ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

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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.

Again, many of the kids in these situations are in states that have a 9/1 or later deadline for school enrollment. For example, August birthday's in a state with a September 1 deadline started school exactly on time. They didn't start early.

Right so 9/1 or a 9/30 date makes more sense than 8/1.

No, anything other than 8-1 creates too many trapped kids. Possible to play up, not possible to play down. Been pointed out to you over and over, pay attention.

No wrong.

They could make the cutoff 7/1.

Thev"issue" if you want to call it that is if a school started Sept 1 players born between July 1 and Sept 1 could play down a grade. Most people in this situation would choose to play up (which is complely allowed) with their grade in school for recruiting by the time they hit u14.

The difference here is that yes there will be some parents that choose to let their kid play down for wins.

Wouldn’t playing down for wins be counterproductive if your goal is to keep playing in college, even D-3?

Correct they'd want to play up.

Also other parents would give them the stink eye for playing down for wins.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the decision to allow each club to decide for themselves is a total cop-out and demonstrates a lack of leadership. It's every player/club for themselves, and it's crap

Ok but this was not the decision. To be clear they did not say next year you can determine for yourself. They said next year we will consider that. This is still open for no change in 26/27. All the rest are just words until that decision a year or so from now.

Uhh, what? Lol.

“Starting in the fall of 2026, members and leagues will have reasonable flexibility to choose the best registration option for their participants.”

This! Everyone saying “nothing is changing we don’t know for sure” I think is fooling themselves. It’s true we don’t know for sure yet, and likely won’t until spring. However we do know that U.S. soccer said “you can change if you want to in 2026” and U.S. Club, AYSO, and USYS already said they’d all do the same thing and seem to support SY. So that seems to me like the ship had sailed.

Like it or not. At least some leagues will change and that will trickle down to others.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, read the public statements from the heads of U.S. Club and USYS and it’s pretty clear they are headed to SY next year.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Again, many of the kids in these situations are in states that have a 9/1 or later deadline for school enrollment. For example, August birthday's in a state with a September 1 deadline started school exactly on time. They didn't start early.

Right so 9/1 or a 9/30 date makes more sense than 8/1.

No, anything other than 8-1 creates too many trapped kids. Possible to play up, not possible to play down. Been pointed out to you over and over, pay attention.

No wrong.

They could make the cutoff 7/1.

Thev"issue" if you want to call it that is if a school started Sept 1 players born between July 1 and Sept 1 could play down a grade. Most people in this situation would choose to play up (which is complely allowed) with their grade in school for recruiting by the time they hit u14.

The difference here is that yes there will be some parents that choose to let their kid play down for wins.

Wouldn’t playing down for wins be counterproductive if your goal is to keep playing in college, even D-3?

Kids classified by soccer year below their school grade would be playing soccer on age.

Their choice would be to play on age to get picked for the best teams, best coaches and best positions and get optimal playing time versus playing up with their school grade peers, a better challenge in practice, possibly having to play on a lower level team and to align for possible college recruitment. There is not a one size fits all to this choice which seems to bother people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, read the public statements from the heads of U.S. Club and USYS and it’s pretty clear they are headed to SY next year.

please post the link from the head of US Club's statement

[Anonymous]

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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.

Again, many of the kids in these situations are in states that have a 9/1 or later deadline for school enrollment. For example, August birthday's in a state with a September 1 deadline started school exactly on time. They didn't start early.

Right so 9/1 or a 9/30 date makes more sense than 8/1.

No, anything other than 8-1 creates too many trapped kids. Possible to play up, not possible to play down. Been pointed out to you over and over, pay attention.

No wrong.

They could make the cutoff 7/1.

Thev"issue" if you want to call it that is if a school started Sept 1 players born between July 1 and Sept 1 could play down a grade. Most people in this situation would choose to play up (which is complely allowed) with their grade in school for recruiting by the time they hit u14.

The difference here is that yes there will be some parents that choose to let their kid play down for wins.

Wouldn’t playing down for wins be counterproductive if your goal is to keep playing in college, even D-3?

Kids classified by soccer year below their school grade would be playing soccer on age.

Their choice would be to play on age to get picked for the best teams, best coaches and best positions and get optimal playing time versus playing up with their school grade peers, a better challenge in practice, possibly having to play on a lower level team and to align for possible college recruitment. There is not a one size fits all to this choice which seems to bother people.

They could play on age (and benefit from being the oldest), get recruited on their team’s timeline (not their fault their school has a late cutoff), take a gap year between highschool and college to get school and soccer aligned, and continue to play with their club team during the gap year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Again, many of the kids in these situations are in states that have a 9/1 or later deadline for school enrollment. For example, August birthday's in a state with a September 1 deadline started school exactly on time. They didn't start early.

Right so 9/1 or a 9/30 date makes more sense than 8/1.

No, anything other than 8-1 creates too many trapped kids. Possible to play up, not possible to play down. Been pointed out to you over and over, pay attention.

No wrong.

They could make the cutoff 7/1.

Thev"issue" if you want to call it that is if a school started Sept 1 players born between July 1 and Sept 1 could play down a grade. Most people in this situation would choose to play up (which is complely allowed) with their grade in school for recruiting by the time they hit u14.

The difference here is that yes there will be some parents that choose to let their kid play down for wins.

Wouldn’t playing down for wins be counterproductive if your goal is to keep playing in college, even D-3?

Kids classified by soccer year below their school grade would be playing soccer on age.

Their choice would be to play on age to get picked for the best teams, best coaches and best positions and get optimal playing time versus playing up with their school grade peers, a better challenge in practice, possibly having to play on a lower level team and to align for possible college recruitment. There is not a one size fits all to this choice which seems to bother people.

They could play on age (and benefit from being the oldest), get recruited on their team’s timeline (not their fault their school has a late cutoff), take a gap year between highschool and college to get school and soccer aligned, and continue to play with their club team during the gap year.

Ugh... Cheaters gonna cheat.

This is why we can't have anything nice.

Instead of working the system to play down just play up and at least try to makenyour kid a better player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, read the public statements from the heads of U.S. Club and USYS and it’s pretty clear they are headed to SY next year.

please post the link from the head of US Club's statement

Read the Twitter of US Club's CEO and the quotes in this article below. And also read the CEO of USYS' statements and their views are pretty clear (pro-SY).
https://www.socceramerica.com/youth-soccer-dilemma-are-calendar-year-age-groups-an-error-worth-fixing/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Again, many of the kids in these situations are in states that have a 9/1 or later deadline for school enrollment. For example, August birthday's in a state with a September 1 deadline started school exactly on time. They didn't start early.

Right so 9/1 or a 9/30 date makes more sense than 8/1.

No, anything other than 8-1 creates too many trapped kids. Possible to play up, not possible to play down. Been pointed out to you over and over, pay attention.

No wrong.

They could make the cutoff 7/1.

Thev"issue" if you want to call it that is if a school started Sept 1 players born between July 1 and Sept 1 could play down a grade. Most people in this situation would choose to play up (which is complely allowed) with their grade in school for recruiting by the time they hit u14.

The difference here is that yes there will be some parents that choose to let their kid play down for wins.

Wouldn’t playing down for wins be counterproductive if your goal is to keep playing in college, even D-3?

Kids classified by soccer year below their school grade would be playing soccer on age.

Their choice would be to play on age to get picked for the best teams, best coaches and best positions and get optimal playing time versus playing up with their school grade peers, a better challenge in practice, possibly having to play on a lower level team and to align for possible college recruitment. There is not a one size fits all to this choice which seems to bother people.

They could play on age (and benefit from being the oldest), get recruited on their team’s timeline (not their fault their school has a late cutoff), take a gap year between highschool and college to get school and soccer aligned, and continue to play with their club team during the gap year.

Ugh... Cheaters gonna cheat.

This is why we can't have anything nice.

Instead of working the system to play down just play up and at least try to makenyour kid a better player.

How is it cheating? They’d be playing at level. You sound like a Q1/Q2 parent hoping to keep a few spots open for your bubble player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

Again, many of the kids in these situations are in states that have a 9/1 or later deadline for school enrollment. For example, August birthday's in a state with a September 1 deadline started school exactly on time. They didn't start early.

Right so 9/1 or a 9/30 date makes more sense than 8/1.

No, anything other than 8-1 creates too many trapped kids. Possible to play up, not possible to play down. Been pointed out to you over and over, pay attention.

No wrong.

They could make the cutoff 7/1.

Thev"issue" if you want to call it that is if a school started Sept 1 players born between July 1 and Sept 1 could play down a grade. Most people in this situation would choose to play up (which is complely allowed) with their grade in school for recruiting by the time they hit u14.

The difference here is that yes there will be some parents that choose to let their kid play down for wins.

Wouldn’t playing down for wins be counterproductive if your goal is to keep playing in college, even D-3?

Correct they'd want to play up.

Also other parents would give them the stink eye for playing down for wins.

Problem is most kids/parents aren't unicorns who play up. They toil away in the current system and will have little choice once their club decides what's next. The choice they do likely have is try to find a new club OR team BUT if most clubs act consistently there won't be options to stay in their BY. The sad part is in a lot of cases they've played years with some of their cohort and will have to give that up. Sure, for some, this will be a good thing where they can maybe shine on a new team. For others, they'll just leave the sport sooner than they otherwise would have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Again, many of the kids in these situations are in states that have a 9/1 or later deadline for school enrollment. For example, August birthday's in a state with a September 1 deadline started school exactly on time. They didn't start early.

How will one of these kids handle the recruiting process when their teammates are one grade behind them? They have an athletic advantage because they are the oldest on their team, but will recruiters even see them when they’re playing with kids who are a full grade behind the grade the recruiters typically focus on? And will their success on the field be heavily discounted by recruiters because they’re playing against kids a grade below?

Just use some simple math and logic here. This keeps coming up now that BY parents are panicking. These kids ARE NOT trapped, they are just in a strange situation with options and there will be a very small number of them. In the case where school cutoff is 9/1. Your DD birthday is in August and ECNL decides 8/1 is the cutoff. She'll be in 10th grade and all her club teammates are in 9th grade. Only 1% of all players go to college, but lets say that is her aspiration and she thinks she is good enough. The answer is simple, she needs to be in the top 1%, not of her club team but of her graduating year. So play up and find out. There is no disadvatage here AT ALL. She is in 10th grade. She is getting recruited with 10th graders. Club soccer didn't determine her grade. So play with 10th graders. Im not sure why this is so complicated.

My DD is currently trapped. And yes, trapped. No options. She is forced to play above her grade. When she is in 10th grade her teamates will be 11th graders. No option to play with 10th graders and to develop and be recruited with her class. Its really strange, its screws with her development over the years and there are TONS of kids locked into this dumb situation. You can't make it perfect for everyone in a large country that has school dates starting randomly and where we're tied to the NCAA system as the most likely path post HS. Everyone is looking to USYS to fix it all. How? Just do what is best for the majority of kids and move on. This isn't that hard.

I’m just asking a question about how this small group of kids will navigate the new (or return to the old) age brackets for youth soccer, not advocating against the pending change (which I agree is best for the most people). Your response is that they need to play up, which is an option if they’re good enough to play with kids who might be as much as 14 months older than them. If they hope to play top 20 D-1 then they’d better be that good. But what if they just want to play at [William & Mary] or [Washington & Lee]? Is there a path to play with their new younger team and still get recruited despite being out of synch with their school class?

There is always a path if you're good enough. The reality is your child is young for their grade. None of these decisions with USSF has any bearing on that. You were always facing an obstacle as far as college recruiting goes. Your question is really 'how do I take a very young player in their grade and prep them for college soccer recruitment'.

If college is their goal I'd ensure my child played with their proper grade for as long as possible. Find the clubs that will let them play up. Start with Flight 3 and work your way to ECNL (if a girl). William and Mary is D1. If you want to play D1 ball your aim is ECNL, maybe GA. Washington and Lee is D3. They are likely recruiting more locally, they too want ECNL and GA kids but may be willing to take a flyer on NPL, E64, etc. But I want to be clear, its not easy to play D3 soccer. Those kids are really good, sometimes better than D1, the reasons for choosing that school vary.

There's entire discussions and strategies on getting recruited. Start studying, start making moves but do it at the grade level they will graduate. In your case 'play up'. There are a million routes to college ball. JUCO, Walk-on, ID Camps, Showcases, etc. But what doesn't change is your kid MUST be talented. Please don't push them beyond their capabilities. That is when this gets very sad. Play them up, make a judgement on their abilities as the years go on and guide them by offering hope but wrapped in the reality you see on the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Again, many of the kids in these situations are in states that have a 9/1 or later deadline for school enrollment. For example, August birthday's in a state with a September 1 deadline started school exactly on time. They didn't start early.

Right so 9/1 or a 9/30 date makes more sense than 8/1.

No, anything other than 8-1 creates too many trapped kids. Possible to play up, not possible to play down. Been pointed out to you over and over, pay attention.

No wrong.

They could make the cutoff 7/1.

Thev"issue" if you want to call it that is if a school started Sept 1 players born between July 1 and Sept 1 could play down a grade. Most people in this situation would choose to play up (which is complely allowed) with their grade in school for recruiting by the time they hit u14.

The difference here is that yes there will be some parents that choose to let their kid play down for wins.

Wouldn’t playing down for wins be counterproductive if your goal is to keep playing in college, even D-3?

Kids classified by soccer year below their school grade would be playing soccer on age.

Their choice would be to play on age to get picked for the best teams, best coaches and best positions and get optimal playing time versus playing up with their school grade peers, a better challenge in practice, possibly having to play on a lower level team and to align for possible college recruitment. There is not a one size fits all to this choice which seems to bother people.

They could play on age (and benefit from being the oldest), get recruited on their team’s timeline (not their fault their school has a late cutoff), take a gap year between highschool and college to get school and soccer aligned, and continue to play with their club team during the gap year.

Ugh... Cheaters gonna cheat.

This is why we can't have anything nice.

Instead of working the system to play down just play up and at least try to makenyour kid a better player.

Please use a dictionary to learn the definition of cheating before frivolous accusations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote: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.

Your story is what some pro SY people don't understand and why they should slowly phase this in starting with the younger age groups. With what's been shared and a possible rollout now in fall 26, hopefully that will happen OR at least the inclusion of flexible rules where people can more easily stay with their current teams. With such a big change, they should try to minimize disruption which also then minimizes harm.

You can stay in the team if you pass the tryout. No club will be tough on a star player. Melanie played two years up in Surf.

Of course not. But there's already been talk in forums about supposed "rules" informal or otherwise of no playing up that'll affect the vast majority of players.

Absolutely not true.

Any player can play up if their patents want them to.

The catch is that if your kid chooses to play up they need to be better than players that are that age.

My kid is a late Sept trapped birthday birthday on her team but there's also an early Jan (a year down) player that's playing up essentially 2 grades. She's the daughter of a pro sports parent and has freaky natural talent. Both my kid and the pro sport parent kid start so everything works out.

Before the pearl clutchers start. I'm not worried about recruitment at all. This is a top 50 nationally team + recruiters are already sniffing around. At both my kid and the pro sports kid.

Just to add a little more...

The people that complain about trapped players and BY wont stop complaining if leagues change to SY. They'll just change what they complain about.

At the highest levels nobody cares what age players are. They either produce on the field or they don't.

Unfortunately there's more ulittle players/parents than there are high level competitive players. They think that they're doing the right thing what they don't understand is that it doesn't matter.

We're definitely going to 400 pages because you continue to miss the point! Little Suzy as a trapped player has to play a grade above. My DD is in this and it has always been a thing. In Kinder the 1st graders were more developed. In 6th grade her friends moved to junior high. Playing a grade up has a developmental impact and most Q4 players quit. Why quit when your in the older group for your recruiting class? Because its not fun. My DD is a talented player and its STILL been challenging over the years. I'll have zero complaints when we change to SY. My ask is simple, let me DD play with her grade. You know, the one she's going to college with. Stop making her play with girls a grade up. She's out of sync, its developmentally weird and offers zero benefit. Pick some dates that make sense.

But keep ranting about January kids are more talented and everyone else should sit down and how perfect the current system is, blah blah. It's what keeps the forum going!

[Anonymous]

I love when people say, just have your daughter play up, done! lol, BY parents are lost. What if I told you to have your January kid play a year up. C'mon, if they are good enough they should be able to do it, right?! It's all about talent. Have your 8th grader play with 9th graders. Why not?

It's the dumbest argument in the world. Let every kid play with their grade, let them grow up together and let the best kids get scholarships. It's not that hard to understand.

[Anonymous]

Still nothing from the 5 stages of grief BY guy?? He tucked tail and ran quick when the real news starting coming out. lol.

Now its just the BY bubble parents trying to find any remaining way to hold on to this broken system. Face it, you'll need to compete with your peers. Stop being afraid. You have one more season to play with little kids, then it'll be time to grow up. You know your kid wasn't getting a scholarship anyway so relax.