ECNL moving to school year part 2

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

An A team resume/chance to actually be seen in person by that coach is better than B team where no in-person is possible. That's what you miss completely.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Every parent/child will do what think is best regardless of the haters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Telling someone they can't do something is just the fuel they need to make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

The 2-grade dynamic will continue to exist in SY but the number of outliers will be smaller. Last time roughly 5% of all players were misaligned or an average of 1 per team. The only way you can completely eliminate it would be to have a GY system -- which would completely blow up any 12-month window.

You love that article from 2015 that you found.

I was around in 2017 and I dont remember ever hearing about players playing down a grade in SY. All people talked about was playing up and who was thinking about graduating early to play in college. But this was in a highly competitive environment with highly competitive clubs and players.

My guess is your kid plays on a much lower level club and team. So maybe there will be play downers. But this diesnt change the fact college coaches /recruiters will ignore them because they're misaligned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Telling someone they can't do something is just the fuel they need to make it happen.

Hahaha ok, fuel yourself to be ignored twice as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

An A team resume/chance to actually be seen in person by that coach is better than B team where no in-person is possible. That's what you miss completely.

No its not and college coaches who 99% of the were players themselves know that players that choose to play down are a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

An A team resume/chance to actually be seen in person by that coach is better than B team where no in-person is possible. That's what you miss completely.

No its not and college coaches who 99% of the were players themselves know that players that choose to play down are a joke.

It's not playing down. It's playing on age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Telling someone they can't do something is just the fuel they need to make it happen.

Hahaha ok, fuel yourself to be ignored twice as much.

Hey, it's about how to develop and become better. And those players who can use the extra minutes/touches will reach their goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

The 2-grade dynamic will continue to exist in SY but the number of outliers will be smaller. Last time roughly 5% of all players were misaligned or an average of 1 per team. The only way you can completely eliminate it would be to have a GY system -- which would completely blow up any 12-month window.

You love that article from 2015 that you found.

I was around in 2017 and I dont remember ever hearing about players playing down a grade in SY. All people talked about was playing up and who was thinking about graduating early to play in college. But this was in a highly competitive environment with highly competitive clubs and players.

My guess is your kid plays on a much lower level club and team. So maybe there will be play downers. But this diesnt change the fact college coaches /recruiters will ignore them because they're misaligned.

Will this impact college recruiting?
The new two-year age group structure will not negatively impact college recruiting. College coaches evaluate players based on their performance, development, and potential—not the exact age grouping of their club team.

https://www.eastsidefc.org/agegroups

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

An A team resume/chance to actually be seen in person by that coach is better than B team where no in-person is possible. That's what you miss completely.

No its not and college coaches who 99% of the were players themselves know that players that choose to play down are a joke.

It'll all starts with a foot in the door. Also, plenty of times in all things, it was the person who everyone thought was a joke who wins in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Telling someone they can't do something is just the fuel they need to make it happen.

Hahaha ok, fuel yourself to be ignored twice as much.

Hey, it's about how to develop and become better. And those players who can use the extra minutes/touches will reach their goals.

Development is over by the time players are Sophmores in high school. Either you have or you dont at that point. College coaches who are receuiting players make that decision for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Telling someone they can't do something is just the fuel they need to make it happen.

Hahaha ok, fuel yourself to be ignored twice as much.

Hey, it's about how to develop and become better. And those players who can use the extra minutes/touches will reach their goals.

Development is over by the time players are Sophmores in high school. Either you have or you dont at that point. College coaches who are receuiting players make that decision for you.

No, players continue to develop, even the ones who have "it". This is also when a ton of players, even some who were/are promising quit OR decide to pursue other sports. When you stop developing/think you're already in is exactly how these players go to college end up on the bench and/or transferring. This is why you have also all these college coaches still checking out HS games OR the smaller regional showcases. And it's why anyone deciding misaligned players are doomed miss the whole picutre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Telling someone they can't do something is just the fuel they need to make it happen.

Hahaha ok, fuel yourself to be ignored twice as much.

Hey, it's about how to develop and become better. And those players who can use the extra minutes/touches will reach their goals.

Development is over by the time players are Sophmores in high school. Either you have or you dont at that point. College coaches who are receuiting players make that decision for you.

What are you even talking about? Players don't stop developing/hit their peak until their mid-20s.

The US system is so fractured anyway that anyone writing people off over when they were born or what grade they are in is just beyond dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Telling someone they can't do something is just the fuel they need to make it happen.

Hahaha ok, fuel yourself to be ignored twice as much.

Hey, it's about how to develop and become better. And those players who can use the extra minutes/touches will reach their goals.

Development is over by the time players are Sophmores in high school. Either you have or you dont at that point. College coaches who are receuiting players make that decision for you.

No, players continue to develop, even the ones who have "it". This is also when a ton of players, even some who were/are promising quit OR decide to pursue other sports. When you stop developing/think you're already in is exactly how these players go to college end up on the bench and/or transferring. This is why you have also all these college coaches still checking out HS games OR the smaller regional showcases. And it's why anyone deciding misaligned players are doomed miss the whole picutre.

What you dont understand is that the pool of players you're describing has already been picked over. College coaches have moved onto the next group of Sophmore soon to be Junior players looking to lock down the most talented players.

This is why playing down and being misaligned is so bad for players that want to be recruited to play in college. You're not in sync with college coach expectations and schedules which have been defined years in advance. Believe it or not but Aug-Dec birthdays in BY experience the same challenges. However their saving grace is that they're playing up a level when compared to their graduating year competition. SY Aug birthdays that are playjng down a level will be ignored by college coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heres my family situation. My high flyer female with a decmber birthday and a potential in playing in college will age down for maximum visibility. My August boy who plays hg dev will stay with his age to be an older for the time ever. No aspirations other than playing good soccer and translating his level of travel to the hs game. Both win

I dont know if "age down" is the correct terminology although I get what you're saying. In BY your December birthday player was forced to play up a grade. Now since we're switching back to SY again they'll be grouped with players their grade in school which should be fun for them. This was/is the whole intent of switching back from BY to SY.

General fyi but did you know the reason BY works for other countries is because school cutoff for a certain grade is 1/1. However school start dates are usually around Aug Sept. When you think about it this makes it easier because all you need to do is ask a kid what year they were born and that tells you their grade in school. In America we combine school start date with cutoff date this is why BY doesnt work and SY better aligns all players to a specific grade here.

My December kid is in MLS Next and committed to a D1 school

I can't recall us having any discussions about school grade

Be obtuse if you want.

I guarantee at some point graduating year aka grade in school was discussed or your kids college coach wouldn't know what year to expect to see them on campus.

They of course knew his graduating year.

We provided that when we reached out and they also knew it before we gave them.

My point is that for his soccer development journey, school grade being different than his teammates was never an issue.

The situation is different now. Birth year created a situation where players in a specific grade had to play with kids in a higher grade because they missed the school cutoff. No one minded this because playing with kids in a higher grade feels more challenging and acceptable (of course depends on the players themselves being good, but just generally, a 9th grader playing with 10th graders was fine) College scouts looking at 10th graders might also see the 9th grader and just keep them in mind for the next recruiting year. All good there.

Now, you have a few months of kids who could potentially have to play with a team that is primarily a lower grade. So in this scenario, you have a 10th grader playing on a team full of 9th graders. College scouts aren't looking at 9th graders and probably aren't going to make a special trip over to a field full of 9th graders just to see the 1 or 2 10th graders.

It doesn't change the fact that most recruiting is done by the player/parents, with outreach and direct attendance at ID camps where coaches are - where of course you are aligned by graduation year. But the scenario above isn't really helping player development or recruiting - just clubs who potentially want to win more games. For younger grades, it's fine because maybe some smaller kids need more time in 7v7, 9v9 etc. But by high school, kids should be aligned with grad year if at all possible.

You do know the colleges are only looking at a few people to fill the small amount of available freshman spaces on their roster?

They aren't trawling the ocean

You are correct - it is such a small number that a kid playing with a younger grade will literally never end up playing college soccer. Hence the reason that even to have a remote chance, you have to play with your grad year.

The 10th grader with the skills, potential and attitude the college recruiter wants will get recruited if they are on a team with some 9th graders

Because the college recruiter is a soccer person, not guidance counselor

Why only play down in soccer?

Just hold your Aug birthday back in school and they'll be aligned and everything works. Why would you want to be s square peg trying to fit in a round hole.

Why do my child a disservice by holding them back in school while kids their age are a year advanced academically and in maturity?
Also, they can only play with their age group or up. So what's gained?
No one can play down

RAE says that being the oldest will give them an academic advantage over all the other students.

Or ore you one of those selective RAE people that only uses it to get what you want?

Wow, to brazenly flaunt ignorance and stupidity with such pride

So, my kid being the oldest in 9th grade learning Economics 1 while kids her age are doing Economics 2/3 in 10th grade is a win for her?

RAE says that oldest is always better. Its science.

You just dont like it when you cant use RAE to get what you want.

If I was a club owner I say sure your August birthday can play down a grade. You just need to hold them back.

You are making up something that's not there.

Sure you can say playing with a lower grade may affect college recruiting, but to claim players HAVE to play with their grade is just not in the rule book. It is based on birth date.

If you want to play in college you need to align to a grade in school / graduating year mentality. Because this is how they function.

Then how do you explain how they function under BY across 2 grades per age group, how they can evaluate International players that don't neatly line up with grade (often older), players on bad teams and players on great teams. College coaches have to evaluate players in all these scenarios but now for some reason they blackball players playing in their own age group? And college coaches said the opposite of blackballing them. They don't care what age group you are in.

Your spitting out opinion without facts that goes against what is known, college coaches can evaluate players in many situations and they evaluate players not teams.

2 grades works in BY because the lower grade players are playing up a level and because of this are interesting to college coaches.

August birthdays playing down in SY is looked at as pathetic and players that choose this pathway will be ignored by college coaches

Not to everyone -- maybe for people who like to paint people with a broad brush and say nasty things about them.

If a college coach has 100s of players reaching out to them to play on their team They're not going to waste their time messing around with an Aug birthday that chose to play down a grade.

Sorry that reality doesnt align with the candyland you've put together in your head.

Telling someone they can't do something is just the fuel they need to make it happen.

Hahaha ok, fuel yourself to be ignored twice as much.

Hey, it's about how to develop and become better. And those players who can use the extra minutes/touches will reach their goals.

Development is over by the time players are Sophmores in high school. Either you have or you dont at that point. College coaches who are receuiting players make that decision for you.

No, players continue to develop, even the ones who have "it". This is also when a ton of players, even some who were/are promising quit OR decide to pursue other sports. When you stop developing/think you're already in is exactly how these players go to college end up on the bench and/or transferring. This is why you have also all these college coaches still checking out HS games OR the smaller regional showcases. And it's why anyone deciding misaligned players are doomed miss the whole picutre.

What you dont understand is that the pool of players you're describing has already been picked over. College coaches have moved onto the next group of Sophmore soon to be Junior players looking to lock down the most talented players.

This is why playing down and being misaligned is so bad for players that want to be recruited to play in college. You're not in sync with college coach expectations and schedules which have been defined years in advance. Believe it or not but Aug-Dec birthdays in BY experience the same challenges. However their saving grace is that they're playing up a level when compared to their graduating year competition. SY Aug birthdays that are playjng down a level will be ignored by college coaches.

Those same coaches won't even SEE that player if there playing up on a B team because that team doesn't go to the national showcases. The best shot for that player -- even if it's a tougher climb -- may be the A team on age, especially if they get playing time and become a leader on the team.