ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:342....so close! Remember when 300 was a distant dream?! I know we can do it folks. We're one misspelled leak from ECNL away from 400. I have faith.

It's not just 400 that should be the goal. TalkingSoccer.com's thread is at 365

SoCalSoccer is out of the running -- although they started late at 55

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You need serious help.

Just reporting the news. I'm truly sorry for your loss but don't shoot the messenger. My kid was sought after before, Im just being honest that it’s a feeding frenzy out there now with this switch. We aren't seeking it out, we didn't ask for this. My girl LOVES soccer, she's amazing at it. She's swimming in the same circles as national players and she's always the youngest in every group. She's at the age where we'll need to commit to a club and Im being honest that it's your Q1/Q2 spot she's gonna take. Be mad if you want. But wasting that energy on me is useless.

anyone else picturing a really sweaty, overweight balding guy sitting in his basement writing this?

I thought the same thing. He can’t be serious, can he?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Im confused, why are SY people happy? Change was supposed to be a done deal for 25.

Because this thread is legit filled with parents of 5-10 year old pre-pre-pre-pre-ECNL players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Actually, those 10% moving "down" are more of boon for the younger players to help them develop and improve. In a way, those 10% clawed, scratched and survived all these years to only get relegated to less competition. Sure they got screwed by the trap year BUT now there getting screwed by their own elite leagues who for their own selfish reasons want them on younger teams now. But hey, they'll score some goals!

Man! Is common sense really that uncommon?? C'mon, work those mental muscles.....I know you can get there if you try hard enough. You only think they are going to be playing down because of the BY lie you've been living. In the real world there is no actual advantage to being born in Q1. We artificially made it a special quarter to be born. It correlates to nothing until you get up to international competition. In every normal sense the advantage should go to September babies. There is no 'playing down', you're now going to get a front row seat to what the other kids in 6th grade are capable of. It has nothing to do with scoring goals. You're going to compete for high school roster spots with other 9th graders. You're going to compete for scholarships with other 11th graders. When you're in 11th grade, are you competing for scholarships with 10th graders?? When you try out for the 9th grade team are you competing against 8th graders?? So it what universe does it make sense to keep playing down. Your kid is playing down now and its a lie.

See you in the fall. lol.

And now we “artificially make it Q3.” The mental gymnastics these SY parents make is nothing short of shocking. Your kid won’t be better tomorrow morning…it’s all and only about doing the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Actually, those 10% moving "down" are more of boon for the younger players to help them develop and improve. In a way, those 10% clawed, scratched and survived all these years to only get relegated to less competition. Sure they got screwed by the trap year BUT now there getting screwed by their own elite leagues who for their own selfish reasons want them on younger teams now. But hey, they'll score some goals!

Man! Is common sense really that uncommon?? C'mon, work those mental muscles.....I know you can get there if you try hard enough. You only think they are going to be playing down because of the BY lie you've been living. In the real world there is no actual advantage to being born in Q1. We artificially made it a special quarter to be born. It correlates to nothing until you get up to international competition. In every normal sense the advantage should go to September babies. There is no 'playing down', you're now going to get a front row seat to what the other kids in 6th grade are capable of. It has nothing to do with scoring goals. You're going to compete for high school roster spots with other 9th graders. You're going to compete for scholarships with other 11th graders. When you're in 11th grade, are you competing for scholarships with 10th graders?? When you try out for the 9th grade team are you competing against 8th graders?? So it what universe does it make sense to keep playing down. Your kid is playing down now and its a lie.

See you in the fall. lol.

And here it is -- September babies MUST have the advantage over all others?.OK .... I think that's why the soccer federation is actually secretly hoping that maybe our fragmented system can have elite leagues with both BY and SY, so it can actually reduce RAE and grow the sport by giving players and families multiple options/pathways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My son is honestly not afraid of your daughter taking his spot. How many teams cut you for you to feel this invested in your daughter's soccer status?

I know it'd feel much better to imagine me an 'overly' invested, overweight, balding parent. I'm just average in my neighborhood folks. My kid played AYSO, was better than all the kids and invited to club. She sat the bench while she learned the ropes then was quickly bored because she was better than everyone. We saw her frustration and moved her to a flight 1 team across town. That was rapidly not enough and she was bored again. For those of you in this world you know what comes next. Playing way up. Playing with boys. The alphabet soup of teams. Invites to every camp and trainer imaginable. Those things lead to more invites and more invites. She was old enough for ECNL this year but honestly we don't care about the letters, and her current team is a place where's she's happy. Not tons of development because once again, she's the best kid by far and once again, we're turning our wheels on next steps. Got invited to some special training camp in town for the holiday break and we drove her out there. Someone asked if she was 8th or 9th grade and I laughed. She's far younger than that but she's a beast. With the emails flying around today the ENCL teams are salivating. If I'm being honest, and only parents that operate at this level will understand, I wish she WASN'T as good as she is. Life would be easier. And now THIS craziness?! Ughh. I don't want to pull her out of school early. I don't want to drive all over. I don't want her missing time with her friends. I just want her to be a happy kid. But with this change I feel like I'm a terrible parent if I don't let her see how far her talents can take her. And she's the one pushing us.

Trying to provide context that my daughter is not on an uncommon path in these competitive areas and its just parents trying to do what's best and its a confusing, mad world. But if it helps to imagine me a fat, balding guy obsessed with this stuff, don't let reality get in the way, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:342....so close! Remember when 300 was a distant dream?! I know we can do it folks. We're one misspelled leak from ECNL away from 400. I have faith.

It's not just 400 that should be the goal. TalkingSoccer.com's thread is at 365

SoCalSoccer is out of the running -- although they started late at 55

We're slowing down here folks and we're losing focus. Remember, we're not sure if it's REALLY going SY. The announcement could be fake. ECNL is going to start a revolution and BY always sucked. Do not slow down on the useless bickering or those other sites are going to beat us. Keep up the energy, we're almost there!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And now we “artificially make it Q3.” The mental gymnastics these SY parents make is nothing short of shocking. Your kid won’t be better tomorrow morning…it’s all and only about doing the work.

I see the wheels turning....you can do it, you're almost there! I know the shock of it all is still settling in but I have faith you'll get there. It's not artificially anything. Who will kids compete against in high school? Who will they compete with for scholarships......aaaaaand who should they compete with to begin with. C'mon...you can do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We're slowing down here folks and we're losing focus. Remember, we're not sure if it's REALLY going SY. The announcement could be fake. ECNL is going to start a revolution and BY always sucked. Do not slow down on the useless bickering or those other sites are going to beat us. Keep up the energy, we're almost there!!

lol, checking this thread makes my day. I'm almost sad we're getting clarity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My son is honestly not afraid of your daughter taking his spot. How many teams cut you for you to feel this invested in your daughter's soccer status?

I know it'd feel much better to imagine me an 'overly' invested, overweight, balding parent. I'm just average in my neighborhood folks. My kid played AYSO, was better than all the kids and invited to club. She sat the bench while she learned the ropes then was quickly bored because she was better than everyone. We saw her frustration and moved her to a flight 1 team across town. That was rapidly not enough and she was bored again. For those of you in this world you know what comes next. Playing way up. Playing with boys. The alphabet soup of teams. Invites to every camp and trainer imaginable. Those things lead to more invites and more invites. She was old enough for ECNL this year but honestly we don't care about the letters, and her current team is a place where's she's happy. Not tons of development because once again, she's the best kid by far and once again, we're turning our wheels on next steps. Got invited to some special training camp in town for the holiday break and we drove her out there. Someone asked if she was 8th or 9th grade and I laughed. She's far younger than that but she's a beast. With the emails flying around today the ENCL teams are salivating. If I'm being honest, and only parents that operate at this level will understand, I wish she WASN'T as good as she is. Life would be easier. And now THIS craziness?! Ughh. I don't want to pull her out of school early. I don't want to drive all over. I don't want her missing time with her friends. I just want her to be a happy kid. But with this change I feel like I'm a terrible parent if I don't let her see how far her talents can take her. And she's the one pushing us.

Trying to provide context that my daughter is not on an uncommon path in these competitive areas and its just parents trying to do what's best and its a confusing, mad world. But if it helps to imagine me a fat, balding guy obsessed with this stuff, don't let reality get in the way, lol.

I hope for your mental health this is satire. But I'm not sure 😬

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Actually, those 10% moving "down" are more of boon for the younger players to help them develop and improve. In a way, those 10% clawed, scratched and survived all these years to only get relegated to less competition. Sure they got screwed by the trap year BUT now there getting screwed by their own elite leagues who for their own selfish reasons want them on younger teams now. But hey, they'll score some goals!

Man! Is common sense really that uncommon?? C'mon, work those mental muscles.....I know you can get there if you try hard enough. You only think they are going to be playing down because of the BY lie you've been living. In the real world there is no actual advantage to being born in Q1. We artificially made it a special quarter to be born. It correlates to nothing until you get up to international competition. In every normal sense the advantage should go to September babies. There is no 'playing down', you're now going to get a front row seat to what the other kids in 6th grade are capable of. It has nothing to do with scoring goals. You're going to compete for high school roster spots with other 9th graders. You're going to compete for scholarships with other 11th graders. When you're in 11th grade, are you competing for scholarships with 10th graders?? When you try out for the 9th grade team are you competing against 8th graders?? So it what universe does it make sense to keep playing down. Your kid is playing down now and its a lie.

See you in the fall. lol.

And now we “artificially make it Q3.” The mental gymnastics these SY parents make is nothing short of shocking. Your kid won’t be better tomorrow morning…it’s all and only about doing the work.

So most of the pushback is parents concerned their Q1 kid is no longer going be good?

Maybe that kid won’t be better tomorrow, but the top B team players are better than most A team players a year below. So that kid doesn’t need to get better…they will just look better playing against your kid q1 kid.

If you’re that concerned, take your kid out and practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington Soccer has released an email tonight saying there will be NO registration changes for 25-26. Sounds fairly definitive to me. As the doc reads, they realize most (not by much) want school year but also realize those opposing that are primarily concerned about "change management".

I have no angle about this in terms of my kid, who has always found a way and actually enjoys playing with both older and younger kids. SY seems to be driven by the rec families who want their kids to play with their friends. IMO - it's best to rip the bandaids off and get kids to adapt to new environments. That's what most work environments are like, and sports is supposed to prepare kids for life. None of our kids are going to make a meaningful salary in soccer.

The notice on USSoccer's site is VERY definitive. NO CHANGES for 2025. Only one thing remains to be seen. Your move ENCL, watcha got?!

I don’t see anything on the USSoccer.com website. Link to what you see on that website?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Actually, those 10% moving "down" are more of boon for the younger players to help them develop and improve. In a way, those 10% clawed, scratched and survived all these years to only get relegated to less competition. Sure they got screwed by the trap year BUT now there getting screwed by their own elite leagues who for their own selfish reasons want them on younger teams now. But hey, they'll score some goals!

Man! Is common sense really that uncommon?? C'mon, work those mental muscles.....I know you can get there if you try hard enough. You only think they are going to be playing down because of the BY lie you've been living. In the real world there is no actual advantage to being born in Q1. We artificially made it a special quarter to be born. It correlates to nothing until you get up to international competition. In every normal sense the advantage should go to September babies. There is no 'playing down', you're now going to get a front row seat to what the other kids in 6th grade are capable of. It has nothing to do with scoring goals. You're going to compete for high school roster spots with other 9th graders. You're going to compete for scholarships with other 11th graders. When you're in 11th grade, are you competing for scholarships with 10th graders?? When you try out for the 9th grade team are you competing against 8th graders?? So it what universe does it make sense to keep playing down. Your kid is playing down now and its a lie.

See you in the fall. lol.

And now we “artificially make it Q3.” The mental gymnastics these SY parents make is nothing short of shocking. Your kid won’t be better tomorrow morning…it’s all and only about doing the work.

September parents and January parents are the same. No different.

[Anonymous]

https://www.ussoccer.com/ecosystem-review/player-registration

"Starting in the fall of 2026, members and leagues will have reasonable flexibility to choose the best registration option for their participants. There is no registration change for the 2025-2026 season."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Actually, those 10% moving "down" are more of boon for the younger players to help them develop and improve. In a way, those 10% clawed, scratched and survived all these years to only get relegated to less competition. Sure they got screwed by the trap year BUT now there getting screwed by their own elite leagues who for their own selfish reasons want them on younger teams now. But hey, they'll score some goals!

Man! Is common sense really that uncommon?? C'mon, work those mental muscles.....I know you can get there if you try hard enough. You only think they are going to be playing down because of the BY lie you've been living. In the real world there is no actual advantage to being born in Q1. We artificially made it a special quarter to be born. It correlates to nothing until you get up to international competition. In every normal sense the advantage should go to September babies. There is no 'playing down', you're now going to get a front row seat to what the other kids in 6th grade are capable of. It has nothing to do with scoring goals. You're going to compete for high school roster spots with other 9th graders. You're going to compete for scholarships with other 11th graders. When you're in 11th grade, are you competing for scholarships with 10th graders?? When you try out for the 9th grade team are you competing against 8th graders?? So it what universe does it make sense to keep playing down. Your kid is playing down now and its a lie.

See you in the fall. lol.

And now we “artificially make it Q3.” The mental gymnastics these SY parents make is nothing short of shocking. Your kid won’t be better tomorrow morning…it’s all and only about doing the work.

So most of the pushback is parents concerned their Q1 kid is no longer going be good?

Maybe that kid won’t be better tomorrow, but the top B team players are better than most A team players a year below. So that kid doesn’t need to get better…they will just look better playing against your kid q1 kid.

If you’re that concerned, take your kid out and practice.

Well said. Same advice they had for Q4 kids BTW. Practice more and get bigger, lol. Fun to see the tables turn. Go practice....hahah. Good luck.