ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's see if ECNL can address trap players for college recruiting earlier than 26/27. I hope they can do it on 25/26.

Why do they have to? It's been this way before and the kids were fine. Play up or play grade. It's not a big deal. No one needs to ADDRESS anything.

[Anonymous]

I do see the gripe for SY parents. Q3 and Q4 kids as they are growing definitely are at a disadvantage due to just experience. Q1 and Q2 kids are ahead of them in school which means their brains are far more developed and they have experienced more. Soccer or not, you have to account for that.

As the years go by and you get to u12/u13, I can totally see why it doesnt make sense to change anything. If your kid is not good enough when they are that age, its not because of RAE.

I have no skin in the game as my kids are not even travel age, but im interested to see what develops in the coming years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our director is talking about forming SY teams and having them play up since 25/26 is now a wash. So the 2012 age group is now Aug 1 2012 to July 31 2013. 2013 is now Aug 1 2013 to July 31 2014

Where do Q3 kids who started school early go under the new approach? For example, October 2013 birthday currently playing U12 and already in 6th grade? The above cutoffs would move them down a soccer year, but that would have them playing with kids a grade below them. Maybe an advantage playing against younger kids, but they’re already used to playing with older kids and moving down would mess up their recruiting cycle.

I assume kids can always continue to play up. So, they could stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even with the no change in 2025 it sure feels like a wash of a year if leagues plan to change to SY in 2026. Feels cowardly that US Soccer just said leagues can figure it out on their own

That is I think an issue if not the issue. Will there be change in 26/27. Maybe. But I would not bet on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our director is talking about forming SY teams and having them play up since 25/26 is now a wash. So the 2012 age group is now Aug 1 2012 to July 31 2013. 2013 is now Aug 1 2013 to July 31 2014

Where do Q3 kids who started school early go under the new approach? For example, October 2013 birthday currently playing U12 and already in 6th grade? The above cutoffs would move them down a soccer year, but that would have them playing with kids a grade below them. Maybe an advantage playing against younger kids, but they’re already used to playing with older kids and moving down would mess up their recruiting cycle.

I assume kids can always continue to play up. So, they could stay.

Only if they’re good enough to make what should be a meaningfully better team, since a handful of young Q3/Q4 players will be replaced with a handful of old Q3/Q4 players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our director is talking about forming SY teams and having them play up since 25/26 is now a wash. So the 2012 age group is now Aug 1 2012 to July 31 2013. 2013 is now Aug 1 2013 to July 31 2014

Where do Q3 kids who started school early go under the new approach? For example, October 2013 birthday currently playing U12 and already in 6th grade? The above cutoffs would move them down a soccer year, but that would have them playing with kids a grade below them. Maybe an advantage playing against younger kids, but they’re already used to playing with older kids and moving down would mess up their recruiting cycle.

I don’t feel bad for kids who started school early or late. It’s a problem of your own making.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's see if ECNL can address trap players for college recruiting earlier than 26/27. I hope they can do it on 25/26.

Why do they have to? It's been this way before and the kids were fine. Play up or play grade. It's not a big deal. No one needs to ADDRESS anything.

Who thinks colleges have a hard time getting in players because they don't know their graduation year from HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our director is talking about forming SY teams and having them play up since 25/26 is now a wash. So the 2012 age group is now Aug 1 2012 to July 31 2013. 2013 is now Aug 1 2013 to July 31 2014

Where do Q3 kids who started school early go under the new approach? For example, October 2013 birthday currently playing U12 and already in 6th grade? The above cutoffs would move them down a soccer year, but that would have them playing with kids a grade below them. Maybe an advantage playing against younger kids, but they’re already used to playing with older kids and moving down would mess up their recruiting cycle.

I don’t feel bad for kids who started school early or late. It’s a problem of your own making.

Did someone ask for your sympathy? I’m just trying to understand if the new system is based on the calendar or actual grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our director is talking about forming SY teams and having them play up since 25/26 is now a wash. So the 2012 age group is now Aug 1 2012 to July 31 2013. 2013 is now Aug 1 2013 to July 31 2014

Where do Q3 kids who started school early go under the new approach? For example, October 2013 birthday currently playing U12 and already in 6th grade? The above cutoffs would move them down a soccer year, but that would have them playing with kids a grade below them. Maybe an advantage playing against younger kids, but they’re already used to playing with older kids and moving down would mess up their recruiting cycle.

I don’t feel bad for kids who started school early or late. It’s a problem of your own making.

Kids that started “early” in August or September started on time. They would potentially be trapped in a different way depending on talent level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even with the no change in 2025 it sure feels like a wash of a year if leagues plan to change to SY in 2026. Feels cowardly that US Soccer just said leagues can figure it out on their own

That is I think an issue if not the issue. Will there be change in 26/27. Maybe. But I would not bet on it. [/quote


I think this is the main issue right now that 25 seems like wash year. Everyone will be setting themselves up for the following year, what team, what club, what league.
Cowardly feels right to say. If some leagues can pull it off now let them, that’s what the plan is for 26 anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The change is only going to really help trapped players who are already good players to begin with and especially if you have your child playing 1 year or in some cases 2 years up.

However, players who are trapped and struggling….this will not make much of a difference. Talent is talent and sure they might compete better dropping down but they are still going to look average to scouts. Don’t expect any miracles.

Here we go again. Still hasn't clicked yet I see. Its going to be funny in a few years when people say 'what happened to the Q1 kids they used to be so good'. I'm going to say 'talent is talent'. lol. Suddenly little Jenny just wasn't good anymore. Maybe she stopped practicing. Maybe she was never that talented. It's so strange. I didn't notice ANY other changes in 2026. She just suddenly stopped being good. You people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's see if ECNL can address trap players for college recruiting earlier than 26/27. I hope they can do it on 25/26.

Why do they have to? It's been this way before and the kids were fine. Play up or play grade. It's not a big deal. No one needs to ADDRESS anything.

Who thinks colleges have a hard time getting in players because they don't know their graduation year from HS?

I think people like you that struggle with this whole concept never studied statistics. We need to make stats mandatory in HS for everyone. Start with 100 8 year olds that are Q4 playing soccer. They are all college bound kids. The data says most will drop out before HS. Those that stay ride the bench and don't develop very well. And the few that sift through are not in ideal recruiting scenarios. Recruiting is a game of numbers. If a coach knows who you are and wants to recruit you, they'll find you at the showcases. But what if they don't know who you are. Kids get recruited all the time by a coach discovering them by accident or other random means. That's less likely to happen when they aren't there looking for CAM's of your grade.

I know you have plenty of examples from your club of the great Q4 starters that got recruited with no problem. Nobody is arguing that. The numbers are clear, its much harder for Q4 to get recruited. Now the tables will turn and it'll be much harder for Q2. The difference is they'll at least be playing with their grade. Trapped kids have no such luxury which is silly. So now its fixed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our director is talking about forming SY teams and having them play up since 25/26 is now a wash. So the 2012 age group is now Aug 1 2012 to July 31 2013. 2013 is now Aug 1 2013 to July 31 2014

Where do Q3 kids who started school early go under the new approach? For example, October 2013 birthday currently playing U12 and already in 6th grade? The above cutoffs would move them down a soccer year, but that would have them playing with kids a grade below them. Maybe an advantage playing against younger kids, but they’re already used to playing with older kids and moving down would mess up their recruiting cycle.

I don’t feel bad for kids who started school early or late. It’s a problem of your own making.

Did someone ask for your sympathy? I’m just trying to understand if the new system is based on the calendar or actual grade.

Its not based on grade and nobody wants that. They have it in other sports and it quickly incentivizes parents to hold kids back in school by ridiculous amounts. Majority of people want it by school dates either 8/1 or 9/1. If you pushed your kid to start school early then sports is going to suffer big time. I assume most parents know that by know and didn't care back when they were 5 or had tough economic circumstances and needed to start early. I feel bad but in these scenarios, even a very talented kid will struggle to play college ball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even with the no change in 2025 it sure feels like a wash of a year if leagues plan to change to SY in 2026. Feels cowardly that US Soccer just said leagues can figure it out on their own

That is I think an issue if not the issue. Will there be change in 26/27. Maybe. But I would not bet on it.

I'd love to have you over for Poker night if you would not take that bet, lol!

[Anonymous]

Just a quick note from a parent of a trapped player (Q4). She is best technical player on her team (top 100 nationally) and one of the most valuable in terms of wins and losses, but she is small. I want the status quo as the other two options are not as good. She can either A) stay on the current team but now there will be even bigger/older girls by an additional 5 months so she could be playing with girls 14/15 months. older or B) drop down and totally outclass her correct grade. Both options worse in my eyes.

Also, I dont think trapped, for recruiting purposes, is a big deal at all. Your club should be advocating for you, you should be advocating for you, you should be attending ID camps, etc. If you use trapped as a recruiting excuse it means you aren't trying hard enough. Period.