient euro coach. |
MLSN is going SY sorry |
Um, no, they are not trying to help anything other than having older kids on the U.S. U-kid international teams. That's it. |
How can they have kids older than the age group on the USYNTs? |
Reading is fundamental needs to be your friend. |
The previous age change from SY to BY was because they were trying to give the advantage of the RAE to the January-march birthdays as those birthdays are the oldest possible group for youth national teams as those teams are also BY. Having the RAE benefit from the August-October birthdays on SY teams wasn’t as helpful as those birthdays were younger on the ynt. Unfortunately for US soccer, success at the ynt age groups doesnt necessarily translate to the senior level. In order to improve the senior teams, we need a better overall soccer culture in the US. Maybe more kids playing because of SY teams will help that. |
School year is the way to go to reduce trapped players and they probably never should have changed it, but I'm pretty skeptical that declining participation rates in soccer are due to not being aligned with SY. I haven't seen any data that confirms that. I suspect any declining participation rates are primarily due to this: 1. Pay-to-play, and add in economic downturn cycles and fewer folks can afford it. 2. Travel requirements - most working families don't have the time. Forget about it for single-parent households. Also adds to costs. 3. COVID 4. The rise of Pickleball (kidding!) |
Just because you haven’t seen or looked for the data doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. |
Sports participation rates have been declining for all sports. Not just soccer. Attributing a decline for soccer to SY/BY is a stretch. |