ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the BY proponents have, for some reason, latched on to a new strategy "wont someone think of the clubs".

In practical terms the clubs will be just fine. They will be able to set new teams based on a shifted date in about an hour.

No girl that really loves soccer (basically the definition of playing for ECNL club, especially at older ages) is going to quit soccer because of this. Maybe they switch clubs but that is zero sum so it evens out.

And the best you got is playing soccer with friends… like what?

If you care so much about playing soccer with friends then play rec. no competitive player cares about that because you will make friends with your teammates.


Do you think ECNL really cares about Trapped players that much? Just think about that. When has a business ever done something to truly benefit their clients?

If you dont think trapped players get shafted more than the random girl on the bottom end of a roster that had, BTW, every advantage of RAE, then I am not sure what to tell you. I think that is wrong.

Additionally, the SY vs BY has been requested, over and over again, by college coaches. All the people on here that said college is going to start paying players and it is going to be professionalized are absolutely nuts. No money for that, plus girls use soccer as a means to go to school or to get into a better school, not because the actual soccer is the end game. 4 years vs 40 years. College soccer is not going away any time soon so catering to college coaches is meaningful and yes, they are the customers.

Finally the playing with friends dynamic is for U-littles. Makes zero difference right now to ECNL clubs. But guess what. You get enough kids in the top of the funnel then more ECNL (and USWNT, etc) players will come out the bottom. That is just common sense.
You may think trapped players are no big deal. So be it.

No, trapped players are not that big of deal. A arbitrary cutoff always screws over someone.

Rec can go SY if they want to in order to help out the U-littles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the BY proponents have, for some reason, latched on to a new strategy "wont someone think of the clubs".

In practical terms the clubs will be just fine. They will be able to set new teams based on a shifted date in about an hour.

No girl that really loves soccer (basically the definition of playing for ECNL club, especially at older ages) is going to quit soccer because of this. Maybe they switch clubs but that is zero sum so it evens out.

And the best you got is playing soccer with friends… like what?

If you care so much about playing soccer with friends then play rec. no competitive player cares about that because you will make friends with your teammates.


Do you think ECNL really cares about Trapped players that much? Just think about that. When has a business ever done something to truly benefit their clients?

If you dont think trapped players get shafted more than the random girl on the bottom end of a roster that had, BTW, every advantage of RAE, then I am not sure what to tell you. I think that is wrong.

Additionally, the SY vs BY has been requested, over and over again, by college coaches. All the people on here that said college is going to start paying players and it is going to be professionalized are absolutely nuts. No money for that, plus girls use soccer as a means to go to school or to get into a better school, not because the actual soccer is the end game. 4 years vs 40 years. College soccer is not going away any time soon so catering to college coaches is meaningful and yes, they are the customers.

Finally the playing with friends dynamic is for U-littles. Makes zero difference right now to ECNL clubs. But guess what. You get enough kids in the top of the funnel then more ECNL (and USWNT, etc) players will come out the bottom. That is just common sense.
You may think trapped players are no big deal. So be it.

No, trapped players are not that big of deal. A arbitrary cutoff always screws over someone.

Rec can go SY if they want to in order to help out the U-littles.

Haha the Jan 1 to July 31 parents have figured out what the Aug 1 to Dec 31st parents are trying to do.

Now it's going to be their turn to lobby ECNL to stay BY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the BY proponents have, for some reason, latched on to a new strategy "wont someone think of the clubs".

In practical terms the clubs will be just fine. They will be able to set new teams based on a shifted date in about an hour.

No girl that really loves soccer (basically the definition of playing for ECNL club, especially at older ages) is going to quit soccer because of this. Maybe they switch clubs but that is zero sum so it evens out.

And the best you got is playing soccer with friends… like what?

If you care so much about playing soccer with friends then play rec. no competitive player cares about that because you will make friends with your teammates.


Do you think ECNL really cares about Trapped players that much? Just think about that. When has a business ever done something to truly benefit their clients?

Starting to sound more and more like sour grapes and less like actual points in favor of BY. The no kid ever played youth soccer wanted to play with friends argument always fell flat when clearly some did/do and their parents support them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is in a league that goes against the sport governing federation, then you're in a fringe league that will be taken even less seriously than they are now.

NCAA is a fringe league now? Isn't that a lot of competitive kids' goal here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the BY proponents have, for some reason, latched on to a new strategy "wont someone think of the clubs".

In practical terms the clubs will be just fine. They will be able to set new teams based on a shifted date in about an hour.

No girl that really loves soccer (basically the definition of playing for ECNL club, especially at older ages) is going to quit soccer because of this. Maybe they switch clubs but that is zero sum so it evens out.

And the best you got is playing soccer with friends… like what?

If you care so much about playing soccer with friends then play rec. no competitive player cares about that because you will make friends with your teammates.


Do you think ECNL really cares about Trapped players that much? Just think about that. When has a business ever done something to truly benefit their clients?

If you dont think trapped players get shafted more than the random girl on the bottom end of a roster that had, BTW, every advantage of RAE, then I am not sure what to tell you. I think that is wrong.

Additionally, the SY vs BY has been requested, over and over again, by college coaches. All the people on here that said college is going to start paying players and it is going to be professionalized are absolutely nuts. No money for that, plus girls use soccer as a means to go to school or to get into a better school, not because the actual soccer is the end game. 4 years vs 40 years. College soccer is not going away any time soon so catering to college coaches is meaningful and yes, they are the customers.

Finally the playing with friends dynamic is for U-littles. Makes zero difference right now to ECNL clubs. But guess what. You get enough kids in the top of the funnel then more ECNL (and USWNT, etc) players will come out the bottom. That is just common sense.
You may think trapped players are no big deal. So be it.

No, trapped players are not that big of deal. A arbitrary cutoff always screws over someone.

Rec can go SY if they want to in order to help out the U-littles.

In the grand scheme of things trapped players get screwed over more than non trapped kids. That is a fact. Does that mean it’s a big deal? I guess it depends on your point of view. If your goal as a parent is to have your kid compete against the best players then a switch to school year would only affect the outcome if the trapped players in the same grade are indeed better players.
If they are not better players nothing would change?

Any parents of a real competitive player is not on here this only parents of trapped players and parents of kids who are on their way off of their current team. The parents of kids who are Jan to July studs are excited that the deadweight is about to be replaced with better talent.

[Anonymous]

Pretty clear everyone is just arguing for what is they believe is best for THEIR kid depending on when they were born. Understandable. I do not fault anyone for advocating for their child because no one else is ever going too. What lost me is the "this change is bad for the clubs". Youth soccer started out as BY. It changed to SY in the 90's and then changed again to BY 2016ish. I played or had a kid playing during all of the age changes. During all of them more clubs, teams, leagues formed resulting in what we have today. Trust me, the clubs were fine then, will be fine, and the changes outside of the initial pain once the band-aid was ripped off lasted exactly one tryout season. Then it was business as usual. If they change again to SY in less than 6 months after tryout season the clubs will have already forgotten about it. I can say for certain it is way easier on the smaller clubs to go to SY than it was to go to BY because they can keep their same roster and play kids "up" if they do not have the numbers to shift to match the new age groups across ages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the BY proponents have, for some reason, latched on to a new strategy "wont someone think of the clubs".

In practical terms the clubs will be just fine. They will be able to set new teams based on a shifted date in about an hour.

No girl that really loves soccer (basically the definition of playing for ECNL club, especially at older ages) is going to quit soccer because of this. Maybe they switch clubs but that is zero sum so it evens out.

And the best you got is playing soccer with friends… like what?

If you care so much about playing soccer with friends then play rec. no competitive player cares about that because you will make friends with your teammates.


Do you think ECNL really cares about Trapped players that much? Just think about that. When has a business ever done something to truly benefit their clients?

If you dont think trapped players get shafted more than the random girl on the bottom end of a roster that had, BTW, every advantage of RAE, then I am not sure what to tell you. I think that is wrong.

Additionally, the SY vs BY has been requested, over and over again, by college coaches. All the people on here that said college is going to start paying players and it is going to be professionalized are absolutely nuts. No money for that, plus girls use soccer as a means to go to school or to get into a better school, not because the actual soccer is the end game. 4 years vs 40 years. College soccer is not going away any time soon so catering to college coaches is meaningful and yes, they are the customers.

Finally the playing with friends dynamic is for U-littles. Makes zero difference right now to ECNL clubs. But guess what. You get enough kids in the top of the funnel then more ECNL (and USWNT, etc) players will come out the bottom. That is just common sense.
You may think trapped players are no big deal. So be it.

No, trapped players are not that big of deal. A arbitrary cutoff always screws over someone.

Rec can go SY if they want to in order to help out the U-littles.

In the grand scheme of things trapped players get screwed over more than non trapped kids. That is a fact. Does that mean it’s a big deal? I guess it depends on your point of view. If your goal as a parent is to have your kid compete against the best players then a switch to school year would only affect the outcome if the trapped players in the same grade are indeed better players.
If they are not better players nothing would change?

Any parents of a real competitive player is not on here this only parents of trapped players and parents of kids who are on their way off of their current team. The parents of kids who are Jan to July studs are excited that the deadweight is about to be replaced with better talent.

To add onto that the lower level players DO like to play with friends. Especially on the girls side. Even on the ECNL side kids like playing with friends that doesn’t mean they make decisions off friends but I’ve definitely seen many kids choose a club because they have a friend already on that team. It’s all about connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the BY proponents have, for some reason, latched on to a new strategy "wont someone think of the clubs".

In practical terms the clubs will be just fine. They will be able to set new teams based on a shifted date in about an hour.

No girl that really loves soccer (basically the definition of playing for ECNL club, especially at older ages) is going to quit soccer because of this. Maybe they switch clubs but that is zero sum so it evens out.

And the best you got is playing soccer with friends… like what?

If you care so much about playing soccer with friends then play rec. no competitive player cares about that because you will make friends with your teammates.


Do you think ECNL really cares about Trapped players that much? Just think about that. When has a business ever done something to truly benefit their clients?

If you dont think trapped players get shafted more than the random girl on the bottom end of a roster that had, BTW, every advantage of RAE, then I am not sure what to tell you. I think that is wrong.

Additionally, the SY vs BY has been requested, over and over again, by college coaches. All the people on here that said college is going to start paying players and it is going to be professionalized are absolutely nuts. No money for that, plus girls use soccer as a means to go to school or to get into a better school, not because the actual soccer is the end game. 4 years vs 40 years. College soccer is not going away any time soon so catering to college coaches is meaningful and yes, they are the customers.

Finally the playing with friends dynamic is for U-littles. Makes zero difference right now to ECNL clubs. But guess what. You get enough kids in the top of the funnel then more ECNL (and USWNT, etc) players will come out the bottom. That is just common sense.
You may think trapped players are no big deal. So be it.

No, trapped players are not that big of deal. A arbitrary cutoff always screws over someone.

Rec can go SY if they want to in order to help out the U-littles.

In the grand scheme of things trapped players get screwed over more than non trapped kids. That is a fact. Does that mean it’s a big deal? I guess it depends on your point of view. If your goal as a parent is to have your kid compete against the best players then a switch to school year would only affect the outcome if the trapped players in the same grade are indeed better players.
If they are not better players nothing would change?

Any parents of a real competitive player is not on here this only parents of trapped players and parents of kids who are on their way off of their current team. The parents of kids who are Jan to July studs are excited that the deadweight is about to be replaced with better talent.

I am the parent of a trapped girl on a top ~20 GA team. She is arguable the 2nd best player on her team, but she is small. Late birthdate and late bloomer so really small. It is already a challenge to play agasint kids 10-11 months older who are not late bloomers. Now add in all the youngers from the age group above and she will now be competing against even older/bigger girls as much 15 months older. That is a big deal to me. Her technical skills are amazing, because they have had to be, but now we are talking about physics. She is, quite literally, half the size of some of the girls on her team. Combine that with the trapped aspect and it stinks.

But, at the same time, I dont want her to drop down to play with her graduating class because she will dominate and not develop at the same rate so we might be the poster child for damned if you do and damned if you dont..............

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the BY proponents have, for some reason, latched on to a new strategy "wont someone think of the clubs".

In practical terms the clubs will be just fine. They will be able to set new teams based on a shifted date in about an hour.

No girl that really loves soccer (basically the definition of playing for ECNL club, especially at older ages) is going to quit soccer because of this. Maybe they switch clubs but that is zero sum so it evens out.

And the best you got is playing soccer with friends… like what?

If you care so much about playing soccer with friends then play rec. no competitive player cares about that because you will make friends with your teammates.


Do you think ECNL really cares about Trapped players that much? Just think about that. When has a business ever done something to truly benefit their clients?

If you dont think trapped players get shafted more than the random girl on the bottom end of a roster that had, BTW, every advantage of RAE, then I am not sure what to tell you. I think that is wrong.

Additionally, the SY vs BY has been requested, over and over again, by college coaches. All the people on here that said college is going to start paying players and it is going to be professionalized are absolutely nuts. No money for that, plus girls use soccer as a means to go to school or to get into a better school, not because the actual soccer is the end game. 4 years vs 40 years. College soccer is not going away any time soon so catering to college coaches is meaningful and yes, they are the customers.

Finally the playing with friends dynamic is for U-littles. Makes zero difference right now to ECNL clubs. But guess what. You get enough kids in the top of the funnel then more ECNL (and USWNT, etc) players will come out the bottom. That is just common sense.
You may think trapped players are no big deal. So be it.

No, trapped players are not that big of deal. A arbitrary cutoff always screws over someone.

Rec can go SY if they want to in order to help out the U-littles.

In the grand scheme of things trapped players get screwed over more than non trapped kids. That is a fact. Does that mean it’s a big deal? I guess it depends on your point of view. If your goal as a parent is to have your kid compete against the best players then a switch to school year would only affect the outcome if the trapped players in the same grade are indeed better players.
If they are not better players nothing would change?

Any parents of a real competitive player is not on here this only parents of trapped players and parents of kids who are on their way off of their current team. The parents of kids who are Jan to July studs are excited that the deadweight is about to be replaced with better talent.

I am the parent of a trapped girl on a top ~20 GA team. She is arguable the 2nd best player on her team, but she is small. Late birthdate and late bloomer so really small. It is already a challenge to play agasint kids 10-11 months older who are not late bloomers. Now add in all the youngers from the age group above and she will now be competing against even older/bigger girls as much 15 months older. That is a big deal to me. Her technical skills are amazing, because they have had to be, but now we are talking about physics. She is, quite literally, half the size of some of the girls on her team. Combine that with the trapped aspect and it stinks.

But, at the same time, I dont want her to drop down to play with her graduating class because she will dominate and not develop at the same rate so we might be the poster child for damned if you do and damned if you dont..............

What you are not realizing is she will not be dropping down and be the only player there will be many trapped kids now playing so she will still get a challenge from those players. If she is above that level then you play up. I don’t think many players will need the play up option anymore after the change.

[Anonymous]

There is no argument to be had. U.S. Soccer is not agreeing to the change. Period.

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of a trapped 2010 that starts.

If things change we'll probably stay with 2010 instead of playing down.

But I will say that coaches interest in my kid went from meh to I'm your best buddy overnight.

We've even reached out to a couple of other coaches/docs from other clubs and "trapped player" is like a magic decoder ring for an individual tryout session.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no argument to be had. U.S. Soccer is not agreeing to the change. Period.

I think this is correct.

Also changing from BY to SY is risky and a PITA to implement for clubs.

I like how all the Aug1 to Dec31 parents are saying that it's no big deal. But it is a big deal and will cause many currently defined teams to be reshuffled.

[Anonymous]

Not a big deal for an ECNL or any other club to reshuffle teams. It would take less than a day or work to do this. It won’t happen until tryouts in the spring anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a big deal for an ECNL or any other club to reshuffle teams. It would take less than a day or work to do this. It won’t happen until tryouts in the spring anyway.

You are so transparent.

First you scream the sky is falling and the poor trapped players.

Then you say clubs reshuffling all their teams is no big deal.

Just an ahole I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a trapped 2010 that starts.

If things change we'll probably stay with 2010 instead of playing down.

But I will say that coaches interest in my kid went from meh to I'm your best buddy overnight.

We've even reached out to a couple of other coaches/docs from other clubs and "trapped player" is like a magic decoder ring for an individual tryout session.

The best players will always rise to the top regardless of what month they were born--what's different is that there would no longer be an artificial albatros around the trapped players neck unnecessarily comparing them and their performance against totally irrelevant players not in their recruiting class.

There will certainly be a ripple impact on exposure, recruiting.... Rarely do you see a trapped player ranked/selected for 'all conference' honors in their actual U-BY age group which then leads to all the other stuff....But if they are now considered for these things within their peer group, things just may shift here...