ECNL moving to school year not calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son's U16 ECNL team has three kids that go to the same high school. The other 15 go to 15 completely different schools. He's been on teams that had boys in three different grades on the same team. The kids were also from 5 or 6 different areas. There really isn't much reason for this school year thing anymore, because the kids gravitate to a certain club for whatever reason they have.

Sorry to say there is a reason. It’s not about going to the same school. That does not matter. The issue comes in both 8 and 11-12 in a way it does not with calendar year. The U18-19 is a disaster for the 20-30% of juniors on what is a team of seniors preparing to go to college. (which used to be only a junior team or only a senior team). They want to play high level for their junior year and get seen/recruited the spring of their junior year but the rest of their team checks out come spring as they are graduating. Same happens in 8th for kids who want to play but their season stops so all the freshman can play high school. This does not matter for MLs because they don’t allow high school ball. In school year everybody is going to college at the same time u less their parents redshirted them (a choice some make). It’s a mess for a large chunk of kids which is why ECNL has tried so many workarounds in their policies (ie- 8th graders can play down for half a year (dumb as they don’t even know the teams they are then thrusted into mid year and then those teams real players get benched because roster bloats with 20-30% more kids for 6 months. Its a mess). I wish they would revert and stop the stupidness of having a program geared toward college recruiting that makes that process messy at best.

I get that, but those trapped players become the U19 players on the U18/19 teams. They get an extra year of club soccer to develop.

[Anonymous]

How about just making two divisions per age year? 2012s and 2012 and a half's. More teams. More money for the clubs. Sounds like a winning proposition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son's U16 ECNL team has three kids that go to the same high school. The other 15 go to 15 completely different schools. He's been on teams that had boys in three different grades on the same team. The kids were also from 5 or 6 different areas. There really isn't much reason for this school year thing anymore, because the kids gravitate to a certain club for whatever reason they have.

Sorry to say there is a reason. It’s not about going to the same school. That does not matter. The issue comes in both 8 and 11-12 in a way it does not with calendar year. The U18-19 is a disaster for the 20-30% of juniors on what is a team of seniors preparing to go to college. (which used to be only a junior team or only a senior team). They want to play high level for their junior year and get seen/recruited the spring of their junior year but the rest of their team checks out come spring as they are graduating. Same happens in 8th for kids who want to play but their season stops so all the freshman can play high school. This does not matter for MLs because they don’t allow high school ball. In school year everybody is going to college at the same time u less their parents redshirted them (a choice some make). It’s a mess for a large chunk of kids which is why ECNL has tried so many workarounds in their policies (ie- 8th graders can play down for half a year (dumb as they don’t even know the teams they are then thrusted into mid year and then those teams real players get benched because roster bloats with 20-30% more kids for 6 months. Its a mess). I wish they would revert and stop the stupidness of having a program geared toward college recruiting that makes that process messy at best.

I get that, but those trapped players become the U19 players on the U18/19 teams. They get an extra year of club soccer to develop.

You must have a younger kid. U-19 is not about development anymore. It’s about recruiting. The extra year is not good because they are always off cycle for the rules and norms of boys recruiting (Junior year) and so the college coaches don’t see them in the right recruiting season. They go to watch a junior team and the kid is a sophomore and can’t be contacted. And when they are seniors on a team with juniors it’s too late as all recruiting slots are gone. It’s a PIA for both coaches and trapped players. If you know, you know.

[Anonymous]

I thought if college coaches like the kid who can't be contacted, the coach can have communication with the club but not the kid's family? So the club coach can be the middle man to relay interest to the kid who is a sophomore?

Or is this just something technically feasible but not practiced? Just more BS that clubs tell parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm starting to think people who say they prefer one over the other need to qualify with when their child was born. I'm sure all the May - July parents say they prefer calendar year and all the October - December parents prefer school year.

I’ve got an August kid who may benefit (assuming August 1 is chosen) as she’s one of the strongest players on her 2010 ECNL regional team, so she could get a shot at grabbing a spot on the 2011 national team of our current club or a different club if everything shakes out and new rosters develop.

But I’d prefer things to stay as is because she’s been with most of these girls for years. Change can be good, but it would be a tough transition to navigate.

[Anonymous]

Here is another scenario that I don't believe was considered in the podcast or in this forum: late August kid who is the youngest in his/her grade. Happens to be one of my kids.

This kid wouldn't be trapped but also wouldn't benefit from being "the new early age group". So, we can't say that all August kids would automatically be direct beneficiaries of this.

Compared to current situation where all January kids benefit from being the oldest.

This cannot be a deciding factor but seems even, could be yet another reason to switch to a school calendar year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is another scenario that I don't believe was considered in the podcast or in this forum: late August kid who is the youngest in his/her grade. Happens to be one of my kids.

This kid wouldn't be trapped but also wouldn't benefit from being "the new early age group". So, we can't say that all August kids would automatically be direct beneficiaries of this.

Compared to current situation where all January kids benefit from being the oldest.

This cannot be a deciding factor but seems even, could be yet another reason to switch to a school calendar year.

Why wouldn’t your child benefit from being in the oldest in their new age group? I think the only August kids that wouldn’t benefit would be the ones with a school cut off later than August 1 because their club year and school year wouldn’t align for purposes of college recruiting. (They you’d be playing a year below college scouts would be watching.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is another scenario that I don't believe was considered in the podcast or in this forum: late August kid who is the youngest in his/her grade. Happens to be one of my kids.

This kid wouldn't be trapped but also wouldn't benefit from being "the new early age group". So, we can't say that all August kids would automatically be direct beneficiaries of this.

Compared to current situation where all January kids benefit from being the oldest.

This cannot be a deciding factor but seems even, could be yet another reason to switch to a school calendar year.

Why wouldn’t your child benefit from being in the oldest in their new age group? I think the only August kids that wouldn’t benefit would be the ones with a school cut off later than August 1 because their club year and school year wouldn’t align for purposes of college recruiting. (They you’d be playing a year below college scouts would be watching.)

As I indicated in my message, my kid - who was born in late August is the youngest kid in the class/grade the school. School starts in the last week of August. It happens a lot with late August kids. Early August, on the other hand, would be the oldest.

I presume that by switching to a grade-based system, my late August kid who is the youngest kid in the class, would remain the youngest kid in the class-based team.

Does this clarify? Or maybe I am the one confused, which is possible with this complex topic..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is another scenario that I don't believe was considered in the podcast or in this forum: late August kid who is the youngest in his/her grade. Happens to be one of my kids.

This kid wouldn't be trapped but also wouldn't benefit from being "the new early age group". So, we can't say that all August kids would automatically be direct beneficiaries of this.

Compared to current situation where all January kids benefit from being the oldest.

This cannot be a deciding factor but seems even, could be yet another reason to switch to a school calendar year.

Why wouldn’t your child benefit from being in the oldest in their new age group? I think the only August kids that wouldn’t benefit would be the ones with a school cut off later than August 1 because their club year and school year wouldn’t align for purposes of college recruiting. (They you’d be playing a year below college scouts would be watching.)

As I indicated in my message, my kid - who was born in late August is the youngest kid in the class/grade the school. School starts in the last week of August. It happens a lot with late August kids. Early August, on the other hand, would be the oldest.

I presume that by switching to a grade-based system, my late August kid who is the youngest kid in the class, would remain the youngest kid in the class-based team.

Does this clarify? Or maybe I am the one confused, which is possible with this complex topic..

I think you have it mixed up. It's still just a 12 month window but instead of starting on Jan 1 it would start on Aug 1 (or Sep per the podcast). The window doesn't care if your in 7th or 8th grade, just your age on Aug 1. Your younger kid will now be the oldest in club soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is another scenario that I don't believe was considered in the podcast or in this forum: late August kid who is the youngest in his/her grade. Happens to be one of my kids.

This kid wouldn't be trapped but also wouldn't benefit from being "the new early age group". So, we can't say that all August kids would automatically be direct beneficiaries of this.

Compared to current situation where all January kids benefit from being the oldest.

This cannot be a deciding factor but seems even, could be yet another reason to switch to a school calendar year.

Why wouldn’t your child benefit from being in the oldest in their new age group? I think the only August kids that wouldn’t benefit would be the ones with a school cut off later than August 1 because their club year and school year wouldn’t align for purposes of college recruiting. (They you’d be playing a year below college scouts would be watching.)

Maybe it would be helpful to operate with dates.

Birthday: August 27th
School start last year: August 28th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is another scenario that I don't believe was considered in the podcast or in this forum: late August kid who is the youngest in his/her grade. Happens to be one of my kids.

This kid wouldn't be trapped but also wouldn't benefit from being "the new early age group". So, we can't say that all August kids would automatically be direct beneficiaries of this.

Compared to current situation where all January kids benefit from being the oldest.

This cannot be a deciding factor but seems even, could be yet another reason to switch to a school calendar year.

Why wouldn’t your child benefit from being in the oldest in their new age group? I think the only August kids that wouldn’t benefit would be the ones with a school cut off later than August 1 because their club year and school year wouldn’t align for purposes of college recruiting. (They you’d be playing a year below college scouts would be watching.)

As I indicated in my message, my kid - who was born in late August is the youngest kid in the class/grade the school. School starts in the last week of August. It happens a lot with late August kids. Early August, on the other hand, would be the oldest.

I presume that by switching to a grade-based system, my late August kid who is the youngest kid in the class, would remain the youngest kid in the class-based team.

Does this clarify? Or maybe I am the one confused, which is possible with this complex topic..

I think you have it mixed up. It's still just a 12 month window but instead of starting on Jan 1 it would start on Aug 1 (or Sep per the podcast). The window doesn't care if you're in 7th or 8th grade, just your age on Aug 1. Your younger kid will now be the oldest in club soccer.

Ahh...I see

If they are simply changing January 1-December 31 to August 1-July 31 to align closer with the school year, than indeed it doesn't matter if the kid is oldest or youngest in the assigned grade. So then yes, if they do make August 1st, date my kid would benefit. If it is September 1st, then going from the middle, it would send her to the end.

thx, I thought they literally meant "8th graders would play with 8th graders"..

[Anonymous]

If they switch to an August 1 - July 31 soccer grouping, then kids born in late August will be among the oldest on the team (like kids currently born in late January are). I'm not sure how that would align with your child's grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they switch to an August 1 - July 31 soccer grouping, then kids born in late August will be among the oldest on the team (like kids currently born in late January are). I'm not sure how that would align with your child's grade.

Ok.. so now here is the next question. If they do move to August 1 - July 31, what will happen with the current teams?

So, if my daughter is on 2014 team, that would mean that her team would be broken up into:

2014 (Aug 1 - December 31) group will be the oldest and then youngest kids would come from 2015 team (January 1 - July 31).

Now going back to what I said earlier. When the majority of kids are in 8th grade and still enjoying two full seasons of ECNL, my daughter who is going to be in the 9th grade would be in HS and would be missing one ECNL season.

Does it sound right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son's U16 ECNL team has three kids that go to the same high school. The other 15 go to 15 completely different schools. He's been on teams that had boys in three different grades on the same team. The kids were also from 5 or 6 different areas. There really isn't much reason for this school year thing anymore, because the kids gravitate to a certain club for whatever reason they have.

Sorry to say there is a reason. It’s not about going to the same school. That does not matter. The issue comes in both 8 and 11-12 in a way it does not with calendar year. The U18-19 is a disaster for the 20-30% of juniors on what is a team of seniors preparing to go to college. (which used to be only a junior team or only a senior team). They want to play high level for their junior year and get seen/recruited the spring of their junior year but the rest of their team checks out come spring as they are graduating. Same happens in 8th for kids who want to play but their season stops so all the freshman can play high school. This does not matter for MLs because they don’t allow high school ball. In school year everybody is going to college at the same time u less their parents redshirted them (a choice some make). It’s a mess for a large chunk of kids which is why ECNL has tried so many workarounds in their policies (ie- 8th graders can play down for half a year (dumb as they don’t even know the teams they are then thrusted into mid year and then those teams real players get benched because roster bloats with 20-30% more kids for 6 months. Its a mess). I wish they would revert and stop the stupidness of having a program geared toward college recruiting that makes that process messy at best.

I get that, but those trapped players become the U19 players on the U18/19 teams. They get an extra year of club soccer to develop.

You must have a younger kid. U-19 is not about development anymore. It’s about recruiting. The extra year is not good because they are always off cycle for the rules and norms of boys recruiting (Junior year) and so the college coaches don’t see them in the right recruiting season. They go to watch a junior team and the kid is a sophomore and can’t be contacted. And when they are seniors on a team with juniors it’s too late as all recruiting slots are gone. It’s a PIA for both coaches and trapped players. If you know, you know.

100% with a 2005 Senior now (October bday). Really effing sucked. All of his teammates graduated a year ahead of time--then he was a senior on a team with all juniors his final year. He was a sophomore when they were recruiting --and, yes, he couldn't be contacted but more importantly hadn't gone thru growth spurt yet. It was a very uphill battle.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. I have a late July birthday boy, who inherently got the short end of the stick academically since he on the young side in his grade (Boys mature slower than girls and it is not uncommon for summer birthday boys to be red shirted)

At least in soccer he's gotten to be "middle-of-the-pack" for once, which has benefitted his growth and confidence tremendously. He's played up a year over the course of his soccer career so he'd survive this change, but it seems a shame to constantly disadvantage the same kids in every aspect of life!